Today, Apple released beta 3 for iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. These updates include several important new Apple Intelligence features that weren't available in previous betas. One such addition is an expansion of arguably Apple Intelligence's killer feature: notification summaries.
All app notifications overview
In previous versions of iOS 18.1, notification summaries were available in two Apple apps:
Despite being limited to just two apps, these Apple Intelligence summaries have made the most difference to me in everyday use.
With Beta 3 today, notification summaries are now available to any app on your device, including Apple's own system apps, but also, importantly, third-party apps.
Summary uses AI to intelligently capture the content of a particular message, email, news headline, etc., and then delivers that summary in a notification, which in my usage scenario makes notifications much more useful than they were before.
Once you install Beta 3, your device will be taken through a setup walkthrough that asks if you want to enable notification summaries for all apps.
Regardless of your selection, however, you can optionally turn individual app summaries on or off in Settings ⇾ Notifications ⇾ Preview Summary.
So if you want summaries for certain notifications and standard notification content for others, you can choose on a per-app basis.
AI capabilities add value every day
As I've written before, Notification Summary is my favorite Apple Intelligence feature so far, and I'm happy to see more apps bringing it to the table today.
Apple Intelligence is still in beta, so of course the summaries aren't always completely accurate. My brother once messaged me about his baby son, but Apple's summary referred to his “daughter.”
But for the most part, notification summaries are a truly valuable addition across your iPhone, iPad, and even Apple Watch.
What do you think about this Apple Intelligence summary? Was it helpful? Let us know in the comments.
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