Today Apple released the release candidate for iOS 18.3, this follows last Thursday’s release of iOS 18.3 Developer Beta 3. In its release notes, Apple states that the update brings improvements to visual intelligence, as well as the boilerplate “other improvements.” , bug fixes and security updates.
But there’s more than meets the eye when it comes to this iOS 18.3 release candidate. Beneath the surface, there’s new evidence of upcoming iOS 18.4 Siri updates, future changes with screen recording/streaming, and new animations for shortcuts and messages. In this hands-on video, we take a look at what’s new in iOS 18.3 RC. Make sure to subscribe to us on YouTube for more decoded iOS.
What’s new in the iOS 18.3 release candidate
iOS 18.3 RC comes with a build number 22D60 and was made available to developers and public beta testers on January 21, 2025.
On the outside, iOS 18.3 isn’t as feature-rich as previous versions, like iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2, but that’s historically the same when it comes to iOS x.3 versions. That being said, there are quite a few changes under the hood in iOS 18.3, as well as a fair share of user-facing updates.
Visual intelligence
A new feature for iPhone 16 users lets you add an event to the calendar from a poster or flyer and easily identify plants and animals. I tested both and they both worked as expected.
Summary of notifications
Arguably the biggest “feature” of iOS 18.3 was revealed last week with the updated notification summaries. Apple now makes it very clear that this feature is a beta, and in order to avoid issues with so-called AI hallucinations, it has disabled summaries for the entire News & Entertainment app category. It’s a pretty drastic measure, but it’s necessary given the type of fake headlines this feature was generating for leading news services like BBC News and the New York Times. For more details, be sure to watch our full iOS 18.3 beta 3 overview:
The calculator repeats the last mathematical operation
This feature appeared in previous beta versions of iOS 18.3, but it will definitely be a hit once iOS 18.3 is released to the public. As you could with iOS versions prior to iOS 18, you can now continuously press the equal sign to repeat math operations.
New zoom transition in Shortcuts also in the works for Messages
iOS 18.3 hints at new transition animations for Shortcuts and the Messages app. Watch the embedded video at the top of the page for a hands-on look at the new Zoom animation in action. It’s a small but nice change.
Tips on Apple Intelligence in Shortcuts
So far, Apple Intelligence has not been integrated into Shortcuts, but it appears that Apple is working on this integration according to the new strings found in the iOS 18.3 code.
Upcoming Screen Recording/Broadcasting Features
It’s not yet available in iOS 18.3, but we’ve seen new details about the upcoming screen recording and streaming features. In a future update, users will be able to do the following:
- Record using audio from a stereo microphone
- View a live camera overlay using the picture-in-picture UI
- Have HDR support for screen recording
Take from 9to5Mac
iOS 18.3, while not introducing major features like the previous two big iOS updates, does introduce some significant changes. These include both user-facing features and under-the-hood updates that hint at future iOS updates and hardware. We’ll be back next week with a full rundown of everything new once iOS 18.3 is released to the public. In the meantime, share your thoughts below!
