Apple covered on the early impacts of Apple Intelligence when iOS 18.2 released on iPhones on December 11, simply saying that it would “improve user experiences with iPhone, iPad, and (via macOS Sequoia 15.2) Mac.” Blame the media and social media for the dashed expectations once everyone realized that iOS 18.2 wasn’t the night-and-day technological leap some had almost promised.
Instead, the iPhone-owning universe gave a collective shrug. Apple Intelligence, and by extension most of iOS 18.2, hasn’t radically changed our daily lives or how we use our iPhones, it seems. For those who were expecting the promise to come to fruition with the imminent release of 18.2.1, we have a sobering vision.
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seeing (second hand) is believing
An anonymous social media account revealed the build number of iOS 18.2.1 (22C161), confirming earlier reports that Apple was working on a change to the under-delivered iOS 18.2 update. all by Joe Rossignol at MacRumors.
Rossignol notes that this account has a “proven track record of sharing iOS-related information,” but because the account owner asked MacRumors not to link to his social media posts, the information comes second-hand.
Capping off this iOS update with a “.1” added to the previous version means not expecting any major additional features, just minor fixes to bugs, features, or security issues. “We are not aware of any critical and widespread bugs at this time.” Nightingale writes“but Apple has obviously identified various bugs and/or security vulnerabilities that it wants to fix before iOS 18.3.”
Tenths outings mean big things, right?
Not necessarily. We know that 18.3 is on the way and already in beta testing for developers. What we don’t know is the breadth and depth of the changes in iOS 18.2. So far this seems to be the case minor genmoji and bug fixes. If you expect this big leap in capabilities to happen whenever the public version of iOS 18.3 hits our towers in January or early February, as MacRumors says. Nightingale speculatesexpect to wait a little longer after that.
Are you an enthusiastic beaver who wants to test the iOS 18.3 beta for yourself? You must register with Apple as a developer first, then be approved before you can dive into the settings to enable beta testing new iOS versions before their public releases. If you’re curious enough to try it, remember that beta testing means you’re helping Apple discover and report bugs.
Don’t expect as smooth and stable an experience as you’re used to with public releases. And iOS 18.3 beta is only available for iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone Pro Max or any iPhone 16 series. As they say, good things come to those who wait and buy the latest technology the most expensive every two years.
