iOS 18.3 introduces two updates to the camera control on the iPhone 16.

iOS 18.3 is coming soon. It was released as an RC beta version today. According to the update release notes, iOS 18.3 plans to bring two improvements: better control buttons for the iPhone 16 camera and visual intelligence.

Visual Intelligence in iOS 18.3 Can Do Two New Things

In iOS 18.2, Apple introduced visual intelligence into the camera controls of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro.

This feature allows you to open a special AI-driven camera mode by long-pressing the camera control button to interact with the world around you.

Now, iOS 18.3 has added two new features to visual intelligence:

1. Your iPhone can now add events to your calendar when it detects dates on posters or brochures.
2. "Visual intelligence can now identify plants and animals."

These features were previously demonstrated by Apple, but iOS 18.3 is the first time they are being provided for camera controls.

The increased relevance to Apple apps suggests that the usefulness of camera controls is being demonstrated.

Current visual recognition relies heavily on ChatGPT and Google for providing a lot of information, but one of the most powerful uses I have experienced is when it provides integration with Apple apps.

For example, when you point your iPhone at a restaurant or business, Google Maps information for that location will be displayed.

Adding events to the Calendar app is another great example. And I hope that such integrations increase significantly over the next few months and years, helping visual intelligence become a bigger asset.

In iOS 18.3, besides the upgrade to camera control, there are also changes to Apple Intelligence notification summaries and several bug fixes, including a fix for issues with the flashlight app.

Are you using visual intelligence in your iPhone camera controls? Are you excited about these changes? Let us know in the comments.

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