Article Summary
Apple's newly released iOS 18.3 update is here, bringing in fantastic features that enhance your smartphone experience. Highlights include Visual Intelligence upgrades like automatic recognition of event dates from pictures, simplifying your calendar updates! The Apple Intelligence feature also shines by allowing easier notification grouping and introduces italicized listings for better distinction. How do you envision using these innovative functionalities? We're eager to know your thoughts! Other notables include camera control enhancements, the return of the calculator's equal feature, and the ability for your camera to identify plants and animals. With these advancements, plus security upgrades and bug fixes, this rollout ensures your device stays secure and reliable, taking your iOS 18 experience to exhilarating heights. With all these upgrades on your phone, what feature do you wish to explore first? Let us know about your adventures with these updates!

Apple has released iOS 18.3 for iPhone, after 42 days of beta testing. Although this update does not contain many features compared to previous updates iOS 18.2 و iOS 18.1However, it does include some important changes. The most notable element of this update is the return of an important feature in the Calculator app. Most of the other changes in iOS 18.3 only apply to iPhone models that support Apple Intelligence features: the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and all iPhone 16 models.

It is worth noting that the new emojis are not available in this update, and they are expected to be added in the next update, iOS 18.4.

NoteMany of these features and changes are also available on iPads running iPadOS 18.3 and Macs running macOS Sequoia 15.3. Here are the new features and changes in iOS 18.3.

From iPhoneIslam.com, a glowing square with rounded edges displays “18.3” in a multi-color gradient on a dark background, highlighting the latest features of iOS 18.3.


Automatically activate Apple's intelligence

From iPhoneIslam.com, the smartphone's two screens show Settings: The left screen shows General Settings, while the right screen shows "Apple Intelligence & Siri" options, which include language and voice configurations and Siri requests - showing features from the latest iOS 18.3 update.

When you update your iPhone to iOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be automatically turned on, giving you access to all its features right away. If you don't like this feature, you can turn it off in Settings under Apple Intelligence & Siri.


Add events and occasions using visual intelligence

From iPhoneIslam.com, a poster for "Paw Patrol Live! A Mighty Adventure" at Mershon Auditorium, February 15-16, 2025, shows three app screens overlaid on the poster featuring event scheduling updates and improvements with iOS 18.3.

Visual Intelligence was introduced with iOS 18.2 for devices that support camera control. However, in the previous update, there was an issue with adding events and occasions to the calendar when details were erased from stickers or posts.

In the new iOS 18.3 update, the process has become much easier. When you take a photo of an ad or poster with details about an event or event, the system will automatically recognize the dates, times, and important details. Instead of manually adding this information as before, you can now tap the “Create Event” button to add all the details directly to your calendar with one tap.

For example, if you take a photo of an art exhibition poster, your phone will recognize the date, time, and location of the exhibition and suggest that you add it as an event to your calendar instantly and easily.


Learn about plants and animals

From iPhoneIslam.com, a smartphone screen shows the iOS 18.3 app identifying a flower. The image on the left shows a pink bell-shaped flower, while on the right, the app suggests it could be a Lady's Glove or a Foxglove, highlighting one of its new features.

Apple has added a new feature that allows you to identify types of plants and animals by photographing them with the phone's camera, as part of its visual intelligence features.


Update notification summaries format

From iPhoneIslam.com, Hughes Fire notice about school evacuation and Nest alert about multiple people detected in dining room. Stay up to date with new features in iOS 18.3 to improve response time and stay informed.

The notification summaries on the Lock Screen and Notification Center on iPhone 16, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max have been updated to italicize, making them easier to distinguish from regular notifications. This feature is part of Apple Intelligence.


Control notification summaries from the lock screen

From iPhoneIslam.com, the smartphone screen shows the iOS 18.3 Notification Center, which displays alerts about California wildfires and related news. Users can manage notifications, mute them, or report an issue using the latest update features to ensure smooth interaction and enhanced feature options.

You can now control notification summaries for each app separately right from the Lock screen or Notification Center. On iPhone 16, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max, all you have to do is swipe left on the summary, select Options, and then turn off app summaries for the specific app. If summaries are off for a specific app, you’ll see options to turn them back on in the same way.


Notification Summaries (in testing)

From iPhoneIslam.com, three smartphone screens showing the Notification Summary settings in iOS 18.3, showing the feature being turned on and selecting specific categories like News, Communications, and Health to update notification summaries.

When you enable Notification Summaries from Settings - Notifications - Notification Summaries, iOS 18.3 will tell you that this feature is still experimental. You’ll see a screen explaining that Apple Intelligence will summarize the content of your notifications to make them easier to read at a glance, with the caveat that this feature can sometimes misunderstand the meaning of the original notification.


Customize unavailable summaries and applications

From iPhoneIslam.com, a screenshot of iPhone notification settings in the latest iOS 18.3 update. The left shows general options like lock screen and banners. The right shows app notifications, including Netflix and NYTimes, with toggles for each feature.

Notification Summaries was introduced with iOS 18.1, and despite the benefits it brought, Apple removed support for summaries for news and entertainment apps in iOS 18.3. This decision was made due to the inaccuracy of the summaries, something that BBC News brought to Apple’s attention. However, iOS 18.3 added a new way to help you identify which apps support summaries and which don’t. To access these settings:

◉ Go to Settings – Notifications – Notification Summary “You will notice this option also during the setup process mentioned above.

◉ Or through Settings - Applications - [application name] - Notification summary.

◉ If you see a “Temporarily unavailable” message, this means that the feature is currently disabled. If you enable it, summaries will appear again once the feature is available.


Calculator app improvements

From iPhoneIslam.com, a series of three screenshots of a smartphone calculator, enhanced with the new feature from the iOS 18.3 update, showing the calculations: 89+65x7=544, 544x7=3,808, and 3,808x7=26,656.

An important feature has returned to the Calculator app with the iOS 18.3 update. You can now press the equal sign (=) to repeat the last calculation, a feature that was previously present and has been brought back again.


Warning when cropping PDF screenshots

From iPhoneIslam.com, a screenshot on a smartphone running iOS 18.3 shows the PDF cutter tool. Two images show the steps for using a wax heater to remove hair and include a pop-up warning about the possibility of seeing the content when cutting.

When you crop a screenshot of a PDF file, you will see a warning that the portion you cropped is still in the file and has not been deleted from the original file. This means that the cropped portion will not appear in most PDF viewers, but it may appear in some other applications.


Camera control update

On iPhone 16 models, the AE/AF Lock feature introduced in iOS 18.2 has been renamed “Lock Focus and Exposure” for clarity. It also has an explanation: Gently press and hold, then continue to touch the camera control to maintain focus and exposure.


New Genmoji Button in Messages

To make creating Genmoji easier, Apple has added a new option in the Messages app. On devices that support Apple Intelligence, you can find the Genmoji option by tapping the (+) button in Messages.


Robotic Vacuum Support

When iOS 18 was released, Apple announced that the Home app would support robot vacuums, and said the feature would be available in early 2025. Now the feature is available with iOS 18.3. If your robot vacuum supports HomeKit or Matter, like the iRobot Roomba Combo 10 Max Robot, you can control it through the Home app.

Currently, controlling vacuums with Siri only works in English (US).


Bug fixes

As with any update, iOS 18.3 includes a bunch of bug fixes, most notably:

◉ Fixed the problem of the keyboard disappearing when using Siri by typing.

◉ Fixed an issue where audio would continue to play even after closing the Apple Music app.


Security updates

The update also includes fixes for recently discovered security vulnerabilities. Details of these updates will be posted later after the stable release.


Other Features

Brazilian users can now enable sleep apnea alerts. This is an important health feature that helps monitor sleep status and alerts the user when breathing problems occur during sleep.

Here are some hints of new features to come:

◉ A key to control accessibility features, making it easy for users to adjust device settings to their needs.

◉ A new invitations app that makes it easy to send and receive electronic invitations.

◉ New smart voices for VoiceOver that help the visually impaired use the device.

◉ New zoom effects in Shortcuts and Messages apps.

◉ Options to provide feedback on notification summaries.

◉ New AI-powered shortcut actions.

◉ Additional screen recording and streaming features.

iOS 18.3 update brings significant improvements with new features that make the user experience smarter and smoother.

What do you think of this update? What features did you like the most? Tell us in the comments.

Source:

ios. gadgethacks

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