This week, the Apple blogs discuss the eventuality of the iOS 18.3 software update rolling out to the iPhone. According to Bloomberg’s weekly Apple news roundup, Apple Store employees have been instructed to update phones and devices in preparation for the launch. It isn’t a significant software update, like iOS 18.2 was with Apple Intelligence. But as CNBC notes, the update does flip on Apple Intelligence by default, which means you’ll have to specifically opt-out if you want nothing to do with the company’s version of AI.
iOS 18.3 will enable Apple Intelligence for anyone who successfully installs the software on their devices. “For users new or upgrading to iOS 18.3, Apple Intelligence will be enabled automatically during iPhone onboarding,” Apple writes in its developer notes. This means all iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, and iPhone 16 Pro users—all models compatible with Apple Intelligence—must go to the Settings panel after the update to turn it off. It’s easy enough, but it speaks loudly to the importance of flexing AI muscle within the iOS ecosystem.
Other new features included in iOS 18.3 include various fixes, such as Genmoji and Writing Tools. 9to5Mac also points out that Visual Intelligence is getting a couple of new abilities, which will be easily accessible with the Camera Control button on the iPhone 16 series. The first ability lets you add an event to your calendar if you’re looking at a poster or flyer, and the second enables visual intelligence to identify plants and animals. These features were shown off in previous Apple keynotes. They’re especially prescient in launching now, considering Samsung’s AI push and flexing of its partnership with Google on the Galaxy S25 series.
This iOS 18.3 update will also include a minor update to the Notification Summaries that caused concern earlier this month after they were so bad users couldn’t even trust the headlines pushed through. Apple has since pulled the feature to rein it in, but iOS 18.3 will feature italicized summaries, so you know that Apple Intelligence tried its hand at giving you the gist, not the actual facts.
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