Carrier gaffe appears to reveal crucial iOS 18.2 launch date

The all-important iOS 18.2 software update for iPhone is set to launch on December 9, based on an apparent gaffe by a U.K. carrier.

Officially, Apple has announced only that iOS 18.2 will roll out in the month of December. But an additional clue was provided earlier this month when EE sent a notice to customers that its shared number service would no longer be available on MacBooks and iPads from December 9. As MacRumors notes, that’s a change expected to take effect with the launch of iOS 18.2, because the second developer beta of the update contains a new EE carrier settings version which removes the toggle related to that feature.

This in itself might not seem entirely conclusive, but the date makes sense in other respects too. It’s a Monday, which is when iOS updates are often released, and it gets the update out ahead of the holiday season. And the previous Monday is Cyber Monday, which is unlikely to feature such a major release. So, unless Apple reacts to the “leak” by altering its plans, the chances are that this is the correct date.

And the launch of iOS 18.2 is a reasonably big deal. One of the criticisms of Apple’s fall 2024 launch cycle has been that important features weren’t available when the new iPhones went on sale. Apple Intelligence didn’t appear at all until iOS 18.1, while many of its features have been held back until iOS 18.2. The update is expected to add Visual Intelligence, Genmoji and other AI-based image generation, ChatGPT integration, support for localized English in the U.K., Canada, and Australia, and much more.

Read our guide to the Apple Intelligence rollout for more details of the imminent new features.