Although we are still waiting for Apple Intelligence in the Netherlands, iOS 18.2 has many new iOS features and more will be added soon.
New iOS features in 2025
The new iOS features also have to do with Apple Intelligence. Hopefully, Apple Intelligence will also be available in the Netherlands by the time these features appear.
Upgrades for Siri
According to Apple, Siri has now entered a new era. iOS 18.1 brought a new Siri design and a number of improvements, iOS 18.2 added ChatGPT integration, but some of the biggest changes come in iOS 18.4. Siri will then receive three major upgrades, including:
- New app actions: Siri can then perform hundreds of new actions in Apple apps, without having to open those apps. In addition, it will App Intents provide the same capability to supported third-party apps.
- Personal context: Just like with a real assistant, you can refer to messages you have received, calendar appointments and personal information. This way you get really intelligent help from Siri.
- Screen awareness: Siri knows what’s on your screen. This way you can easily ask for action to be taken on something you are looking at.
Combined with support for ChatGPT, these new iOS features should give Siri a powerful new user experience.
Priority notifications
Apple Intelligence has already revolutionized the way notifications work, but more is about to change. There will be priority notifications. Apple itself explains it as follows:
Priority notifications appear at the top of the stack, so you can see at a glance what to pay attention to. In addition, notifications are summarized so that you can scan them much faster.
Apple’s image shows that you can see several of your most important notifications at once. A nice improvement for managing iPhone notifications.
New emojis
With Genmoji you can now create any missing emoji you want. But Apple nevertheless plans to continue adding new built-in emoji to the emoji keyboard on your iPhone. The next set of emojis is part of the new iOS features and is expected in iOS 18.3 or 18.4.
New drawing style in Image Playground
Apple has added a brand new app to the iPhone home screen in iOS 18.2 (unfortunately not yet in the Netherlands): Image Playground. This AI tool allows you to create original images using a text command.
Currently, Image Playground creates images in two styles: Animation and Illustration. But a third style will be added soon: Sketch. You can apply the new style to existing images in your library, but also use it for new creations.
Robot vacuum cleaners in the Home app
A new device category is coming to Apple’s Home app, namely robot vacuum cleaners. Originally one of the iOS features targeted for iOS 18.2, the iOS 18.3 beta shows that the next software update will add support for robot vacuums.
Once iOS 18.3 is released and installed on your iPhone, you can use a compatible robot vacuum to control your device directly from the Home app or with Siri commands.
Even more iOS features
The features mentioned are only a fraction of what is coming in 2025. Apple will undoubtedly have a number of surprises in store for iOS 18.3 and 18.4. During the WWDC in June, more will become clear about what is coming in iOS 19 later in 2025.
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