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Apple beta test of iOS 18.3 began less than a week after the release of iOS 18.2. It’s not yet clear when we can expect this release to into wide release or what features to expect in it, but it will surely be the first major iOS update of 2025.
Apple Intelligence has been in the midst of peak iOS 18 updates so far, and we’re still waiting for the big Siri redesign that adds private context to your phone’s information and dozens of new “app intents” that let Siri make movements in applications. These features are sometimes expected to be available in iOS 18. 4, which is expected to release in March or April at most. If true, iOS 18. 3 would basically focus on tweaks and innovations to existing features and pause the slow rollout of Apple Intelligence features.
Update January 21: Apple has released the iOS 18.3 release candidate to beta testers. The wide release will probably follow next week.
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: In reaction to court cases over the accuracy of Apple Intelligence’s notification summaries, Apple is making several adjustments to make more use of summaries and disable summaries for news and entertainment apps. Learn more here.
These are Apple’s official notes for iOS 18. 3.
Visual intelligence with Camera Control (All iPhone 16 models)
Notification summaries (all iPhone models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)
This update includes the following and bug fixes:
You’ll need to be registered as an Apple developer. You don’t need to be in the $99 per year developer program to access the developer beta. A free developer account will do. You can get one via Xcode or the Apple Developer app in iOS. Here’s how to do it via the Apple Developer app:
Registered developers can get the public beta by selecting the iOS public beta from the software update screen. It may take a while after registering as a developer for the option to appear in software updates.
The public beta is rarely available yet, but we expect it to arrive in a few days. If you need to be one of the first to check out iOS 18. 3, you can sign up for the public beta test. The procedure for installing a beta version was replaced in iOS 16. 4. This is how the new procedure works now:
It may take a few moments after signing up for the beta option to appear in the software update.
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.
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