iOS 18.3 Features: Everything New in iOS 18.3

iOS 18.3 is the third major update to the iOS 18 operating system, and while it isn't as feature rich as iOS 18.1 or iOS 18.2, there are some Apple Intelligence changes worth knowing about, as well as as some other tweaks, bug fixes, and security updates.

iOS 18
This guide covers everything new in iOS 18.3.

Apple Intelligence

After updating to iOS 18.3, ‌Apple Intelligence‌ is an opt-out feature, not an opt-in feature. If you didn't have ‌Apple Intelligence‌ turned on, it's now turned on automatically, and you will need to go to the ‌Apple Intelligence‌ section of the Settings app to turn it off.

Apple Intelligence General Feature 2
‌Apple Intelligence‌ will also be automatically enabled on devices running iPadOS 18.3 and macOS Sequoia 15.3.

‌Apple Intelligence‌ is available on the iPhone 15 Pro models, iPhone 16 Pro models, the iPad mini 7, and all Macs and iPads with an M-series chip. On these devices, ‌Apple Intelligence‌ is now turned on automatically when iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, or ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.3 is installed. In prior updates, you had to explicitly turn ‌Apple Intelligence‌ on to be able to use the feature set.

Visual Intelligence

For iPhone 16 models, there are new Visual Intelligence features that are accessible with Camera Control.

ios 18 3 camera control animals
You can now use ‌Visual Intelligence‌ to add an event to the Calendar app, or to identify plants and animals.

Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries

iOS 18.3 makes several changes to ‌Apple Intelligence‌ Notification summaries to address complaints over notifications that have false news headlines.

Notification summaries for the News and Entertainment category have been temporarily disabled, and Apple is working on improvements. The feature will return in a future software update, but for now, these types of notifications will not be aggregated and summarized.

bbc news apple intelligence summaries clean 1
In the Settings app, when a user activates Notification summaries, Apple has added a warning that this is a beta feature, and that errors are a possibility.

notification error warning ios 18 3
For summaries that are still available through ‌‌Apple Intelligence‌‌, the text is italicized as a way to distinguish them from standard notifications.

ios 18 3 notification summary italics
Apple also added an option to manage whether notifications are summarized for an app right from the Lock Screen. To turn off summaries from the Lock Screen, swipe to the left on a Notification summary and then tap on options to get to the menu to disable it on a per-app basis.

Calculator

Apple made a change to the Calculator app, returning a feature that was removed with ‌iOS 18‌. You can once again tap the equals sign twice to repeat the last mathematical operation.

iOS 18 Calculator Feature
Apple removed repeating operations in ‌iOS 18‌, but it's back. Some iPhone owners who used the Calculator app for things like calculating compound interest will now be able to do so again.

Black Unity Wallpaper

The update adds a new wallpaper to go along with a new watch face and new Apple Watch band that were announced today.

Apple 2025 Black Unity Collection

Bug Fixes

There are fixes for a couple of notable bugs.

  • Siri Keyboard - The update addresses a bug that could cause the keyboard to disappear after you typed in a Siri request with the Type to ‌Siri‌ feature.
  • Apple Music - iOS 18.3 fixes a bug that could cause audio playback to continue even after the Apple Music app is closed.

Security Updates

iOS 18.3 fixes 25 security vulnerabilities, including one that was actively exploited. A CoreMedia vulnerability could be used to elevate privileges, and Apple is aware of reports that it may have been used on devices running iOS 17.1 or earlier.

A Photos vulnerability could allow an attacker with physical access to an unlocked device to access the ‌Photos‌ app even when the ‌iPhone‌ is locked, and Apple fixed several issues with AirPlay that could allow attackers to execute code or crash apps.

Two kernel vulnerabilities that could let malicious apps gain kernel privileges were addressed, and there are a handful of WebKit fixes for Safari. Given the number of security holes that were patched, it's a good idea to install the software to get the latest fixes.

Related Roundups: iOS 18, iPadOS 18
Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

Popular Stories

apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later

Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
iPhone 16 Battery Life Feature

iOS 26's New Battery Life Mode Available Only on These iPhone Models

Saturday June 21, 2025 9:02 am PDT by
Last week, we reported that iOS 26 introduces an opt-in Adaptive Power Mode on the iPhone, alongside the existing Low Power Mode. Apple says that Adaptive Power Mode can make "small performance adjustments" when necessary to extend an iPhone's battery life, including slightly lowering the display brightness or allowing some activities to "take a little longer." The full description of...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
ios 26 call holding

iOS 26 Beta is Hiding a New Ringtone — Here's What It Sounds Like

Thursday June 19, 2025 7:25 pm PDT by
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26. The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now. It...
apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...
General Spotify Feature

Spotify Preparing to Launch Long-Awaited Lossless Audio Tier on iPhone

Thursday June 19, 2025 1:46 pm PDT by
Spotify appears to be gearing up to launch its long-awaited lossless music tier. Chris Messina (via TechCrunch) and Spicetify (via The Verge) spotted new lossless references within the code for Spotify's desktop app and web player. With assistance from Aaron Perris, MacRumors has confirmed that the latest beta of the Spotify app for the iPhone also contains new lossless-related code....
airpods 4 blue

Apple Offering Free AirPods — Here's How to Get Them

Tuesday June 17, 2025 6:33 am PDT by
Apple is running a new promotion that offers free AirPods to qualifying customers. Now through September 30, college and university students in the U.S., Canada, Mexico, and Singapore can receive free AirPods 4 when they purchase an eligible new Mac or iPad from Apple. AirPods Pro 2 are also available at a discount. If you do not want AirPods, the promotion also offers various other...
Wi Fi WiFi General Feature

iOS 26 Adding Two New Wi-Fi Features, Allows AirDrop and AirPlay Alternatives

Saturday June 21, 2025 7:02 am PDT by
iOS 26 is gaining two new Wi-Fi features, including Captive Assist and Wi-Fi Aware. MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris discovered a reference to Captive Assist within the code for the first iOS 26 developer beta, but Apple has yet to enable the feature. It should be available by the time the software update is released later this year. In his Power On newsletter last month, Bloomberg's...

Top Rated Comments

Henrikr Avatar
21 weeks ago
What an absolute disaster of a launch! As a UK user, I still don’t have access to full AI functionality despite spending a fortune on the new MacBook Pro and iPhone 16 Pro. It’s beyond frustrating that I’m expected to manually download 'Apple Intelligence' components—are we in 2005? To top it off, the download has been stuck at '100% complete' for an entire day. What on earth has happened to Apple?



Attachment Image
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
menist Avatar
21 weeks ago
I will still turn it off, sorry AI is completely useless for me.
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
TigerNike23 Avatar
21 weeks ago
So, unless you have a 15 Pro, 16 or 16 Pro… you get:

(Checks notes)

A bug fix on the Calculator app, other bug fixes, security updates, and some godawful wallpapers.

Great! Thanks Tim Apple!
Score: 15 Votes (Like | Disagree)
zenmacx Avatar
21 weeks ago
Artificial Intelligence remains in its infancy which is to be expected due to the complex nature of it. Having no desire to invest in implementing it until its usefulness and accuracy is improved.

There's no point in paying for subscriptions or even bothering with free versions. Little reason to buy the latest Apple hardware that supports it. Better yet, I will continue to focus on what my various Apple devices do best now.

By taking a wait and see approach there’s an opportunity to save plenty of time and money.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
yustas Avatar
21 weeks ago

What an absolute disaster of a launch! As a UK user, I still don’t have access to full AI functionality despite spending a fortune on the new MacBook Pro and iPhone 16 Pro. It’s beyond frustrating that I’m expected to manually download 'Apple Intelligence' components—are we in 2005? To top it off, the download has been stuck at '100% complete' for an entire day. What on earth has happened to Apple?


Apple Intelligence is an oxymoron, there's nothing intelligent about it. Just use the ChatGPT app for your MAC, it just works.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
trusso Avatar
21 weeks ago
Don't care a jot about "AI" or new "features."

Fix the f***ing bugs. Stop chasing the next shiny thing.

It's pretty f***ing simple, Apple.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)