iOS Update Green Light program: iOS and iPadOS 18.1

4 min read

Apple released iOS and iPadOS 18.1 for iPhone and iPad, which includes Apple’s new Apple Intelligence (AI) capabilities for compatible devices. This adds new writing tools, an improved Siri experience, summaries and smart replies for Mail and Messages and Photos app enhancements (see a complete list of what’s new below). Like any software update, we recommend waiting until your app or accessory developer has time to test it out and verify there are no compatibility issues.

iOS 18.1 Release Notes – Apple Intelligence (All iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)

Writing Tools
– Writing Tools are available nearly everywhere you type, allowing you to rewrite, proofread, and summarize text right in the app you’re working in
– Rewrite suggests different versions of your text so you can choose which combination of flow and wording you like best
– Proofread lets you view suggested improvements to what you’re writing, like grammar fixes and language refinements
– Summarize allows you to select text wherever you’re writing and generate a high-quality summary

Siri
– A new look and feel includes a glowing light that wraps around the edge of your screen, animates responsively to the sound of your voice, and lets you keep scrolling or typing while you talk to Siri
– Type to Siri when you don’t want to speak a request out loud by double tapping at the bottom of the screen
– Richer language understanding enables Siri to follow along if you stumble over your words or change your mind mid-sentence
– Conversational context is maintained over the course of a session, so you can refer more naturally to something you said in a recent request or something Siri mentioned in a recent response
– Product knowledge helps you get answers to thousands of questions about the features and settings on your Apple products
– Voice enhancements make Siri sound more natural, expressive, and clear

Photos
– Photos search lets you find photos and videos simply by describing what you’re looking for
– Clean Up removes distractions in your photos
– Memory movies can be created by describing the story you want to see

Notifications
– Notification summaries make it easy to catch up on your notifications with a glanceable summary of the most important information
– Reduce Interruptions is a new Focus that ensures the most urgent notifications get through to you while silencing potential distractions
– Smart Reply in Mail and Messages help you quickly respond to messages with suggested responses
– Priority messages in Mail understands the content of your messages and prioritizes those that require your attention, displaying them at the top of your inbox
– Transcription summaries in Notes give you an intelligently created summary of the transcript from your audio recording or call recording

Phone
– Call recordings and transcriptions let you record live calls and transcribe them in the Notes app, with an automatic announcement that the call is being recorded

Camera
– Camera Control can quickly switch to the front TrueDepth Camera (iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max)
– Spatial photo capture, along with spatial video capture, is available in a new Spatial camera mode (iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)

AirPods
– Hearing Test feature provides scientifically-validated hearing test results from the comfort of home (intended for users 18 years or older)
– Hearing Aid feature provides personalized, clinical-grade assistance that is automatically applied to sounds in your environment as well as music, videos, and calls (intended for users 18 years or older with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss)
– Hearing Protection feature helps users minimize exposure to loud environmental noise across listening modes (available in the United States and Canada)
– Features require AirPods Pro 2 with firmware version 7B19 or later

This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:
– Control Center has new options to add connectivity controls individually and reset your configuration
– RCS Business Messaging lets you connect with businesses over RCS (requires carrier support)
– App Store search lets you use natural language to find what you’re looking for more easily
– Game Center friend invites can be sent directly from the Contacts app and Friend Suggestions, and receivers can see the invites in the inbox in Settings
– Fixes an issue in Podcasts where unplayed episodes are marked as played
– Fixes an issue where videos recorded at 4K 60 while the device is warm could experience stutter while scrubbing the video playback in Photos
– Fixes an issue where digital car keys may not unlock or start a vehicle with passive entry after restoring from a backup or transferring directly from another iPhone
– Fixes an issue where iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro models may unexpectedly restart

14 replies
  1. M. A.
    M. A. says:

    Great article explaining the updates; however, unless I missed something … somewhere, I do not see a purpose in this article. Here is what I mean:
    It gives mention of a “program” geared to help ensure our aviation apps are at maximum performance. Yet, how can a person check their individual iPads if there isn’t a means in doing so?
    In other words, how is this “program” supposed to work if one cannot download anything?
    Thank you and stay healthy.

    Reply
    • Bill Crawford
      Bill Crawford says:

      I updated my IPAD PRO to 16.2 and at least the trial version of Iflygps seems to function. But, I had the same reaction as to ponder why Iflygps was not on the list. IFly works with EIS and as far as I know Levil products. I am not a reliable source as I did not think to check all of IFly’s features specifically against the IOS.

      Reply
  2. Briano Santos
    Briano Santos says:

    Anyone else having an issue with ForeFlight crashing, whenever cellular data or WiFi is turned on? I just updated FF and the latest iOS last night and now FF keeps crashing. It’s unusable at this point for me.

    Reply
  3. Rudi
    Rudi says:

    I don’t know your feelings, but while I look at iOS 16.1 my feelings are kind of ok’ish, but testing iPadOS 16.1 the pictures turns black – that one hit the wrong exit and drives towards Vista for iPads …

    Reply
  4. Charles
    Charles says:

    I just read about the RSR update. Are you going to be treating it like prior updates and test before greenlighting it as in all other prior updates. Referring to IPadOS. 16.4.1 a
    Thanks

    Reply

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