After over a month of beta testing, Apple has just released iOS 18.6. This version should mark the last major iOS 18 update before the company launches iOS 26 later this fall. While Apple could still launch iOS 18.7 in a few months, that update would undoubtedly focus on bug fixes and security patches.
Still, this is no different than the current iOS 18.6 update. According to the company’s release notes, Apple is focusing on “important bug fixes and security updates.” While it hasn’t revealed what’s changing with this version, the company says that iOS 18.6 “fixes an issue in Photos that could prevent memory movies from being shared.”
With summer upon us, and iPhone owners heading out on trips and vacations, it’s important that Apple deals with this problem. That said, if you were having an issue when sending a memory movie to your friends and family, now you know that it wasn’t just you. Thankfully, iOS 18.6 should make everything related to this feature work smoothly again.
iOS 18.6 brings additional changes to European users and more
If you’re in Europe, iOS 18.6 makes an important change required by the European Commission. Now, when you’re about to install a third-party app marketplace or app from the web, Apple can’t show such alarming messages about the supposed risks. Previously, Apple would make it sound like the user was installing malware on their iPhone. Now, it only says that your data will be managed by the third-party developer, and you won’t have some of the familiar App Store features.
Besides that, the expectations is that iOS 18.6 will make Apple Intelligence available in China. Over the past month, reports have suggested Alibaba was readying the model that would power Apple’s AI platform in the region. After all, while Mandarin localization is already available, the service hasn’t been available in mainland China due to the government’s requirements.
While we haven’t seen anything about that in the U.S. release notes, it’s possible that Apple is expanding its Apple Intelligence platform to the country. Besides iOS 18.6, Apple is also releasing iPadOS 18.6, macOS Sequoia 15.6, watchOS 11.6, tvOS 18.6, and visionOS 2.6 to users today.
