Apple’s Calendar app is quickly improving, and iOS 18.3 offers a new advantage – 9to5Mac

Apple’s Calendar app has been on the iPhone since the start, and rarely gets changed. But in the last few months, Calendar has been the subject of some compelling upgrades. And now, iOS 18.3 adds a feature that provides another reason to use the app.Apple’s ‘strategy’ with the Calendar app has always been a bit perplexing to me. The company knows that lots of iPhone users have been drawn away by alternative apps like Google Calendar, and even indie offerings like Fantastical.Yet the company has mostly left Calendar unchanged for years. Despite worthy competition, Apple has shown little interest in making its own app better.But that’s started to change.iOS 18 came with some of the biggest Calendar changes I can remember seeing.And honestly, they’re not that big—but for Calendar, they are.One of the most significant upgrades was the integration of Reminders into the app. You can now create, edit, and view all your reminders from inside Calendar.It’s a great addition, albeit limited—I’d love to enable only certain Reminders lists, but currently it’s all or none.Beyond that major new feature, iOS 18 also brought:Overall, for an app that seldom gets any attention from Apple, iOS 18’s updates have been a very welcome surprise.And just this week, a small iOS 18.3 addition provides yet another reason to use the built-in Calendar app.If you own an iPhone 16 model featuring Camera Control, iOS 18.3 provides a new advantage for Apple’s Calendar app.Long-pressing Camera Control opens visual intelligence, a recent addition that turns your iPhone’s camera into an AI-infused tool.With visual intelligence you can get information about whatever your camera sees, and in some cases even take action on it.iOS 18.3 adds a nice feature addition for Calendar users.Use visual intelligence to point your iPhone at a flyer, poster, or some other sign containing a calendar date, and iOS 18.3 will offer to add that event to the Calendar app.It’s a quick, easy way to bring real-world info into your digital calendar.While I’ve been using Apple services (iCloud storage, Music, iCloud mail, etc) as my default services, I’ve been migrating to Apple’s default apps recently from using all 3rd party apps. A few years back I switched to Apple Maps after I felt it was on par with the competition and still use it. Most recently I switched to Apple Calendar from Fantastical and am really happy. Now I’m using all default Apple apps except for Mail. Still using Edison Mail because Apple Mail opens the next email after deleting/archiving an email without allowing users to have it go back to the inbox instead. anyway, It’s crazy that 5-6 years ago I was using all 3rd party apps and now all but one is a default app. In my opinion Apple has been doing a good job improving its apps. Should they keep it up, I’ll stay. If not, I’ll go back to 3rd party. iOS lets you change default apps in a variety of categories, but calendar isn’t one of them.Which means the new visual intelligence feature will only work with Apple’s Calendar app.It’s a relatively small addition, but also yet another new reason to stick with the built-in Calendar.Do you use Apple’s Calendar app? What do you think of the recent changes? Let us know in the comments.FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.Manage push notifications

Source: https://9to5mac.com/2025/01/28/apples-calendar-app-improving-ios-183-offers-new-advantage/