The iOS 18.1 Release Candidate Has Arrived for Beta Testers

Apple has just seeded the final release candidate (RC) version of iOS 18.1 to both developers and public beta testers simultaneously, signalling that the company is indeed on track to release iOS 18.1 to the public on schedule.

Earlier this month, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reported that iOS 18.1, with its highly anticipated Apple Intelligence features, was slated for an October 28 release. That date was seemingly confirmed this morning when several other media outlets, including TechCrunch, The Verge, and The Wall Street Journal (Apple News+), reported that Apple will roll out the new AirPods Pro hearing health features it announced during September’s Glowtime event next week alongside iOS 18.1.

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While they didn’t list a specific date beyond “next week,” today’s Release Candidate strongly suggests that October 28 will be the date. Apple typically publishes RC builds a week before the final public release.

If all goes well (which it typically does), today’s RC build will be bit-for-bit identical to what goes out to the public next week. This not only allows beta testers to get an early peek at the final release, but it also means that we now have the official word from Apple on what to expect in iOS 18.1.

What’s Coming in iOS 18.1

As you’re probably aware by now, the primary focus in iOS 18.1 will be adding Apple Intelligence features to those recent devices that can handle them — the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the entire iPhone 16 lineup. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t some new features for older iPhone models.

Every iPhone capable of running iOS 18 can be updated to iOS 18.1, encompassing the iPhone XS/XR and all later models. If you’ve been waiting to pull the trigger on iOS 18.0, you’ll be able to skip it and update directly to iOS 18.1 when it arrives.

Here’s what’s coming to virtually all iPhone models in iOS 18.1:

1. Call Recording in the Phone app: Some mistook this for an Apple Intelligence feature due to how Apple presented it at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) and the early iOS 18.1 betas being limited Apple Intelligence-capable devices. However, all iPhone models will be able to record calls using the iOS 18.1 Phone app. Recordings will be saved and transcribed in Apple Notes. Devices with Apple Intelligence will also be able to summarize those transcripts, but that’s the only feature that requires Apple Intelligence — and you can generate those summaries in the Notes app on other Apple Intelligence-capable devices, such as M-chip-powered iPad or Mac.
2. AirPods Hearing Health: The new Hearing Test, Hearing Aid, and Hearing Protection features are more about the second-generation AirPods Pro than the iPhone. However, iOS 18.1 provides the software updates in the Health app needed to access and analyze these features. You’ll need a firmware update for the AirPods Pro (7B19, to be precise); this should be installed automatically in the background once you’ve updated to iOS 18.1, but it may take a few hours before it shows up.
3. New Control Center Buttons: Six new built-in controls are available for the iOS 18.1 Control Center, including standalone connectivity buttons for Wi-Fi, VPN, AirDrop, and Satellite, plus Measure and Level buttons to quickly access the built-in Measure app.
4. Control Center Reset: A new option in Settings > Control Center lets you return to the default Control Center layout.
5. Natural Language App Store Search: According to Apple, you’ll be able to use natural language to find what you’re looking for in the App Store more easily.
6. Game Center Invites can be sent from the Contacts app and Friend Suggestions. Incoming invites can be seen in the inbox in Settings.
7. RCS Business Messaging expands RCS support by letting you connect with businesses over RCS.
   

One feature discovered in the iOS 18.1 betas that isn’t mentioned in the lease notes is sharing from Apple Music to TikTok. It’s unclear whether Apple overlooked that in the release notes or if it’s been pulled from the RC build.

iOS 18.1 also includes a few bug fixes related to Podcast episodes being incorrectly marked as played, digital car keys not working after being restored from backup or transferred from another iPhone, and 4K/60fps videos stuttering during playback if they were recorded while the iPhone was warm.

In addition to Apple Intelligence features, iPhone 16 users will also get a fix for unexpected reboots and an option in the new Camera Control to switch to the selfie camera.

Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1

There are few surprises about what we can expect from Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1. Both iPhone 15 Pro models and all iPhone 16 models will gain the first set of AI capabilities, but there’s still much more to come in iOS 18.2 and beyond.

Here’s what Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1 includes, according to Apple’s release notes:

1. Writing Tools: These work nearly everywhere on the iPhone to let you proofread your text, rewrite blocks to text to change the tone, style, or length, and create high-quality summaries of any longer blocks of text.
2. Siri: While the most significant changes to Siri are yet to arrive, iOS 18.1 provides a few early improvements. These include the new user interface that shows a glowing light around the edge of your screen when you activate the voice assistant and the ability to more easily type your requests to Siri by double-tapping the bottom of your screen. Siri can also better understand you if you stumble over words or change your words mid-sentence. Siri should also now maintain conversational context between multiple requests so you won’t have to repeat yourself as often, and Siri’s voice has been improved to sound more natural/
3. Siri Product Knowledge: You can more naturally ask Siri for help with your Apple products and get step-by-step instructions on performing many different tasks.
4. Photos Search: You’ll be able to find photos and videos by describing what you’re looking for and do much the same to create Memory movies.
5. Photos Clean Up: The AI Clean Up tool will help you remove objects in your photos.
6. Notification Summaries: Glanceable summaries will give you a much better idea of what your notifications are about. These are particularly useful when you have several stacked notifications from a messaging conversation.
7. Smart Reply in Mail and Messages: More intelligent suggested responses will help you quickly reply to messages with a single tap.
8. Summarized and Priority Mail: Summaries will also appear as message previews in Apple Mail, and a new Priority section will use AI to put the most important messages at the top of your inbox.
9. Summarized Audio Transcripts:Transcriptions of audio recordings and call recordings in Apple Notes will be summarized to give you an overview of what they’re about.
   

These are just the first phase of Apple Intelligence. Other features like ChatGPT integration, Image Playground, Genmoji, and Siri with personal context should arrive in future iOS 18 point releases. Apple hasn’t said exactly when these are coming, but most sources suggest we’ll see the AI image generation tools and ChatGPT in iOS 18.2; the smarter Siri won’t likely arrive before iOS 18.3 early next year.

At this stage, Apple Intelligence is available only on devices set to US English. However, Apple has promised that other English dialects will arrive in December, likely as part of iOS 18.2, and several more languages will be added in early 2025.