New Siri functions and more: What's next with iOS 18 in early 2025

Apple has started external beta testing of iOS 18.3, macOS 15.3 and the corresponding versions of its other in-house operating systems. Developers have been able to install beta 1 of iOS 18.3 on iPhones since Monday evening, with a first public beta expected to follow soon. Following the many functional additions and innovations relating to Apple Intelligence that iOS 18.1 and iOS 18.2 have delivered in recent weeks, Apple is now focusing on fixing bugs and laying the foundation for the next Apple Intelligence level.

In the iOS and iPadOS 18.3 package insert, Apple only lists two bug fixes for the AI functions Writing Tools and Genmoji, which are mainly relevant for app developers. The release notes for macOS 15.3 Sequoia do not currently contain any documented new features or bug fixes. iOS 18.3 appears to lay the foundation for upcoming features, including delayed support for robot vacuum cleaners in Apple Home and new Apple Intelligence features related to Siri. Apple is likely to target the end of January 2025 as the general release date for iOS 18.3 and macOS 15.3.

Functional differences between iPhones, iPads and Macs

At the same time, the manufacturer is providing missing functions on other platforms: From macOS 15.3 onwards, Macs will be able to generate their own emojis using AI for the first time, which was previously only possible on iPhones and iPads. Other Apple Intelligence components such as the generation of photo reviews are still missing in macOS. The email categories in Apple Mail introduced purely on the iPhone with iOS 18.2 are also not included in the first beta of iPadOS 18.3 or macOS 15.3. However, these may follow with a later beta version. The mail categories are currently only available in English. Apple has not yet announced when these will also work in German.

Apple Intelligence is already available on Macs within the EU, but only in English for the time being. Two other important functions remain blocked within the EU: iPhone Mirroring on Macs and screen sharing with remote access on iOS and iPadOS are also not available in macOS 15.3 and iOS 18.3 with Apple accounts assigned to an EU member state. The company has not yet announced when Apple will release these functions in the EU. Apple Intelligence is set to officially arrive on iPhones and iPads in Europe in April 2025, possibly directly in German and probably as part of iOS 18.4.

First renovation measures for Siri

So far, most of the improvements to Siri promised as part of Apple Intelligence are still missing. In future, the voice assistant system will be able to gain a deeper insight into app data and thus the user's personal context, merge the information and control app functions by voice command, for example. Developers must support this in their apps. The implementation of these functions is mainly expected in iOS 18.4, although the first components may appear earlier. A completely new Siri system based on voice models does not appear to follow until iOS 19 in 2026.

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