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iOS 18.3 should be released to the public this week, following beta testing since mid-December. While the software update is a relatively minor one, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones.

iOS-18.3-Apple-Intelligence-Color-Palette-Feature.jpg

Below, we recap everything new in iOS 18.3.

Notification Summary Changes

bbc-news-apple-intelligence-summaries-clean-1.jpg
Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries

Apple Intelligence notification summaries for news apps are temporarily unavailable on iOS 18.3, after the feature inaccurately summarized some news stories.

Starting with iOS 18.3, notifications that have been summarized have italicized text, which makes them stand out visually compared to regular notifications. Apple also promised that improvements to notification summaries are coming in a future iOS update.

Last, iOS 18.3 lets you easily manage settings for notification summaries from the Lock Screen.

Visual Intelligence Upgrades

Visual-Intelligence-Feature.jpg

All four iPhone 16 models are equipped with a Camera Control button that enables Visual Intelligence, a new feature that can provide information about items or places in a person's surroundings. For example, Apple says users can click and hold the Camera Control to bring up the hours or ratings for a restaurant that they pass by.

iOS 18.3 includes a few Visual Intelligence upgrades for all iPhone 16 models. First, you can now add an event to the Calendar app from a poster or flyer. Second, Visual Intelligence can now identify animals and plants.

Visual Intelligence is not available on any other iPhone models.

Calculator App Enhancement

iOS-18-Calculator-Feature.jpg

iOS 18.3 reintroduces a small but useful Calculator app function that had been removed in an earlier software update. Now, when you tap the equals sign a second time, the Calculator app repeats the last mathematical operation. This functionality is useful for calculating compound interest or other repeat operations.

Black Unity (Possibly)

Apple-Watch-Black-Unity-Band-2024.jpg

In the tvOS 18.3 Release Candidate for the Apple TV, MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris uncovered a "UNITY25" reference in the update's code. In each of the past four years, Apple announced a Black Unity campaign, and this has typically included a new Apple Watch band, watch face, and a matching iPhone wallpaper.

It is unclear what Apple may be planning for Black Unity in 2025. While the tvOS 18.3 code suggests something might be coming, the iOS 18.3 Release Candidate notes did not mention anything. An announcement is likely by next week, if one is made.

More

iOS 18.3 fixes these two bugs related to Siri and Apple Music:

  • Fixes an issue where the keyboard might disappear when initiating a typed Siri request
  • Resolves an issue where audio playback continues until the song ends even after closing Apple Music
Apple also added references to robot vacuum support in the Home app to iOS 18.3's code, but it seems this functionality never went live. Apple's website says the feature is coming in a future update, so perhaps we will see it with iOS 18.4.

We previously shared Apple's full iOS 18.3 release notes.

Article Link: Apple Expected to Release iOS 18.3 This Week With These New Features
 
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I normally avoid betas (and RC), but I went ahead and installed the 18.3 RC and they finally fixed the Mail issue, where it would use iCloud privacy even if you had it disabled in the mail app. I had to stop using it as it would time out on my personal device, and my company hasn't updated my SE past 18.1.1.

I keep iCloud private relay, and corresponding mail privacy, blocked on my home network since it allows Safari to bypass DNS filtering. Mail privacy and private relay use the same servers; mask.icloud.com and mask-h2.icloud.com.
 
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I have been on the Beta releases and the enhancements to the Visual Intelligence side are handy. Was able to add an event from a poster I passed on the subway a few days ago.

As for the Notification Summaries, will be nice to see how this plays out. Never really had a major issue with them but sometimes they can be hard to grasp what someone is trying to say.
 
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Only the calculation app is useful to me. I might install Gemini for alle the other things not coming to <iphone 16 phones. For me it’s a useless update and they better have called it iOS beta 18.2.2
 
Reportedly this time forcing Apple Intelligence on users, even if it's features are gimmicky, underwhelming and essentially "Squirrel!" distractions.
Should be able to turn it off - but not uninstall - all the while using up (a minimum of) 7GB of local storage, plus whatever it will need in your iCloud account.
It's like they're willing people to not upgrade.
 
Reportedly this time forcing Apple Intelligence on users, even if it's features are gimmicky, underwhelming and essentially "Squirrel!" distractions.
Should be able to turn it off - but not uninstall - all the while using up (a minimum of) 7GB of local storage, plus whatever it will need in your iCloud account.
It's like they're willing people to not upgrade.
Yeah, I’m not going to upgrade at least until we find out how 18.3 works in the real world when it comes to AI.
 
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Reportedly this time forcing Apple Intelligence on users, even if it's features are gimmicky, underwhelming and essentially "Squirrel!" distractions.
Should be able to turn it off - but not uninstall - all the while using up (a minimum of) 7GB of local storage, plus whatever it will need in your iCloud account.
It's like they're willing people to not upgrade.

Apple AI takes iCloud space? I haven't noticed anything myself, but I do have it disabled.

Pretty annoyed that it downloads an AI model, enabled or not. I have almost 190gb free on my 256gb, but still..
 
Irrelevant update for non Apple Intelligence enabled phones (most of us).
And, if I had one, these updates would not work in Argentina.
 
Maybe they could fix the issues with the touch screen randomly not responding, forcing you to reload the app.

That’dddddd be greeeeaaaattttt
 
  • Wow
Reactions: HazeAndHahmahneez
How many of these are actually going to be available in EU?
Not that I would really use them more than 2-3 times after available...
 
Any update on iMessages over Satellite for the UK?

We already have ‘roadside assistance’ over Satelite, but not iMessaging, yet…
 
ENOUGH with the new features. I feel like all I'm doing is complaining over and over again because of the constant bugs. From reading previous posts in this thread, I can see that we all collectively agree there are so many bugs. So now we have more new features... with more new problems... I'm tired.
 
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You might want to take down the photo of Apple Intelligence incorrectly outing Nadal, lol. What a feature.
 
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