Apple Intelligence has been the focus of most iOS 18 updates so far, and we’re still waiting on the big Siri overhaul that adds personal context using the data on your phone and scores of new “app intents” that allow Siri to perform actions in apps. Those features are generally expected to come in iOS 18.4, which most believe will be released in March or April. I
The improvements in iOS 18.3 are relatively minor, but welcome, and there are lots of security fixes.
Update January 27: iOS 18.3 has now been released for all compatible iPhones, and iPadOS 18.3 for compatible iPads.
iOS 18.3: New features
Robot Vacuum support: The Home app gains support for robot vacuums (Roomba et al.). The vacuum has to support HomeKit or Matter, of course.
Calculator repeating operations: The calculator app once again allows for repeating operations when you keep pressing the equals button.
Notification Summaries: After complaints about Apple Intelligence notification summaries’ accuracy, Apple is making several changes to make it more obvious when summaries are being used and turning off summaries for News & Entertainment apps. Read more about it here.
iOS 18.3: Release Notes
These are Apple’s official release notes for iOS 18.3.
Visual intelligence with Camera Control (All iPhone 16 models)
- Add an event to Calendar from a poster or flyer
- Easily identify plants and animals
Notification summaries (All iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)
- Easily manage settings for notification summaries from the Lock Screen
- Updated style for summarized notifications better distinguishes them from other notifications by using italicized text as well as the glyph
- Notification summaries for News & Entertainment apps are temporarily unavailable, and users who opt-in will see them again when the feature becomes available
This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:
- Calculator repeats the last mathematical operation when you tap the equals sign again
- 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
iOS 18.3: Security updates
As with all updates, iOS 18.3 includes lots of improvements and bug fixes to improve security. There are 26 such fixes in this release. More information can be found on Apple’s security releases support page.
iOS 18.3: How to install
To get the latest version of iOS 18 on your phone, head over to the Settings app, then General and Software Update. Then follow the prompts to restart and install the update. If you don’t want to wait until the official update arrives, you can install the most recent release candidate, which will be identical to the public release, by turning on Beta Updates in the Software Update tab.
Author: Jason Cross, Senior Editor, Macworld
Jason has written about technology for more than 25 years - first in the gaming press, then focusing on enthusiast PCs and general technology. He enjoys learning how complicated technology works and explaining it in a way anyone can understand.