If therumors are to be believed, Apple Intelligence features will finally be arriving onsupported iPhoneson October 28, as part of the iOS 18.1 update. In the meantime, Apple continues to add new features to theiOS 18.1 beta releases, as it irons out the final few bugs before the official release.
The latest version of the iOS 18.1 public beta has now arrived, and it brings a few new features to the iPhone. While none of them are hugely ground-breaking, there are some welcome changes, including support for sleep apnea notifications for beta users, and some useful new Control Center controls. If you’re thinking aboutupdating to the latest beta, here are five of the new features added in iOS 18.1 beta 3.
My 7 favorite iOS 18 features you probably don’t know about
There’s a lot of hyped up features in iOS 18, but here are some of my favorite ones that got overlooked.
1Sleep apnea notifications for beta users
Beta users can finally set up sleep apnea notifications
Most of the time, installing beta versions of iOS gives you access to features that other iPhone users don’t yet have. However, in some cases, beta versions can be missing some features. Until the release of iOS 18.1 public beta 3, this was the case with sleep apnea notifications. The latest models of Apple Watch candetect signs of sleep apneaand alert you if they are found, with alerts appearing on your watch and iPhone.
If you’ve been using the beta versions of iOS 18 and watchOS 11, you weren’t able to set up sleep apnea notifications at all untli now.
If you’ve been using the beta versions of iOS 18 and watchOS 11, you weren’t able to set up sleep apnea notifications at all until now. This has finally been addressed in iOS 18.1 beta 3, with the option to set up sleep apnea alerts now appearing in the Health app on your iPhone, provided you have a supported Apple Watch. Sleep apnea notifications are currently available on the Apple Watch Series 9,Apple Watch Series 10, and Apple Watch Ultra 2.
2A new way to share Apple Music content to TikTok
The TikTok integration lets you share straight from the Music app
In iOS 13, Apple added the ability to share music from Apple Music to an Instagram story directly from the Music app. Using this feature creates an image of the song or album you want to share, with background colors to match the song or album artwork. You can then post the image to Instagram with just a tap, to let people see what music you’re currently enjoying.
In iOS 18.1 beta 3, you now have the option to do something similar in order to share music from Apple Music to your TikTok account. The feature works in a similar way; in the Music app, tap themenuicon and selectShare SongorShare Album. you’re able to then selectTikTokfrom the share sheet options and a post will automatically be generated.
3New controls for Control Center
New Measure and Level controls plus two new connectivity controls
One of the most useful features in iOS 18 is the ability tocustomize the Control Centermore than has ever been possible before. You can add multiple pages of controls, so that everything you could ever want is just a swipe away.
In iOS 18.1 beta 3, some new controls have been added. The Measurecontrol opens the Measure app, allowing you to take measurements using your iPhone’s camera. The Levelcontrol opens the Measure app directly to the Level tab, which allows you to use your iPhone as a spirit level by rotating it until the circles on the screen align. When they do, your iPhone is perfectly horizontal.
One of thebiggest gripeswith the initial release of iOS 18 was that a lot of the connectivity controls were grouped inside a block of controls which meant that you needed to perform additional taps to access them.
Some of the connectivity options were missing dedicated controls for you to add to the Control Center. In iOS 18.1 beta 2, Wi-Fi and VPN controls were added.was the last control from this group that was missing its own dedicated control, and in iOS 18.1 beta 3, it finally gets one, meaning you can ditch the connectivity group completely and just add the controls that you want. There’s also a dedicated Satellitecontrol, too.
This is how I customize iOS 18’s iPhone Control Center to be more efficient
iOS 18 now lets users better curate their Control Center to make it truly their own.
4Badges for group notifications that haven’t been summarized
See at a glance how many notifications are in a stack
iOS 18.1 adds the firstApple Intelligence featuresto the iPhone. One of those features provides summaries of groups of notifications. If you have multiple notifications from the same app, Apple Intelligence will create a summary of what the notifications say and add it to the top of the stack, so you can see what the notifications say without having to open and read them all.
These summarized notifications also include a badge that shows how many notifications are in the stack. In iOS 18.1 beta 3, this badge is now added to all stacks of notifications, regardless of whether or not they have an Apple Intelligence summary. It makes it easy to tell if you’ve only received a few notifications from a specific app, or if there are a significant number of them.
5Searching in Settings offers a tip on getting help from Siri
Siri is now capable of giving step-by-step instructions for some tasks
One of the most exciting changes in iOS 18 is that Siri finally gets a long-awaited upgrade. Eventually, Siri will be able to perform actions deep within apps and even across different apps, allowing you to ask things such as “make this photo brighter and then send it to Dad in Messages.” Siri will make the edits and then send the image for you without you having to lift a finger. At least, that’s the plan.
One feature that is available in iOS 18.1 is the ability to ask Siri how to perform certain actions on your iPhone. For example, you can ask Siri how to send a scheduled message, and she will produce a list of step-by-step instructions.
Currently, however, Siri has a few improvements, such as a better understanding of context during conversations, but most of the best features are still missing. One feature that’s available in iOS 18.1 is the ability to ask Siri how to perform specific actions on your iPhone. For example, you can ask Siri how to send a scheduled message, and she will produce a list of step-by-step instructions.
In iOS 18.1 beta 3, there’s a new tip that pops up when you search in the Settings apps. The tip explains this “Ask Siri How” feature and tells you what you need to do to get Siri to provide step-by-step instructions. This isn’t a huge update, but it’s useful for people who weren’t aware of Siri’s new capabilities and could save people from hunting endlessly through the Settings app trying to figure things out.
Some of Siri’s best Apple Intelligence features won’t arrive until next year
We’ll have to wait until next spring to access some of Siri’s new abilities.
