Apple is gearing up to release iOS 18.3, its latest software update for iPhone, and it could hit devices as early as the last week of January. While it's not as feature-packed as the previous updates for iOS 18.2 and iOS 18.1 were, there are still a few important changes you'll want to know about.
Aside from the return of a critical Calculator feature, most of the changes in iOS 18.3 apply to iPhone models that support Apple Intelligence. Those would be the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and all iPhone 16 models. The new emoji from Unicode 16 are also missing from this update but are expected to arrive with iOS 18.4.
Note: Many of these features and changes also apply to iPads running iPadOS 18.3 and Macs running macOS Sequoia 15.3.
Apple Intelligence Enabled by Default
According to Apple's release notes for developers, you'll automatically be opted into Apple Intelligence after upgrading a supported device to iOS 18.3. That way, you have immediate access to all of Apple Intelligence's features. If you don't like Apple's generative artificial intelligence tools, you can opt out via Settings » Apple Intelligence & Siri.
Add Events with Visual Intelligence
Visual Intelligence was introduced with iOS 18.2 for iPhone models with Camera Control, but one thing that didn't make the cut was the ability to add events to Calendar after scanning event details from a poster, flyer, or other sources. That ability is now available with iOS 18.3. To be fair, you could add an event to Calendar manually whenever a date or time appeared in the Visual Intelligence capture, but the process is now streamlined with a Create Event action item.
Identify Plants and Animals with Visual Intelligence
Another missing thing from Visual Intelligence was the ability to identify plants and animals, which is also now included in iOS 18.3's update.
Updated Style for Notification Summaries
Notification Summaries, another big part of Apple Intelligence, are more visually different on the Lock Screen and in the Notification Center on an iPhone 16 model, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max. Before, the summary glyph would help you tell them apart from regular notifications. That's still the case, but now summaries are also italicized.
Manage Notification Summaries from the Lock Screen
Notification Summaries can also now be turned off per app from the Lock Screen or Notification Center. On an iPhone 16 model, iPhone 15 Pro, or iPhone 15 Pro Max, swipe left on the notification summary, select Options, then choose Turn Off [App] Summaries. You may also see options to turn summaries on when they are off for an app.
Notification Summaries Onboarding
When you first enable Notification Summaries via Settings » Notifications » Summarize Notifications, iOS 18.3 clarifies that it's still a beta feature. You'll see a new onboarding screen, explaining:
You can use Apple Intelligence to summarize content in notifications you receive, making them easier to scan at a glance.
This beta feature will occasionally make mistakes that could misrepresent the meaning of the original notification.
After continuing with Choose Notifications to Summarize, you'll turn on summaries for News & Entertainment, Communication & Social, and/or All Other Apps.
Unavailable Alerts for Notification Summaries
Notification Summaries rolled out with iOS 18.1, and aside from the benefits shown above, iOS 18.3 has actually taken away summaries for news and entertainment apps. This is the result of inaccurate summaries, which BBC News brought to Apple's attention.
However, iOS 18.3 does include a new way to help you identify which apps can use summaries and which cannot.
Go to Settings » Notifications » Summarize Notifications (you'll also see it with the onboarding process outlined above) or Settings » Apps » [App Name] » Summarize Notifications. You'll see a "Temporarily Unavailable" notice if it's not working. If toggled on, summaries will appear again when the feature becomes available.
Equals Sign (=) Repeats Last Operation in Calculator
When iOS 18 first came out, the new Calculator design, as impressive as it was, left out a feature we had before: being able to hit the equals sign (=) to perform the last mathematical operation again. Now, that ability is finally back with iOS 18.3.
Crop Warning for PDF Screenshots
Whenever you crop a full-page screenshot of a PDF, the screenshot service will warn you that the cropped area may be accessible in some apps. Here's the full warning:
The cropped content is not removed from the PDF.
Content outside the cropped area won't be visible in most PDF viewers, but it can be made visible in some apps.
AE/AF Lock Change for Camera Control
On iPhone 16 models, visit Settings » Camera » Camera Control, and you'll see that the AE/AF Lock introduced in iOS 18.2 is now called Lock Focus and Exposure, making it much clearer. It also includes a description for it:
Lightly press and hold, then continue touching Camera Control to maintain focus and exposure.
New Genmoji Button in Messages
On devices that support Apple Intelligence, to make creating Genmoji easier, you'll now find a Genmoji option behind the Apps (+) button.
Robot Vacuum Support
Apple announced when iOS 18 first came out that Home would support robot vacuums, and its webpage for the Home app says it's coming in early 2025. Well, that finally materialized with iOS 18.3. As long as the robot vac supports HomeKit or Matter, like iRobot's Roomba Combo 10 Max Robot, it should work with Home. And controlling your robot vac with Siri only works in U.S. English right now.
Bug Fixes
As with any iOS software update, Apple has included a few bug fixes, all listed below.
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.
Security Updates
As with bug fixes, patches for recently discovered security vulnerabilities will undoubtedly be included. Apple does not list these updates until after the stable update goes live, and we'll add them here when that happens.
Other Features
Brazil users can now enable sleep apnea notifications.
Hints to new features such as an Accessibility features override switch, a new Invites app, new intelligence sounds for VoiceOver, new zoom transitions in Shortcuts and Messages, feedback options for Notification Summaries, Apple Intelligence shortcut actions, additional screen recording/streaming features, and more.
Don't Miss: Your iPhone Is Getting New Emoji Soon — Meet the Characters Arriving in iOS 18.4
Cover photo and screenshots by Gadget Hacks