iOS 18.1 beta 3 expands Apple Intelligence notification summaries beyond Messages and Mail

Today Apple released beta 3 for iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. These updates include some key new Apple Intelligence capabilities not available in previous betas. One such addition brings an expansion of what may be the killer Apple Intelligence feature: notification summaries.

Notification summaries for all your apps

In previous versions of iOS 18.1, notification summaries were available for two Apple apps:

• Messages
• Mail

Despite being limited to just two apps, these Apple Intelligence summaries were the biggest difference maker for me in my daily use.

Now, in today’s beta 3, notification summaries can be used for any app on your device. This includes more of Apple’s own system apps, but also—crucially—third-party apps too.

Summaries will use AI to intelligently capture the contents of a given message, email, news headline, or the like. It will then deliver that summary in a notification, which in my use has made notifications far more helpful than before.

After installing beta 3, your device will provide a setup walkthrough that asks whether you’d like to enable notification summaries for all your apps or not.

But whatever your selection, inside of Settings ⇾ Notifications ⇾ Summarize Previews, you can optionally turn summaries on and off for individual apps.

So if there are certain notifications you prefer summaries for, while others you’d like the standard notification content, you can pick and choose on a per-app basis.

AI feature brings added value every day

As I’ve written previously, notification summaries have been my favorite Apple Intelligence feature so far. I’m thrilled to see them come to more apps today.

Apple Intelligence is still in beta, so the summaries understandably haven’t always been entirely accurate. Once, my brother messaged me about his baby son, and Apple’s summary referred to his ‘daughter.’

But for the most part, notification summaries have been a truly valuable addition across my iPhone, iPad, and even my Apple Watch.

What do you think of Apple Intelligence summaries? Have you found them useful? Let us know in the comments.