Apple has confirmed that iOS 18.1 will be available to everyone next week and its RC version is now available for eligible iPhone users. This update will come along with a big firmware update for AirPods Pro 2 users next week.
Reports from The Verge and The Wall Street Journal have confirmed that the hearing health features for AirPods Pro 2 will launch next week, along with the iOS 18.1 update. Earlier, Apple had only mentioned that iOS 18.1 would come out sometime in October, but now we know it’s happening during the week of October 28.
While Apple hasn’t announced the exact date for the iOS 18.1 release, Bloomberg previously mentioned it might be on October 28.
Before the public release, Apple made the iOS 18.1 Release Candidate (RC) available for developers and public beta testers (discovered by 9to5mac). This RC version has a build number of 22B82.
It is compatible with all iPhones that support the iOS 18 software update, but some of the new Apple Intelligence features will only work on certain models, specifically:
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 16
- iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro
- iPhone 16 Pro Max
Across-the-board, iOS 18.1 is shaping up to be a significant update with a mix of new tools and improvements. Unless something unexpected happens, this Release Candidate should be the final version that gets rolled out to everyone next week.
iOS 18.1 update:
iOS 18.1 will introduce some new features under the brand “Apple Intelligence.” These include Writing Tools, notification summaries, and a new “Clean Up” option in the Photos app. There will also be many other features that aren’t part of Apple Intelligence.
In addition to the Apple Intelligence features and the new hearing health updates for AirPods Pro 2, iOS 18.1 will include changes to the Control Center, improvements for iPhone Mirroring, and features for recording and transcribing calls. A significant update is that iOS 18.1 will allow third-party developers to access the iPhone’s NFC chip for the first time.
