This week saw the release of iOS 18.3, which introduced several new functionalities, but also put one feature on hold. Apple has temporarily disabled AI notification summaries for two categories of apps, and the reasoning behind one of them remains unclear to me.
Apple has deactivated two categories from AI summaries, but only one has raised concerns
Typically, when Apple releases new updates for iPhones, they don’t remove existing features, but this has occurred, albeit in a limited capacity, with iOS 18.3.
In response to issues reported with Apple Intelligence notification summaries, iOS 18.3 has turned off this feature for two app categories: News and Entertainment.
If you were accustomed to receiving summarized news updates through a single AI notification, you’ll notice that feature is currently unavailable.
Apple has indicated that this functionality will return in a future update, likely once necessary improvements to the AI models are implemented.
The decision to disable summaries for news apps is understandable, especially since misleading news notifications prompted this controversy to unfold.
I even supported such a measure from Apple.
However, the rationale behind the suspension of Entertainment app summaries leaves me perplexed.
The puzzling issue of disabled Entertainment summaries
While using iOS 18.3, I checked my apps list that had AI summaries turned off.
You can view your own list by navigating to Settings ⇾ Notifications ⇾ Summarize Notifications on your iPhone. Although some apps remain toggled on for summaries, the disabled ones will show ‘Temporarily Unavailable’ beneath their names.
In my case, some of the disabled apps include:
- Disney+
- Max
- Music
- Podcasts
- Shazam
- YouTube
Upon reviewing this list, it’s difficult to comprehend why these entertainment apps required their notification summaries to be disabled.
This prompted me to explore the Entertainment category in the App Store.
Apple has recently streamlined the access to app categories, now located prominently at the top of the Apps tab.
Upon entering the Entertainment category, I found mostly video streaming apps, along with some podcast apps, music, and even coloring book and drawing applications.
Is there some issue with coloring book app notifications that I missed?
Summary of iOS 18.3’s notification summaries
One possibility—though it’s just speculation—is that the feature was disabled because of news podcasts like The Daily, which feature episode titles that mimic news headlines. If that’s indeed the case, it’s unfortunate that the entire Entertainment category had to be impacted.
I’m sure there’s a valid explanation for Apple’s choice to disable summaries for Entertainment apps; I’m just at a loss to understand what it is.
Let’s hope Apple resolves the underlying issues causing errors in AI summaries so we can soon enjoy the full range of notification summaries once again.
What do you think of the changes to notification summaries in iOS 18.3? Why might Entertainment apps pose a challenge? Share your thoughts in the comments.
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