iOS 18.3 is expected to be released to the public next week, after beta testing since mid-December. Although the software update is relatively minor, it still includes a handful of new features, changes, and bug fixes for iPhones.
Below we summarize everything new in iOS 18.3.
Changes to the notification summary
Apple Intelligence notification summaries for news apps are temporarily unavailable in iOS 18.3, after the feature inaccurately summarized some news stories.
Starting with iOS 18.3, summary notifications have italicized text, which visually distinguishes them from regular notifications. Apple also promised that improvements to notification summaries would be made in a future iOS update.
Finally, iOS 18.3 lets you easily manage notification summary settings from the lock screen.
Visual Intelligence Upgrades
All four iPhone 16 models come with a camera control button that enables visual intelligence, a new feature that can provide information about items or locations in a person’s environment. For example, Apple says users can click and hold the camera to view the hours or ratings of a restaurant they’re passing by.
iOS 18.3 includes some 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 model.
Improved Calculator app
iOS 18.3 reintroduces a small but useful Calculator app feature that was removed in an earlier software update. Now, when you tap the equal sign a second time, the Calculator app repeats the last math operation. This feature is useful for calculating compound interest or other repeated operations.
Black Unit (maybe)
In the tvOS 18.3 release candidate for Apple TV, MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris discovered a “UNITY25” reference in the update code. In each of the last four years, Apple has announced a Black Unity campaign, which typically included a new Apple Watch band, new watch face, and matching iPhone wallpaper.
It’s unclear what Apple might have planned for Black Unity in 2025. Although the tvOS 18.3 code suggests something might happen, the iOS 18.3 release candidate notes don’t mention anything. An announcement is likely by next week, if it is made.
More
iOS 18.3 fixes these two bugs related to Siri and Apple Music:
- Fixes an issue where the keyboard may disappear when launching a typed Siri query
- Fixes an issue where audio continues playing until the end of the song even after closing Apple Music
Apple also added references to support for robot vacuums in the Home app to iOS 18.3’s code, but it appears that feature never made it live. Apple’s website says the feature will be available in a future update, so we may see it with iOS 18.4.
We previously shared Apple’s full release notes for iOS 18.3.
