Apple Revives AI-Powered News Summaries in iOS 26 Beta with Enhanced Safeguards

iOS 26 Public Beta 1 Brings AI Summaries Back to News Apps With a Warning

Apple disabled AI notification summaries for news and entertainment apps in January. This came a few weeks after the BBC pointed out in December that the feature twisted the media organization's notifications and displayed inaccurate information. The latest beta brings those AI summaries back with a new warning. Before you download the beta and check out these summaries, just know this beta is not the final version of iOS 26. That means, the update might be buggy for you, and your device's battery life may be affected, so it's best to keep those troubles off your primary device. If you want to try out the beta, I recommend downloading it on a secondary device. It's also possible that Apple could remove or further alter this feature before the final version of iOS 26 is released this fall. When I updated to the latest iOS 26 beta, I was greeted by some splash screens which asked for various permissions. One splash screen was for the AI notification summaries. When you see this screen, you have two options: Choose Notifications to Summarize or Not Now. If you tap Not Now, the splash screen goes away. If you tap Choose Notifications to Summarize, you are taken to a new page where you'll see three categories: News & Entertainment, Communication & Social and All Other Apps. Tapping one of these categories allows notification summaries for apps in that category. Beneath the News & Entertainment category, there's a warning that gets outlined in red if you tap it. "Summarization may change the meaning of the original headline," the warning reads, adding, "Verify information." In the beta, there's also a warning across the bottom of the screen that reads, "This is a beta feature. Summaries may contain errors." After tapping the categories you want, tap Summarize Selected Notifications across the bottom of your screen. If you selected all the categories, this button will read Summarize All Notifications. And if you don't want these summaries, you can tap Do Not Summarize Notifications. If you allow these summaries and don't like them, you can easily turn them off. Here's how. 1. Tap Settings. 2. Tap Notifications. 3. Tap Summarize Notifications. 4. Tap the Summarize Notifications toggle in the new menu. You can also follow the above steps to turn AI notification summaries back on. You'll have to select which categories you want these summaries for again, too. Don't forget, this feature is still in beta so it could be buggy, and Apple could alter or remove it when iOS 26 is released to the general public this fall. There's no definitive date for when Apple will release iOS 26.

Apple's AI Notification Summaries for News Apps Are Back

AI notification summaries return for news apps on iPhones, but Apple warns they could still 'change the meaning of original headlines.' In January, Apple was forced to pause Apple Intelligence-powered notification summaries for news apps after the feature was caught spreading fake news. Months later, the feature is finally making a comeback with the fourth iOS 26 developer beta. As 9to5Mac reports, after installing iOS 26 beta 4, users will be greeted with a new setup flow that includes options to adjust AI summarization settings. Here, you can turn on summaries for News and Entertainment apps, but Apple warns that the results may still occasionally miss the mark. "Summarization may change the meaning of original headlines. Verify information," reads a red-colored warning below the News and Entertainment button. Once enabled, Apple Intelligence will condense the news headlines and present key details. If you have any issues with the notifications sent to you, 9to5Mac says there's an option to report them directly to Apple. Additionally, to clarify that these notifications are AI-generated and not sent by Apple, each of them will continue to display a "Summarized by Apple Intelligence" label. AI-powered summaries are becoming increasingly common on websites, apps, and search engines, but they haven't always been accurate. In Apple Intelligence's case, particularly, BBC flagged some glaring errors. A summarized notification for its iOS app suggested that the alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter had taken his own life when, in fact, he is alive. There was another notification that falsely claimed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been arrested. Following these incidents, Apple was forced to temporarily pause summarization for news apps. Apart from the return of the feature, iOS 26 beta 4 brings updates to the call screening feature, a darker background for Notification Center, new wallpapers for CarPlay, and more. You can check out these features by installing the iOS 26 developer beta, but that tends to be buggy. A public beta is expected as early as this week, while the stable iOS 26 software is expected to roll out with the launch of the iPhone 17 this fall.

iOS 26 Beta 4 Reintroduces Notification Summaries for News Apps

After installing the betas, there is a pop up for enabling notification summaries across these and other categories. Users can opt-in or opt-out of notification summaries on a per-category basis. Apple says that it has improved notification summaries in iOS 26, addressing issues that could cause confusion with news headlines. All notification summaries for News and Entertainment apps that are generated with Apple Intelligence will be italicized and will be annotated with a "Summarized by Apple Intelligence" notice. Apple plans to further test and refine Apple Intelligence summaries for news articles during the rest of the iOS 26 beta testing process, and there is an option for users to report a concern directly if there is an issue with a notification summary. Notification Summaries for the News and Entertainment category were removed in the iOS 18.3 update in January, following criticism over some misleading news headlines created by Apple Intelligence. Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries are available on devices that support Apple Intelligence. The feature groups multiple notifications from the same app together, providing a one-sentence overview of the content. The short summaries were causing issues when AI pulled the wrong details from news stories, but Apple's improvements should help fix the issue.

Apple Intelligence will summarize news again in iOS 26 after false headline debacle

The public beta of iOS 26 is coming this week, and with it the return of the Apple Intelligence notification summaries in the news and entertainment apps. Apple turned off the summary feature in January after it was caught spewing fake BBC headlines. At the time Apple promised to make changes in a future update, before scrapping it completely from iOS 18. The feature is supposed to group multiple notifications from the same news or entertainment app under a single sentence overview. The issues from earlier came when the AI pulled misleading or irrelevant details from the stories. With its return, Apple says it's improved the experience and quality of the summaries, starting with the fact that you can opt-in or opt-out on a per app basis. If you're trying out the developer beta, once installed you should receive a pop up asking you to enable the notification summaries. The company also made changes that should reduce confusion around the news. Now, AI-generated summaries will be italicized and appended with a "Summarized by Apple Intelligence" note. The original notifications can be revealed by tapping the summary. Apple says that it will monitor the summaries throughout the beta process. The company has built in an option for users to report a concern if they discover any issues with a summary. Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries are available on any Apple product that supports Apple Intelligence. The public beta 26 for iOS 26 should launch before the end of July, possibly on July 23, which means that those of you who were waiting can potentially try the notifications feature in the bigger beta program.

iOS 26 public beta reveals Apple is reviving a controversial feature it was forced to abandon

This time users will have the option to enable or disable the summarization tool Apple has reinstated its controversial Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries for news apps feature in the latest iOS 26 beta. The summarization tool had been disabled for all news apps notifications earlier this year following a mishap where Apple Intelligence summarized BBC News breaking headlines incorrectly. Now, with the release of iOS 26 developer beta 4, Apple has reintroduced the option for users to summarize news notifications using AI. With the iOS 26 public beta release imminent it's expected this change will also be available for a wider user base it just a few days. Unlike the last time we had the feature, users are now greeted with multiple choices related to Apple Intelligence Notification Summaries following the update to iOS 26. You'll be able to choose to disable Notification Summaries altogether, or select from multiple categories such as News & Entertainment, Communication & Social, and All Other Apps. Apple initially removed Notification Summaries for News apps as part of iOS 18.3 which launched in January. Now, however, it looks like the Cupertino-based company is happier with the rollout of the feature, opting to reinstate it and give users the choice with a brief disclaimer that "Summarization may change the meaning of the original headlines. Verify information." I've been rocking iOS 26 on my iPhone 16 Pro Max for over a month now, and while I'm very happy with the recent iOS 26 developer beta 4 update in terms of performance improvements compared to beta 3, I'm less pleased about the return of News Notification Summaries. The first thing I did after trying Notification Summaries back in iOS 18.1 was turn them off, and while I'm willing to enable the feature again for all my notifications this time around, I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch. I'm hoping Apple has rectified some of the glaring issues with the reliability of Notification Summaries in the latest iOS 26 beta, although I worry that the disclaimer highlighting potential problems is just a way to skirt around any uproar, instead keeping the feature as unreliable as it was before. As I use it more, time will tell. iOS 26 is still in beta and there's plenty of time for Apple to rectify any potential hiccups before the official release later this year. Until then, I'll give Notification Summaries one last chance.