Apple's iOS 18 Roadmap: A Phased Rollout of AI-Powered Features

Here's when the best of Apple Intelligence arrives widely

The Apple Intelligence toolkit has witnessed a staggered mix of delayed features and underwhelming perks. But it seems that the most promising set of those AI tools that Apple revealed at WWDC earlier this year is right around the corner. In the latest edition of his PowerOn newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman writes that the iOS 18.2 update will start rolling out via the stable channel in the first week of December. Recommended Videos The aforementioned iteration of iOS is already in the beta testing phase and has introduced a trio of the most interesting AI upgrades destined for the iPhone. Among them is Siri's integration with OpenAI's ChatGPT, which seamlessly offloads complex queries to the chatbot. Then, we have Visual Intelligence, which lets users point their phone's camera at the world around them, and extract valuable information about whatever appears in the frame. In its current iteration, it can accomplish tasks like identifying a dog breed or picking up details listed on a poster. However, given the deep level of integration with OpenAI's stack, it won't be surprising to see Visual Intelligence gaining the same set of capabilities as the latest iteration of ChatGPT and its own multi-modal comprehension capabilities. iOS 18.2 beta has also introduced tricks like the standalone Image Playgrounds app that lets users create fun images based on their own pictures. The custom Genmoji system is also on the update table. Gurman adds that with the iOS 18.4 update, Siri will finally attain the form that has fans excited for the virtual assistant's true rebirth in the AI age. "It should let the digital assistant tap into people's data and respond to queries based on the information on their screens," he writes. Right now, Google's Gemini is able to parse local files, both text and media, and respond based on the information it has picked up from those files. The deep integration with Workspace is what allows the AI to take a glance at files in Google Drive and other key tools like Docs. The Notebook LM tool is also capable of doing the same, and can even make sense of YouTube videos as well as third-party webpage URLs without asking users for any subscription. In Apple's case, Siri - supercharged by OpenAI's tech stack -- will be able to answer questions by pulling information from files and data stored locally on the phone. Imagine scenarios like pulling up travel information from email, scheduling details from calendar entries, and business data from PDFs and sheets. However, the most utilitarian of those capabilities will be deeper integration with third-party apps. This would allow the virtual assistant to execute tasks in third-party apps solely based on voice or text commands. Notably, Apple will also let users dip into the potential of other third-party tools such as Gemini, down the road. Moreover, Siri will also be able to provide answers based on the on-screen content. iOS 18.4 is expected to arrive at some point in April next year. That's the same window when Apple is expected to launch the next-gen iPhone SE, featuring a new design, faster silicon, and support for Apple Intelligence.

Forget Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1 -- here's why I'm more excited for iOS 18.2

Apple has finally brought Apple Intelligence to the masses, with the first wave of AI iPhone features being bundled into the iOS 18.1 update. But this isn't everything Apple Intelligence will have to offer. In fact, you could say that the features rolling out now are only scratching the surface. Apple announced a bunch of Apple Intelligence features at WWDC 2024, but we're only getting a handful of them in iOS 18.1. As the iOS 18.2 developer beta has already shown us, there's a lot more impressive AI-powered features slated to arrive in the near future. That includes the likes of ChatGPT support, iPhone 16-exclusive Visual Intelligence, AI image generation and more. So as important as iOS 18.1 is, here's why you should be more excited about iOS 18.2 If you look at a list of all the AI features coming with iOS 18.1, you'll see that the list is rather lengthy. But look a little closer and you may notice that those features are rather simple and unassuming. They're useful in the right circumstances, there's no doubt about that, but Apple hasn't really offered any of the flashy big ticket AI features you'd expect yet. If anything, the most interesting features -- like Photo Cleanup or giving Siri better conversational skills -- are all things Apple should have done a long time ago. Google's Magic Editor, which functions a lot like Photo Clean Up, has been around since last year and was arguably a more advanced version of Magic Eraser that debuted in 2021. Likewise, Apple has long been criticized for neglecting Siri, and it's been long overdue for new features and upgrades. Other features like priority messages, summaries, improved search in the Photos app and everything else Apple Intelligence is offering on day one are not the most captivating features Apple could be offering. They're certainly not the kind of things that generate hype or compel people to upgrade to Apple Intelligence-compatible phones like the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 series. Ultimately, it doesn't matter how useful or worthwhile a set of features are. If they're not interesting then people just won't care about them. Considering Apple has a lot riding on the rollout of Apple Intelligence, it needs potential customers to have a bit more of a positive attitude. Which is where iOS 18.2 comes in. From what we've seen of the iOS 18.2 beta so far, there aren't nearly as many AI features to sink our teeth into. But the caliber of those features is significantly better than anything iOS 18.2 currently has to offer. Apple will be offering AI image generation in iOS 18.2, in the form of the Image Playground app, sketch-to-image Image Wand and its custom emoji generation feature -- also known as Genmoji. But the real excitement comes from the headline feature, with Apple adding support for ChatGPT and Visual Intelligence in the iOS 18.2 beta. Visual Intelligence is an iPhone 16 exclusive, and is best described as Apple's take on Google Lens. Or an "AI Vision," if you prefer, since it uses a mix of the iPhone 16 camera and AI analysis to function. The idea is that the camera sees something around you in the real world, and the AI figures out what you might want from it. So if it's a menu or sign in a foreign language, you'll have it translated. Alternatively, if Visual Intelligence spots a poster for a show, it may offer to make a calendar event for you. We've also seen it identify a dog's breed, identify details about a store or business, or summarize blocks of text that are within view. According to my colleague Richard Priday, Visual Intelligence still needs some work but it's already showing promise -- especially since you can jump right into it via the Camera Control button. ChatGPT offers quite a few extra features in iOS 18.2, but the main benefit is how it connects to Siri. Siri may have had an upgrade in iOS 18.1, but it's nowhere near the same level as bonafide AI chatbots. The general idea is that you can use Siri to converse with ChatGPT, asking it questions and offering up prompts that Siri can't handle on its own. But that's not all. Other features include adding OpenAI's image and text processing to Visual Intelligence, image generation via Image Playground, the ability to analyze your iPhone's screen and integration with Apple's Writing Tools feature to improve the quality of any text you generate. Needless to say, it sounds like iOS 18.2 will be adding a heck of a lot more functionality to Apple Intelligence. There's lots of reasons to get excited in the run-up to the public release later this year. Despite the size of the iOS 18.2 update, it won't fulfill Apple's full Apple Intelligence promise. That won't happen until we see all the Siri upgrades like personal context and on-screen awareness. According to Mark Gurman, these features are "in consideration" for iOS 18.3, but the bulk of those features likely won't arrive until iOS 18.4 launches sometime in 2025. Not only will these features be a huge upgrade for Siri; that launch should mark the point where we have access to every Apple Intelligence feature Apple announced earlier this year. Though by that point we'll likely be hearing more about unannounced AI features Apple has planned in the run-up to WWDC 2025. But at least we'll be able to properly assess what Apple Intelligence has accomplished.

Here's when the next set of Apple Intelligence features will arrive

Apple will reportedly launch its upgraded Siri in April as part of iOS 18.4. Apple finally launched its Apple Intelligence suite of AI features this week, but this is just the initial set of capabilities. More Apple Intelligence features are coming later this year, and it seems like we now have a specific launch window. Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman asserted in his Power On newsletter that the next set of Apple Intelligence features will arrive as soon as the week of December 2 as part of the iOS 18.2 update. Of course, that's assuming Apple doesn't delay the release due to bugs or any other unexpected issues. This next set of AI features is expected to include ChatGPT integration, Genmoji functionality for custom emoji, and the Image Playground app for image generation. Gurman adds that Apple will offer even more AI features as part of the iOS 18.4 update. This update is apparently set for an April release and will include an upgraded Siri. The overhauled chatbot will offer better language understanding, context awareness, and a variety of new actions.

Top 10 Apple Intelligence Features in iOS 18.1

Apple's commitment to pushing the boundaries of technology is evident in the latest iOS 18.1 update with Apple Intelligence, which introduces a wealth of AI-driven features designed to transform the way you interact with your devices. While this update marks a significant step forward, Apple enthusiasts can look forward to even more exciting developments in the upcoming iOS 18.2 release. With iOS 18.1, Apple has taken Siri to new heights, particularly for users of the iPhone 15 Pro or 16. The introduction of a full-screen interface transforms your interactions with Siri, making them more engaging and intuitive. Siri's enhanced contextual conversation handling enables it to better understand the nuances of your queries, providing more accurate and relevant responses. Moreover, the Type to Siri feature offers a convenient alternative for those who prefer text-based communication or find themselves in situations where speaking to Siri might not be ideal. iOS 18.1 brings a suite of advanced writing tools to help you craft polished, effective content. With built-in proofreading and rewriting capabilities, you can refine your text to ensure clarity and coherence. The ability to adjust the tone of your writing allows you to tailor your message to suit various contexts, whether you're aiming for a friendly, professional, or concise style. Additionally, the AI-generated summaries and key point extraction features enable you to quickly grasp the essence of lengthy documents, saving you valuable time and effort. iOS 18.1 introduces contextual smart replies for emails and messages, streamlining your communication by suggesting responses based on the conversation's context. This feature not only saves you time but also ensures that your replies are relevant and appropriate. Furthermore, the update includes a notification summarization feature, which consolidates grouped notifications, allowing you to focus on important alerts without being overwhelmed by a constant barrage of notifications. The introduction of call recording capabilities in iOS 18.1 is a catalyst for those who need to keep track of important conversations. Whether you're using FaceTime or regular calls, you can now record and store transcripts directly in the Notes app. The app intelligently breaks down the conversation by participants, making it easy to review and reference specific points from past discussions. iOS 18.1 brings a host of improvements to Safari, Apple's native web browser. The new option to hide distracting elements on web pages allows you to focus on the content that matters most, providing a more immersive and distraction-free reading experience. Photography enthusiasts will be delighted by the new tools available in the Photos app. With the ability to create personalized memory movies using text descriptions, you can relive cherished moments in a unique and meaningful way. The cleanup tool enables you to remove unwanted elements from your photos, ensuring that your images are picture-perfect. Moreover, the spatial mode on newer devices unlocks advanced photo and video capabilities, elevating your photography skills to new heights. iOS 18.1 and Apple Intelligence demonstrate Apple's commitment to accessibility by introducing features that transform your AirPods Pro 2 into hearing aids. The built-in hearing test and amplification features allow you to tailor your audio experience to your specific needs, ensuring that you can enjoy clear and comfortable sound in various environments. The Control Center also receives a refresh, with new connectivity toggles and the ability to reset to default settings, giving you greater control over your device's interface. The introduction of a unified emoji picker in iOS 18.1 streamlines your emoji and sticker selection process, combining them into a single, intuitive interface. Additionally, the drag and drop functionality between your iPhone and Mac enhances your workflow, allowing you to effortlessly share content across devices and boost your productivity. In conclusion, iOS 18.1 represents a significant milestone in Apple's journey to harness the power of AI for the benefit of its users. From the enhanced Siri experience to advanced writing tools, streamlined communication, and accessibility improvements, this update sets the stage for a more intuitive, efficient, and personalized user experience. As we eagerly anticipate the release of iOS 18.2, it is clear that Apple remains committed to pushing the boundaries of what is possible with AI-driven innovation. You can find out more details about the latest Apple Intelligence features over at Apple at the link below.

Top 10 Apple Intelligence iOS 18.1 Features You Need to Try

Apple iOS 18.1 is now available, introducing the first Apple Intelligence features designed to transform user interaction across devices and applications. This update significantly improves Siri and other core apps, aiming to provide a more seamless, intuitive, and efficient experience. This update isn't just about new features; it's about transforming how we interact with our technology. Whether you're a long-time Apple enthusiast or simply curious about the latest tech trends, there's something in this update that will resonate with you. From the enhanced capabilities of Siri to the innovative tools in the Photo app, iOS 18.1 is packed with features designed to make your life easier and more connected. To enjoy the initial Beta release of Apple Intelligence, ensure that your iPhone and Siri assistant is set to use the English US language. If it isn't you won't be able to download and install the latest Apple AI tools. To harness the power of Apple Intelligence, navigate to the settings on your iPhone 15 Pro or newer model. This update brings a visually appealing new Siri animation and integrates flawlessly with CarPlay, making sure a smooth and distraction-free user experience while driving. These enhancements are carefully crafted to make your interactions with Apple devices more natural and responsive. Siri's capabilities have been significantly expanded in iOS 18.1. The introduction of the "Type to Siri" feature allows you to make non-verbal queries, which is particularly useful in situations where speaking aloud isn't appropriate or possible. Moreover, Siri's natural language processing capabilities have been substantially improved, allowing more accurate photo identification and understanding of complex commands. When you give verbal commands, text now displays on the screen, providing clear visual feedback and making sure that Siri accurately comprehends your requests. This dual-mode interaction enhances communication clarity and reduces the likelihood of misunderstandings. Apple Watch users will benefit from the introduction of sleep notifications on the Ultra, Series 9, and Series 10 models. These intelligent notifications help you maintain a healthy sleep schedule by providing timely reminders and detailed insights into your sleep patterns. This feature aligns with Apple's ongoing commitment to promoting holistic wellness through technology. The Photo app now includes a powerful cleanup tool that allows you to censor faces and remove unwanted objects from your images with remarkable precision. This feature is invaluable for maintaining privacy and enhancing the overall quality of your photos. With just a few taps, you can transform your images into polished, professional-looking pictures that are ready to share or display. Notification management has been completely overhauled with summarized notifications and prioritized alerts in Focus mode. This intelligent system ensures that you only receive the most important and relevant notifications, significantly reducing distractions and helping you stay focused on what truly matters. The new notification system adapts to your usage patterns, becoming more accurate and helpful over time. Uncover more insights about natural language processing in previous articles we have written. A new call recording feature now allows you to record calls and automatically save transcriptions in the Notes app. This powerful tool is invaluable for capturing important conversations and making sure that you have an accurate record of key details. Whether for business meetings, interviews, or personal use, this feature enhances your ability to manage and reference important information effectively. The intelligent keyboard now offers contextually relevant suggestions for quick responses, making it significantly easier to reply to messages on the go. This feature uses advanced machine learning algorithms to predict your responses based on your communication style and previous interactions. As you type, the keyboard continuously learns and adapts to your preferences, becoming more accurate and helpful over time. Safari now includes an AI-powered summary tool that provides concise overviews of articles, allowing you to grasp the main points quickly without reading the entire text. This feature is particularly useful for staying informed on a wide range of topics when time is limited. Meanwhile, the Mail app has been enhanced with an intelligent prioritization system that ensures important emails are always brought to your attention. The app uses machine learning to analyze your email patterns and identify messages that are likely to be significant to you, helping you manage your inbox more efficiently. The Notes app has received a substantial upgrade with the addition of AI-powered proofreading and rewriting suggestions. This feature enables you to refine your writing with ease, offering improvements in grammar, style, and clarity. Additionally, you can now summarize lengthy content into key points or well-organized tables, making it easier to organize and retrieve information quickly. Photography enthusiasts will appreciate the new camera control feature on the iPhone 16, which offers unprecedented precision and flexibility in capturing images. This advanced system allows for fine-tuned adjustments to exposure, focus, and other critical settings, allowing you to capture professional-quality photos in a wide range of conditions. In a significant step towards improved accessibility, second-generation AirPods Pro now include hearing aid functionalities, providing enhanced audio support for those with hearing impairments. This feature demonstrates Apple's ongoing commitment to making technology more inclusive and beneficial for all users. iOS 18.1's Apple Intelligence features represent a significant leap forward in user interaction and functionality across Apple devices. By exploring and using these features, you can create a more intuitive, efficient, and personalized digital environment that adapts to your unique needs and preferences. As you integrate these new capabilities into your daily routine, you'll likely find that your interactions with technology become more natural, productive, and enjoyable.

Apple's AI update is here: What to know about Apple Intelligence, top features

Apple's iOS 18 update lets you customize your lock screen and home screen and expands the capabilities of your iPhone's control center. Apple's AI-centric update is finally rolling out on devices. The first features in Apple Intelligence launched Monday after months of anticipation in the latest operating system update for supported iPhone, iPad and Mac devices. Apple Intelligence, which was first teased at the tech company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, is part of the iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates and introduces Apple-built generative models and other enhancements to existing Apple software as well as a few new tools. To get to the new AI feature, users will first need to activate it after updating to iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 or macOS Sequoia 15.1. After installing the new OS update, users will need to navigate to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and join the Apple Intelligence waitlist. After a waiting period, which has been as short as a few minutes, there will be the ability to turn on Apple Intelligence, along with additional options and settings for the feature. More: Apple is launching new AI features. What do they mean for your privacy? Top Apple Intelligence features The top features introduced in this first Apple Intelligence update include: Compatible devices For iPhone, Apple Intelligence is compatible with these devices: The update is compatible with these iPad devices: Apple Intelligence is compatible with these Mac devices: More: iPhone 16, new Watch and AirPods are coming: But is Apple thinking differently enough? Apple Intelligence features coming up The rollout's features are just the first in a slate of capabilities Apple is planning for Apple Intelligence. Two previously announced features notably missing in this first release are Genmoji, which allows users to create custom emojis, and Image Playground, where Apple Intelligence can generate cartoon-like images and illustrations from text descriptions. These two features are now expected to release in December, likely in the iOS 18.2 update. Another feature likely coming later this year is ChatGPT integration for Siri, which also was mentioned in the Apple Intelligence announcement at WWDC. Priority notifications and additional updates to Siri and Writing Tools are also listed as features coming to Apple Intelligence, according to an announcement release from Apple.

Apple Intelligence is here: iOS 18.1 includes Writing Tools, a new look for Siri, notification summaries, and more - 9to5Mac

After a lot of marketing hype and developer testing, Apple Intelligence is finally here, with the public release of iOS 18.1 rolling out now. Apple Intelligence is available on all iPhone 16 models and iPhone 15 Pro, the new iPad mini, or older Macs and iPads powered by the M1 chip or newer. iOS 18.1 includes the first wave of Apple Intelligence functionality. More features are coming in iOS 18.2, and later in 2025. The headline features available now include Writing Tools, notification summaries, a new visual update for Siri, Photos enhancements, and more. Here's everything new ... With iOS 18.1, macOS 15.1 and iPadOS 18.1, Apple Intelligence launches exclusively in the United States. To access Apple Intelligence features, you need to have your device language set to English (United States). Support for more languages will be added in future software updates. After downloading the operating system update, you must also opt-in to Apple Intelligence to get access to the new features. On your iPhone, go to Settings -> Apple Intelligence & Siri and enable the toggle for Apple Intelligence. Unfortunately, you don't necessarily get access to the shiny new features immediately. You must first join the Apple Intelligence Waiting List. It may take a few hours or a few days to get accepted into the beta. Once you are in, you will receive a notification informing you your device is ready to use Apple Intelligence. AI models will be downloaded to your device, using about 4 GB of storage space. In almost any app where you can select text, you can use Writing Tools. Writing Tools includes a variety of AI-powered transformations to apply to paragraphs of text. Select some text and press Writing Tools to open the new panel. You can then choose from several options to proofread or rewrite your text, perhaps to make it sound more professional or make it more concise. You can also make a summary, create a list of key points, or even make a table of data described in the text. When you receive several notifications from an app, they usually appear in a group on the lock screen. Normally, you'd have to tap on the group to expand and catch up on the content. With Apple Intelligence, you can instead read an automatically-generated summary of all the notifications in the stack. Notification summaries help you catch up on busy group chats, noisy news alerts, and more. You can turn notification summarization on or off for every app. To customize, go to Settings -> Notifications -> Summarize Previews. iOS 18.1 includes several enhancements to Siri, however the voice assistant fundamentally works the same. Bigger updates to Siri's capabilities are coming in later iOS 18 releases. iOS 18.1 includes a fancy new edge-lit design for Siri, and you can double-tap on the home indicator to type to Siri instead of voice. The synthesized voice also sounds more natural, and its understanding is more resilient when you stumble over your words. You can also ask for Apple product help, and it will surface snippets from Apple's vast knowledge base of documentation. The Photos app in iOS 18.1 has three big improvements as a result of Apple Intelligence. Firstly, search is enhanced with the ability to understand more kinds of natural language queries, so you can find old photos just by describing their content. Secondly, Clean Up is a new Photos editing feature that helps you quickly remove objects and people from the background of a scene. You just drag your finger over a part of a photo and it will be removed using AI image painting. Finally, you can create an emotional Memory movie using a text prompt, which will intelligently collate photos from your library into a cogent vignette. A new Focus mode attempts to automatically sort through your incoming notifications, and suppress everything that is not important right now. The AI-powered 'Reduce Interruptions' Focus mode will analyze the content of incoming notifications and filter out anything that is not deemed of immediate importance. The smart notification silencing can also be applied to other Focus modes, by enabling the new "Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing" option. Similar to notification summaries, Messages and Mail will summarize incoming messages in your inbox list inside the app itself, helping you to get an idea about all unread messages without having to click on each one. This is especially useful for the Mail app, where the first couple of lines of an email aren't usually particularly helpful about describing their content. With one tap, you can also summarize a whole thread of emails in a conversation in one go. And when composing a reply, new AI Smart Replies help you save time with generated contextual responses. That's most of what's new with Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1, but Apple has a lot more in the pipeline. Tentatively scheduled for a December release, iOS 18.2 includes even more features for Apple Intelligence devices, including Image Playground, Genmoji, ChatGPT integration, and Visual Intelligence for iPhone 16. Coming in 2025, you can look forward to a new Priority section for notifications on the lock screen, and Siri will be upgraded with the ability to perform app actions and understand your personal context to answer questions like 'What was the name of that book my sister recommended?'.

iOS 18.1 with Apple Intelligence is here. Try these 5 AI features first

I spoke with Apple's Bob Borchers about the big Apple Intelligence upgrade and I've been trying out the beta version for the past three months. The most anticipated new feature of the iPhone 16 has finally arrived, a month after the phone itself. Apple Intelligence has been Apple's biggest story of 2024 -- with apologies to the Apple Vision Pro headset -- and with the arrival of iOS 18.1 you can now jump into the beta version of Apple Intelligence and start trying some of the first features. You'll have to sign up for the Apple Intelligence beta after downloading the iOS 18.1 update on your phone and then going to the Settings app, tapping the new "Apple Intelligence & Siri" setting and requesting beta access. Also, keep in mind that not all of the Apple Intelligence features have arrived yet. I'll go through what's in iOS 18.1 and what's coming later. I've been using Apple Intelligence since the end of July when it first arrived in the developer beta and I have several favorite features. I also recently spoke with Apple's Bob Borchers, vice president of worldwide product marketing, about the launch of Apple Intelligence to the general public with the arrival of iOS 18.1. We especially talked about my two favorite aspects of the way Apple is implementing generative AI: Borchers said, "We are introducing features that are going to integrate into your day-to-day life and into your workflow to make it easier, faster, better, and more personal -- and without ever compromising your privacy." Apple also isn't just relying on work from OpenAI and other AI companies. It's doing its own research and development to power new features. "We have built both diffusion and large language models here at Apple that are core to Apple intelligence," said Borchers, "and we have specialized them to specific tasks." Only some of the features that Apple announced this summer when it unveiled Apple Intelligence are available in iOS 18.1 (as well as in iPadOS 18.1 and MacOS Sequoia 15.1). These are my favorite features. 1. Siri gets a glow-up -- The fact that Siri looks and feels completely new, with a multi-color glow around the edges of the screen when you activate it, 2. Writing Tools fix your messages -- Apple's AI helper app for correcting your grammar, spelling, and style is easily accessible from Mail, Notes, and can even be accessed by third party apps. 3. Notification Summaries save time and scrolling -- Rather than having to scrolls through a whole long group text thread, the system can summarize the decision on where to meet for dinner or update you on the most important information among all the notifications you missed while you were offline. 4. Record phone calls and summarize them -- You can now record phone calls directly from the Phone app and the summarization feature can give you a quick paragraph explaining the most important points. The summarization is still a work in progress. 5. Take audio in Notes and summarize -- When you use the Notes app to do an audio recording (the recording feature is buried under the paper clip), the system can now do a summary for you. Like the phone call summary, Apple's summarization quality is still a work in progress, but it's useful to have. Borchers characterized this launch as the beginning of "a continuing drumbeat of Apple intelligence releases that we expect to continue for quite some time."

iOS 18.2: The Update That Changes Everything

Apple's iOS 18.2 update marks a significant milestone in the company's software evolution, introducing a suite of innovative AI features designed to transform user experience and personalization. This transformative update seamlessly integrates artificial intelligence into various aspects of the iOS ecosystem, empowering users with enhanced capabilities and intuitive interactions. At the forefront of this update is the AI Integration, which redefines the way users engage with their devices. iOS 18.2 introduces a host of intelligent features that anticipate user needs and provide tailored solutions, making the interaction between user and device more natural and efficient. The video below from Daniel About Tech gives us more details on what is coming in iOS 18.2. One of the most notable enhancements is the ChatGPT Integration within Siri. This powerful collaboration brings the advanced language processing capabilities of ChatGPT directly to Apple's virtual assistant. With this integration, Siri can now handle complex queries with unprecedented ease, providing users with more accurate and contextually relevant responses. Whether you need assistance with research, writing, or problem-solving, Siri's enhanced capabilities make it an indispensable tool for productivity and information retrieval. iOS 18.2 also introduces a range of writing tools that leverage the power of AI to streamline and enhance the writing process. Users can now perform comprehensive text analysis, rewriting, and proofreading directly on their devices, eliminating the need for third-party apps. These tools offer suggestions for improving clarity, coherence, and overall readability, making it easier for users to produce high-quality written content. Importantly, Apple has prioritized user privacy throughout the integration of these AI features. Clear notifications are provided whenever the cloud-based ChatGPT is active, ensuring that users are fully aware of when their data is being processed externally. This transparency allows users to make informed decisions about their privacy preferences. Another groundbreaking feature exclusive to the iPhone 16 series is Visual Intelligence. By leveraging advanced camera controls, Visual Intelligence enables real-time object recognition and description. Simply point your camera at an object, and your device will provide detailed information about it, including its name, characteristics, and relevant context. This feature opens up a world of possibilities for learning, exploration, and accessibility. Visual Intelligence also includes reverse image search capabilities, allowing users to explore the web for similar images. Whether you're searching for inspiration, trying to identify an object, or seeking more information about a particular image, this feature provides a seamless way to expand your visual knowledge. For creative enthusiasts, iOS 18.2 introduces the Image Playground, a dedicated space for AI-powered image manipulation and generation. Users can input text descriptions to generate unique, AI-created images, unleashing a new realm of artistic expression. The Image Playground also offers tools to apply cartoonish effects to existing photos and add themed accessories, empowering users to transform their visual content in imaginative ways. In the realm of communication, iOS 18.2 introduces Gen Emoji, a feature that allows users to create personalized emojis based on their own descriptions. This innovative tool brings a new level of creativity and self-expression to messaging. Users can design emojis that reflect their unique style, emotions, or inside jokes, adding a touch of personality to their conversations. Importantly, these custom emojis are compatible across various messaging platforms, ensuring that users can share their creations seamlessly. The Mail Interface Update in iOS 18.2 brings a fresh and intuitive approach to email management. The redesigned interface introduces categorized views, making it easier for users to navigate and prioritize their inbox. Distinctive icons represent different types of emails, such as personal, work, or promotional, allowing users to quickly identify and act upon important messages. This visual enhancement streamlines the email experience, saving users time and effort in managing their communications. iOS 18.2 represents a transformative leap in Apple's software offerings, showcasing the company's commitment to harnessing the power of artificial intelligence to enhance user experience. By integrating advanced AI capabilities into various aspects of the iOS ecosystem, this update sets a new standard for intuitive, personalized, and efficient interaction between users and their devices. From the ChatGPT Integration in Siri to the Visual Intelligence features and the creative possibilities of the Image Playground and Gen Emoji, iOS 18.2 empowers users with tools that adapt to their needs and preferences. The Mail Interface Update further streamlines communication management, making it easier for users to stay organized and productive. As Apple continues to push the boundaries of what is possible with AI integration, iOS 18.2 marks an exciting chapter in the evolution of mobile technology. This update not only enhances the capabilities of iOS devices but also sets the stage for future innovations that will reshape the way we interact with our digital companions.

iOS 18.1 is finally here, but this is not the Apple Intelligence you've been looking for

Rejoice, Apple Intelligence has finally arrived! If you have a compatible device (more on that later) you can now upgrade to iOS 18.1, iPad OS 18.1 or macOS Sequoia 15.1 and get your first sampling of the update Apple says will "introduce a new chapter in Apple innovation." That sounds pretty impressive, doesn't it? Which is why you might feel a little bit underwhelmed when you first install Apple Intelligence. Don't get me wrong, the potential for Apple Intelligence is still huge, but after such a strong billing by the Cupertino company what you actually get in the most recent update feels more like a good start, but ultimately, underwhelming. In iOS 18.1 you get Writing Tools for proofreading, rewriting, and summarization, Notification summaries, Clean Up in Photos, and a redesigned Siri. Yes, Siri now looks different, but it doesn't behave any differently. Whisper those intimate words, "Hey, Siri" lovingly at your iPhone now and the whole edge of the screen will glow like a multi-colored mating call that reminds me a bit of having a migraine. Subtle it isn't, but unfortunately Siri is not any smarter than it used to be. Sure, it can still time your boiled eggs, but ask it anything more complex and it immediately reverts to sicking up a platter of, "Here's what I found on the web", search results. We're supposed to be getting proper ChatGPT integration into Siri too, but it's not here yet. Expect to see ChatGPT in Siri with iOS 18.2 by the end of the year, followed by the major Siri upgrade with personal context and on-screen awareness next year. The feature most people associate with AI is photo editing, and Apple's update underwhelms compared to what the competition already offers. While Google Gemini, Meta AI, and Samsung Galaxy AI can dream up fantasy landscapes and alien worlds on your phone, Apple can simply remove objects from photos, so far at least. Photo Clean Up is nice, magical even, in the way it can use AI to intelligently fill in the background behind elements of the photo you want to remove, but it just feels like an improved photo editor for taking your ex-partner out of your holiday snapshots without having to embarrass yourself by asking a kindly Photoshop expert to do it for you, not something that lets your imagination run wild with the endless possibilities of AI. In fact, the AI features Apple has launched so far are all hiding in the background somewhere. You have to tap on the right icon to reveal them. It's almost as if Apple is embarrassed by them. If you want to summarize an email in Mail, for example, you have to pull the message down to reveal a hidden tab with a Summarize button on it. The Proofreading tool is hidden behind an Apple Intelligence icon in the menu bar and pretty easy to miss, and so on. Of course, for a lot of iPhone owners, Apple Intelligence will remain simply a pipe dream anyway. The bar for entry on an iPhone is ridiculously high. You need to have the highest spec of the previous generation (an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max) or a new iPhone 16 to take part in the AI revolution. There are easier ways to get a look at Apple Intelligence - any M-series Mac will do the job, as will the new iPad mini (see our iPad mini review) - but the device you want to use it on is always going to be the device you have with you all the time. And that's your iPhone. Add to this the geographically scattershot nature of the rollout (Apple Intelligence won't be available on iPhone in the UK until December and April for the rest of Europe) and Apple's big bang release is starting to feel like a whimper. Where I live in the UK I have to trick Siri into using American English to activate Apple Intelligence. It's a relatively simple hack, but it's a pain having to do it. So when will we get the Apple Intelligence we actually want? December, says Apple. That's when we get Image Playground for creating AI images, Genmoji for creating custom emoji and a more capable Siri with ChatGPT integration. There will also be a much improved Mail app that truly takes advantage of everything Apple Intelligence has to offer. So, wake me up when December comes, Apple, because then we'll see the proper launch of Apple Intelligence, and that's what I'm waiting for.

iOS 18.1: Top New Apple Intelligence Features You Should Be Using

iOS 18.1 introduces a range of advanced AI features aimed at boosting your productivity and interaction across various applications. This update prioritizes user experience by integrating intelligent automation and seamless AI technologies, making your daily tasks more efficient and enjoyable. The video below from MacRumors gives us a look at the new Apple Intelligence and its range of features. With iOS 18.1, Siri undergoes a major transformation, offering a more engaging and intuitive experience. You will be greeted with a fresh visual design featuring responsive animations that make interactions more dynamic and appealing. Siri's improved conversational skills allow it to better understand context, ensuring your commands are interpreted accurately and executed effectively. One notable enhancement is the ability to type commands and make corrections with ease. This feature caters to situations where voice commands may not be suitable or preferred, providing you with greater flexibility in how you interact with Siri. Additionally, Siri now offers support articles for Apple product inquiries, serving as a knowledgeable digital assistant ready to assist you with any questions or concerns you may have. iOS 18.1 introduces a suite of powerful writing tools designed to streamline your writing process and enhance the quality of your text. These tools assist in rewriting, proofreading, and summarizing text, ensuring clarity, precision, and coherence in your written communications. Integrated seamlessly across various apps, these advanced writing features are readily accessible whenever you need them. Whether you're drafting an important email, composing a document, or jotting down notes, these tools work behind the scenes to refine your writing. They offer suggestions for improving sentence structure, correcting grammatical errors, and optimizing word choice, allowing you to express yourself with confidence and professionalism. Managing the constant influx of notifications can be overwhelming, but iOS 18.1 introduces a smart solution to help you stay on top of your alerts. With efficient notification summarization, your device intelligently groups related notifications together, presenting them in a logical and organized manner. This feature enables you to quickly grasp the essence of multiple notifications without being inundated by individual alerts. By prioritizing and categorizing notifications based on their importance and relevance, you can focus on what matters most and minimize distractions. This streamlined approach to notification management helps you maintain a clutter-free device and ensures you don't miss critical information amidst the noise. iOS 18.1 introduces smart reply technology in the Messages and Mail apps, transforming the way you communicate. This feature analyzes the context of incoming messages and suggests quick, generic response options that are appropriate to the conversation. With smart reply, you can save valuable time and effort by selecting a suggested response instead of typing out a reply from scratch. These suggestions are designed to be relevant and contextually appropriate, allowing you to maintain the flow of communication without sacrificing the quality of your responses. Whether you're engaged in a casual chat or responding to an important email, smart reply technology offers a convenient and efficient way to keep the conversation going. Staying informed and up-to-date with the latest information is crucial in today's fast-paced world. iOS 18.1 introduces a innovative feature that summarizes incoming emails and web articles, making it easier than ever to digest and comprehend lengthy content. Available in the Mail app and Safari, this summarization feature uses advanced AI algorithms to identify and extract the key points and main ideas from emails and articles. By presenting concise summaries, it allows you to quickly grasp the essence of the content without having to read through every word. This feature is particularly beneficial for those who receive a high volume of emails or need to stay informed on various topics, as it enables you to efficiently process information and focus on what's truly important. iOS 18.1 brings a highly anticipated feature to the Notes app: the ability to record and transcribe audio or phone calls. This powerful tool is designed to capture and preserve important conversations, meetings, and ideas with ease. Whether you're in a lecture, interview, or brainstorming session, you can now record audio directly within the Notes app. The app intelligently transcribes the audio, converting spoken words into written text. This feature eliminates the need for manual note-taking, allowing you to fully engage in the moment while ensuring that no important details are missed. In addition to transcription, the Notes app also provides summaries of your recordings. These summaries highlight the key points and main ideas discussed, making it easier to review and organize the information later. With audio and call recording in iOS 18.1, you can effortlessly capture and access valuable insights, ensuring that your important conversations are always at your fingertips. iOS 18.1 brings a host of exciting improvements to the Photos app, elevating your photo editing and management experience to new heights. With powerful new tools and enhanced capabilities, you can unleash your creativity and transform your images like never before. One standout feature is the ability to remove unwanted objects or people from your photos. Whether it's a stray object in the background or a photobomber ruining your perfect shot, you can now seamlessly erase them with just a few taps. The app intelligently fills in the removed area, ensuring a natural and seamless result. Visual search capabilities have also been expanded in iOS 18.1. You can now find specific photos and videos using descriptive prompts, making it easier to locate that perfect sunset shot or memorable vacation video. Simply describe what you're looking for, and the Photos app will quickly surface relevant results. But the enhancements don't stop there. iOS 18.1 introduces a delightful new feature that allows you to create personalized memory movies. By describing your desired storyline, the Photos app will automatically compile a captivating video montage using your selected photos and videos. This feature adds a touch of magic to your photo collections, allowing you to relive and share your precious moments in a truly unique way. While iOS 18.1 brings a wealth of exciting features, Apple isn't resting on its laurels. The upcoming iOS 18.2 beta promises even more innovative enhancements that will further enrich your user experience. One highly anticipated feature is the image playground, which will provide a dedicated space for creative experimentation and manipulation of your photos. This playground will offer a wide range of tools and filters, allowing you to unleash your artistic vision and create stunning visual masterpieces. Another exciting development is the integration of chat GPT, a innovative conversational AI technology. With chat GPT, you'll be able to engage in natural, human-like conversations with your device, opening up new possibilities for interaction and assistance. Whether you need help with a task, want to ask for recommendations, or simply desire an engaging conversation, chat GPT will be there to provide intelligent and personalized responses. As iOS continues to evolve, these upcoming features demonstrate Apple's commitment to pushing the boundaries of what's possible with mobile technology. By combining advanced AI capabilities with intuitive user experiences, iOS 18.2 beta aims to redefine the way you interact with your device and unlock new levels of creativity and productivity. Conclusion iOS 18.1 represents a significant leap forward in leveraging AI integration to enhance your overall user experience. From the enhanced Siri capabilities that make interactions more natural and efficient to the advanced writing tools that refine your text, this update is designed to streamline your daily tasks and boost your productivity. With features like efficient notification summarization, smart reply technology, and email and article summarization, iOS 18.1 helps you manage information overload and focus on what matters most. The introduction of audio and call recording in the Notes app ensures that you never miss an important detail, while the improvements to the Photos app unleash your creativity and allow you to create stunning visual memories. As we look ahead to iOS 18.2 beta and beyond, it's clear that Apple is committed to pushing the boundaries of AI integration and delivering innovative features that will continue to transform the way you interact with your device. With each update, iOS becomes more intuitive, more powerful, and more attuned to your needs, making it an indispensable companion in your daily life. Embrace the future of mobile technology with iOS 18.1, and experience firsthand how AI-powered features can elevate your productivity, creativity, and overall user experience to new heights.

Apple Intelligence starts rolling out with iOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1

The wait is finally over. Apple Intelligence is making its proper debut with the public releases of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1. Typically, point-one versions of Apple operating systems add minor features and fix bugs, but the Apple Intelligence features weren't quite ready in time for the rollout of iOS 18 et al. You'll know you can use Apple Intelligence when you get a notification from the company. The initial generative AI features you can check out include writing tools like proofreading and rewriting, as well as text summaries. There are live transcriptions available for phone calls and audio in the Notes app. Apple can helpfully generate summaries of these transcriptions. In addition, Apple can reorganize your photos and videos around memorable events such as trips and special events in the overhauled Photos app. You can create your own Memories in the app as well. The beginnings of a Siri overhaul are here too. You can now type requests and questions to the previously voice-only assistant. If you still prefer speaking to it, Siri should be able to understand requests if you stutter or interrupt yourself. The Siri UI has been tweaked, as you'll see a glowing border around the screen when you activate it. However, you'll need to wait a bit longer for other Siri-driven features, such as the assistant's ability to have a better understanding of your personal context. Apple Intelligence is currently available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and the iPhone 16 lineup. M-series iPads and Macs also support Apple Intelligence, as does the new A17 Pro-powered iPad mini. Bear in mind that access is currently limited to those who set their device and Siri language set to US English. Apple Intelligence will start to become available in more countries and languages in December. Apple doesn't plan to broadly offer the AI tools in the European Union or Chinese mainland right away due to regulatory issues, though as of September it was in talks with officials in both markets to make Apple Intelligence available there. In addition to Apple Intelligence, iOS 18.1 adds support for other new features, such as a hearing test and the ability to use AirPods Pro as over-the-counter hearing aids. It should be easier to change the mail email address that's linked to your Apple Account as well. You'll need to wait a bit longer for other promised Apple Intelligence features. The company released the iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia 15.2 developer betas last week. Along with additional writing tools, the betas include Genmoji (a custom emoji generator), Image Playground (animated- and illustrated-style image generation), the Google Lens-like Visual Intelligence and ChatGPT integration.

Apple Intelligence is finally here, but these 5 features won't be available until December

Apple's much-anticipated Apple Intelligence suite is finally rolling out with iOS 18.1, bringing a range of AI-driven features straight to your iPhone. The free update is live as of today, though some of the more advanced tools are slated to drop in December, per Apple's latest announcement. Leading off the announcement was Apple's new Writing Tools -- a versatile assistant designed to elevate your writing across the board. Writing Tools will let you rewrite, proofread, and summarize text directly in apps where you're typing, from notes to messages. Apple Intelligence also includes a revamped, more conversational Siri and a new notification summary system that aggregates key updates across your emails, group chats, notes, and more. More features are set to arrive in December with three new tools: Genmoji, Image Playground, and Image Wand. Genmoji lets users create personalized emojis based on descriptions or photos, allowing for unique likenesses of family and friends. Image Playground enhances user-created sketches with AI, turning rough drawings into refined images. Image Wand goes a step further, generating images based on on-screen context -- like creating bird illustrations while reading about birds. These tools build on the AI features in iOS 18.1, pushing Apple deeper into the generative AI space. Apple is rolling out updates to Writing Tools, adding context-specific prompts that let users generate creative text -- like transforming a dinner invite into a poem. Apple is also integrating ChatGPT's data directly into Writing Tools and Siri, enhancing response depth and variety to better compete with popular language models. According to Apple, the iPhone 16 lineup will also be getting a unique addition with Visual Intelligence -- a feature limited to these models due to its integration with the new Camera Control button. Visual Intelligence allows users to look up information by simply pointing the camera at an object, bypassing the need to snap a photo or navigate photo app settings. It's not revolutionary, but it streamlines searches. Apple Intelligence won't be available for all devices, with support limited to newer models. Only users with an iPhone 16 series (including the 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max), iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, iPads with an A17 Pro or M1 chip and later, and Macs running on M1 chips or newer will have access.

iOS 18.1 Brings Apple Intelligence Features to iPhone: Here's What You Need to Know

Apple has officially rolled out the iOS 18.1 update, introducing its new suite of AI-powered tools, Apple Intelligence, to iPhones and other Apple devices. Initially unveiled at the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June, these features had not been available to the public until now. The iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates now offer users powerful tools like Writing Tools, Clean Up, and automatic movie creation. The new Apple Intelligence suite is compatible with the iPhone 16 series, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as iPads with the A17 Pro or M1 and later models, and Macs with M1 or newer chips. The iOS 18.1 update highlights include Writing Tools, an AI-driven feature that assists users with grammar and spell-check, summarization, and tone adjustments in documents. It can rewrite text to appear concise, friendly, or professional and can also format text into tables or lists across various apps, including Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages, and even WhatsApp. Another major addition is the Photos app's Clean Up tool -- an AI-based object removal feature that lets users eliminate unwanted people or objects from photos. The Photos app also features automatic movie creation through the new Memory Movie option and enhanced natural language search, which simplifies locating specific media using everyday language. iOS 18.1 also introduces a refreshed Siri experience, with a glowing UI around the screen's edges when activated and a new type-to-Siri function. Siri's capabilities have been enhanced for managing device settings and responding to complex queries. Additionally, Apple has added a call recording feature to the Phone app, which saves recordings in the Notes app, along with transcriptions. Apple has hinted at even more powerful AI tools, such as ChatGPT integration in Siri, Image Playground, Image Wand, Genmoji, and Visual Intelligence with Camera Control, set for a December release.

Apple Intelligence Is Finally Dropping This Week. Here's a Peek at What's Changing on Your iPhone.

Apple markets Apple Intelligence, its iPhone, Mac, and iPad-specific host of AI features, as "AI for the rest of us." But how will AI work on the iPhone? Apple is taking the slow yet steady approach by adding new writing features, Siri upgrades, and photo- editing powered by AI with its iOS 18.1 update this week. Apple CEO Tim Cook praised Apple Intelligence earlier this month, stating that he used it to summarize long emails and it saves him time. Related: Apple Is Expanding What The iPhone Can Do. Here's What's Changing Right Away. "It's changed my life," he told the Wall Street Journal. These features are a taste of what Apple AI is expected to do -- a beta version of the next update, iOS 18.2, unpacks more AI to come, like ChatGPT integration with Siri. iOS 18.2 will be available for general release in December. For now, iOS 18.1 offers a glimpse of what Apple envisions by embedding AI into the iPhone. Here are some key iOS 18.1 features rolling out this week. If you write an email using the Mail app on your iPhone and highlight the message, a Writing Tools option will appear in the tab containing Copy, Paste, Add Link, and Autofill. Apple's Writing Tools helps users rewrite an email in a "friendly," "professional," or "concise" way adjusting for tone and giving suggestions you can accept or deny. The feature is available from the same bar that contains the copy-and-paste functions. Related: Apple Adds AI Writing Tools to the iPhone 16 The tool also has an option for proofreading or summarizing, which can also apply to Notifications, Messages, and the Notes app. One iPhone user shared in a viral post that Apple Intelligence summarized a breakup text for him in a way that "felt unreal and dystopian." Siri has a new look: Instead of a glowing orb at the bottom of the screen, Siri will show up as a light around the border of the iPhone, wrapping around the edges of the screen. You can keep using your iPhone while talking to Siri, and the light will move in response to your voice. Related: Apple Is Reportedly Saving the Most Anticipated Siri AI Upgrades For Next Year Siri also is programmed to understand more context. Saying something like "Siri set a reminder -- wait, I mean an alarm" won't cause Siri to stop working -- the voice assistant will set the alarm. Apple has also trained Siri on training documents, so it can now help with tech support and answer questions like, "How do I share my WiFi password?" or "How do I take a screen recording?" Double tapping the bottom of the iPhone screen brings up Siri now, and with a keyboard, you can type to ask Siri questions and switch between text and voice. Apple has made typable Siri available for years as an accessibility feature, but AI means that the keyboard can better predict what you might be typing with AI suggestions. Apple has a new "Clean Up" tool that edits out people or objects from a picture. The AI detects someone or something in the background, deletes it, and then fills in the area so it looks like that person or thing was never there. Related: People Have Mixed Reactions to Apple's New iPhone 16 Lineup The tool even applies to shadows and reflections. This is Apple's version of Google's Magic Eraser tool, which does the same thing and is available for Pixel phones. The update applies to iPhone 16s and the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max. The device and Siri language have to be set to U.S. English. Go to the Settings app and tap on Apple Intelligence & Siri. Then select Join the Apple Intelligence Waitlist. You can opt out of Apple Intelligence at any time even after joining the waitlist and being approved. Navigate to Apple Intelligence & Siri in the Settings app and select opt-out.

Apple Intelligence features are finally available for everyone | Digital Trends

Apple has begun rolling out Apple Intelligence to those with eligible iPhones through the latest iOS 18.1 update. Apple Intelligence was originally shown off during WWDC 2024 back in June and has been available to those on the developer and public betas. However, as of today, iOS 18.1 is available to everyone, though Apple Intelligence is only available for iPhone 15 Pro and later. With iOS 18.1, users who have an iPhone 15 Pro or later can now access several Apple Intelligence features, including Writing Tools, a more natural and capable Siri, summarize notifications, a smarter Photos app, and priority messages in Mail. Be aware that these are just a fraction of Apple Intelligence features -- there are even more AI tools coming in iOS 18.2, which is currently in beta. First, the Writing Tools. These are integrated into iOS 18.1 systemwide and allow users to rewrite, proofread, and summarize text in pretty much any app. This includes Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages, and even third-party apps. Recommended Videos Rewrite adjusts the tone of the message to different versions for the task at hand. Proofread checks the grammar, spelling, word choice, and sentence structure while also providing suggestions and explanations that can be reviewed before accepting. Summarize allows users to select text and get a summary in the form of an easy-to-read paragraph, bulleted key points, a table, or just a list. Siri should be smarter than before, as it now can understand natural language and is more flexible and integrated into the overall system experience. With Apple Intelligence, Siri gets a new design interface with a glowing light that wraps around the edge of the screen. Siri can understand speech when users stumble over their words and maintain context from one request to the next. You can even type to Siri at any time. Apple also gave Siri extensive product knowledge, so you can ask Siri for support with other Apple products. The Photos app has also gained some new superpowers. It now features natural language search, which also works on videos, not just photos. By natural language, it will be able to understand requests like "Maya skateboarding in a tie-dye shirt." For videos, it will jump to that specific moment in the clip that matches your inquiry. Siri will even offer smart completion suggestions. Photos now has the Clean Up tool. With Clean Up, you can remove unwanted objects or people in a photo. There is also the new Memories feature, letting users create movies by typing in a description. Lastly, Priority Messages in Mail is a new section that sits at the top of your inbox. This Priority Messages section will show you the most urgent emails, such as same-day invitations or a boarding pass. Across the entire inbox, you can get summaries of messages without having to open it, and get summarizations of long threads. There is also Smart Reply, which provides suggestions for quick responses to your messages by identifying questions in an email. Notifications will also be prioritized and summarized. Reduce Interruptions is also a new Focus mode that will only show notifications that may need immediate attention. The Summarization tool also works in the Notes and Phone apps. For Notes, users can record, transcribe, and summarize audio. The Phone app now lets you record calls, and participants will automatically be notified, so you're not impeding on any privacy concerns. Once a recorded call ends, Apple Intelligence gives you a summary of key points. These are just a few of the Apple Intelligence features that are now available for everyone on iOS 18.1 who also has a compatible device. Apple will add more Apple Intelligence features in December and the coming months with iOS 18.2 and beyond. These upcoming features include Genmoji creation, Image Wand, ChatGPT, Visual Intelligence, and more. You can get iOS 18.1 now on your iPhone by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Once you have updated, you must enable Apple Intelligence by going to Settings > Apple Intelligence and Siri > Join Waitlist.

iOS 18.1 is finally here -- 5 Apple Intelligence features you need to try first

The wait is finally over as the official release of iOS 18.1 catapults Apple into the artificial intelligence era. While this new update is rolling out to compatible iPhones, only a select few will actually be able to reap the benefits of what this latest iOS release has to offer. That's because it finally unlocks the one feature that dramatically changes the way I use my iPhone. Apple Intelligence first got its official unveiling earlier this year during WWDC 2024, but it remained elusive even when iOS 18 officially rolled out with the launch of the iPhone 16 in September. While most of the coolest features about iOS 18.1 relate to Apple Intelligence, only a select few devices will have access to them. They include the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, along with the four iPhone 16 models that Apple released not long ago. While the iOS 18.1 developer beta gave me my first taste of Apple Intelligence, this official roll out extends it to everyone else. I've been using them on my iPhone 16, so here are the iOS 18.1 features you need to try first. Siri's been an integral part of the iPhone experience for as long as I can remember, but iOS 18.1 brings the biggest changes to Siri we've seen to date. That's because of the enhancements Apple has made to make Siri more conversational and capable than ever before. Most notable, there's a brand new animation whenever Siri with Apple Intelligence is activated -- one that outlines the entire screen in a colorful, rainbow like pattern. Beyond the visual change, I'm happy to say that Siri sounds a lot more like a real human being, including the ability to understand the context of the conversation. That way, even if I'm asking Siri subsequent questions, the AI-powered assistant is smart enough to know what I'm referring to. I also love that I can interrupt Siri mid-sentence to ask another followup question without tripping it up. And in the event I don't want to use voice commands to interact with Siri, I can just fall back and type to Siri by double tapping the bottom of my iPhone 16 at any time. Over the last few years, I haven't used my iPhone's native email app because I've found the Gmail app to be better. With iOS 18.1, however, it's worth going back to Apple's Mail app because of all the new features it gains that make it much more functional. On the top of my list is how Apple Intelligence analyzes my emails and provides me with a list of messages that matter the most. These Priority Messages are listed under the Priority tab in my inboxes, so that I don't have to go through each one of them and read through all the emails to find out which ones are actually important. Another delightful feature in the Mail app with iOS 18.1 is that Apple Intelligence looks through my email messages and creates a summary of their contents in my inbox -- so I can better gauge if they require my attention. Given how it's a time consuming process to click into each email and read up on them, this summarizing feature saves me time. And lastly, the Mail app gains a new Smart Replies feature with iOS 18.1 that uses Apple Intelligence to generate quick responses to email messages. Apple's been doing a lot to convince people that the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max are the best camera phones around with new features like the ability to natively record in 4K 120 fps and Audio Mix that lets me tweak the audio in my videos to my liking. However, Apple finally brings one feature in iOS 18.1 that I've been asking for -- the Clean Up feature with Apple Intelligence. It's very similar to Google's Magic Editor feature in the Pixel 9 Pro and Pixel 9 Pro XL, which basically uses generative AI to edit my photos. I would argue that Apple's implementation is a smidge more intuitive because Apple Intelligence analyzes my photo and knows exactly what I want to remove. By simply circling or brushing what I want removed, Clean Up does the rest by intelligently filling in the gaps with generative AI. Removing unwanted objects in my photos has never been easier with my iPhone thanks to this, so it's one of the features you absolutely need to try first with iOS 18.1. I'm still waiting for Apple to come out with an AI feature similar to Google's Call Screen, but iOS 18.1 brings another much-needed feature to the calling experience on my iPhone 16. Visual Voicemail has long been a halo feature in iPhones, but now you can actually take those phone calls yourself -- but still lean on Apple Intelligence to record and transcribe your phone calls. I've used it several times already and it's effective for those long conversations you're having with someone and absolutely need to remember what's going on. When it's activated, an audio recording will announce on the call that it's being recorded. Once the conversation is over, you'll need to head on over to Notes app because that's where the transcriptions are stored -- complete with an appropriate summary. What's great about this feature is that it's rolling out to all models that can run iOS 18.1, so you don't technically need the newest models to try it. The last iOS 18.1 feature you need to try first is Writing Tools, a suite of options that overhauls your text -- as well as summarizing them. They're included with iOS 18.1 and use the power of Apple Intelligence to give you greater control of your writing. In addition to proofreading and summarizing text, what I like about Writing Tools is that it can take what I write and generate something different with the Rewrite function. I find this handy for simple things, like finding an alternative option to a headline I'm writing about, just for inspiration to create other things. There's also the ability to change the tone of my messages by making them sound professional, friendly, or concise. I know not everyone is convinced about letting AI speak for them, but I know how it can be valuable to others.

Apple Intelligence Now Available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Apple has launched its new Apple Intelligence features across iPhone, iPad, and Mac through a free software update. These features leverage Apple silicon to enhance language and image processing, improve Siri's capabilities, and maintain user privacy. The initial set of features is available now, with more updates planned for the future. Apple has introduced its latest suite of Apple Intelligence features, now available on iPhone, iPad, and Mac through a complimentary software update. This release, encompassing iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, represents a significant advancement in using Apple silicon to enhance language and image processing, improve Siri's functionality, and uphold user privacy. The update brings a variety of features designed to refine the user experience across devices. Among the most notable are the new writing tools, which offer capabilities such as rewriting, proofreading, and summarizing. These tools enable users to create polished content with ease, enhancing productivity and creativity. Siri has also undergone substantial upgrades, now providing more natural and conversational interactions due to improved language understanding. The Photos app has received significant enhancements, featuring an advanced search function and a Clean Up tool that allows users to eliminate distractions from images, thereby improving the visual experience. For notifications and email management, the update introduces Priority Messages and notification summaries, assisting users in maintaining focus by emphasizing important communications. Initially available in U.S. English, Apple plans to broaden language support, increasing accessibility for users globally. This expansion aims to make the features more inclusive and user-friendly for a diverse audience. Future updates will also introduce new visual intelligence experiences, further enriching user interface and interaction. A notable upcoming feature is the integration with ChatGPT, which aims to enhance knowledge and problem-solving capabilities. This integration is set to offer users a more robust and intelligent virtual assistant experience, providing deeper insights and more comprehensive assistance. Apple remains steadfast in its commitment to user privacy with this update. The company employs on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute to ensure user data security. These measures are designed to protect personal information while delivering powerful computational capabilities. Additionally, the optional ChatGPT integration includes built-in privacy safeguards, allowing users to enjoy advanced AI features without compromising data security. The introduction of Apple Intelligence across iPhone, iPad, and Mac signifies a substantial advancement in personal computing. By using Apple silicon, the update enhances language and image processing, improves Siri, and maintains a strong focus on privacy. As Apple continues to roll out these features and expand their capabilities, users can anticipate a more intuitive and secure digital experience. The integration of advanced AI technologies into Apple's ecosystem not only improves functionality but also sets a new standard for user interaction with devices. The emphasis on privacy and security ensures that users can enjoy these advancements without concerns about data breaches or unauthorized access. Looking ahead, Apple is poised to continue its trajectory of innovation by further integrating AI capabilities into its devices. The company's commitment to expanding language support and introducing new features demonstrates its dedication to providing a comprehensive and inclusive user experience. As technology evolves, Apple is likely to explore additional avenues for enhancing device functionality and user interaction. The potential for future updates to incorporate even more sophisticated AI tools and features is vast. By staying at the forefront of technological advancements, Apple aims to deliver products that not only meet but exceed user expectations. This forward-thinking approach ensures that Apple remains a leader in the tech industry, continually pushing the boundaries of what is possible. Gain further expertise in Apple Silicon by checking out these recommendations.

Apple Intelligence is here: 5 AI tools you don't want to miss out on

Other AI features, such as the Genmoji feature, smarter Siri, and native ChatGPT integration, will roll out in the coming months. Following many weeks of beta testing with developers and enthusiasts, Apple has seeded the stable iOS 18.1 build to the public. So, those with an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 model can finally take advantage of Apple Intelligence. While some of the more exciting AI perks, like the Genmoji feature, upgraded Siri, and native ChatGPT support, aren't included with this release, there's still plenty to do with the first batch offered by this version.

Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1: A Complete Guide

Apple's latest iOS 18.1 update introduces a wealth of enhancements and new features, with a strong emphasis on integrating Apple Intelligence across various apps and system components. This update is designed to streamline your user experience, offering improved functionalities and more intuitive user interfaces. Let's dive into the key aspects of iOS 18.1 and explore how Apple Intelligence is set to transform your interaction with your iPhone in a new video from iDB. The Control Center undergoes significant updates in iOS 18.1, providing you with greater flexibility and control over your device's features. With the introduction of a reset button, you can now effortlessly customize your Control Center to suit your preferences. The connectivity page has been redesigned, featuring larger, individual toggles for Wi-Fi, AirDrop, and Bluetooth, making it more user-friendly and intuitive. Additionally, new toggles for satellite connectivity, AirDrop, and the Measure app have been added, expanding your control over various device functionalities. The iPhone 16 lineup introduces an exciting new feature that photography enthusiasts will appreciate. A dedicated camera control button has been added, allowing you to seamlessly switch to the front-facing camera with a single tap. This enhancement simplifies the process of capturing selfies and engaging in video calls, elevating your overall photography experience. In a significant move, Apple has opened up the NFC chip to third-party developers, paving the way for a wider range of applications. This change empowers developers to create innovative solutions that leverage the NFC chip's capabilities beyond its traditional uses. With this increased accessibility, you can expect to see a surge in NFC-enabled apps and services, offering new possibilities for contactless interactions and data exchange. Music enthusiasts will be delighted by the improvements made to the Music app in iOS 18.1. The album navigation system has been optimized, introducing a stacked system that allows for more efficient browsing and searching. This enhancement makes it easier to find your favorite tracks and albums, ensuring a seamless and enjoyable listening experience. iOS 18.1 brings notable changes to the lock screen and notification management. The lock screen now displays a numerical count for multiple notifications, providing you with a clear overview of pending alerts. This feature helps you stay organized and manage your notifications more effectively. Furthermore, the always-on display now adapts app icons to dark mode, reducing eye strain and conserving battery life. Apple Intelligence takes center stage in iOS 18.1, introducing a range of exclusive features for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 lineup. Siri receives a sleek new design, along with enhanced voice and text interaction capabilities. With improved product knowledge and error correction, Siri becomes an even more valuable virtual assistant. Writing tools have been integrated to assist you in proofreading and rewriting text in various styles, ensuring your written communication is polished and effective. The photo cleanup feature is another standout addition, allowing you to effortlessly remove unwanted objects and blur faces in your images. This tool provides greater control over your visual content, allowing you to create stunning, customized photos. The AI-powered Focus mode intelligently minimizes interruptions, helping you stay focused on your tasks and maintain productivity. The Mail app also benefits from Apple Intelligence, with features like prioritization of urgent emails and automatic summaries. This ensures you can quickly identify and respond to important messages without getting overwhelmed by your inbox. Safari introduces article summaries, allowing you to grasp the key points of web content at a glance, saving you valuable time. One highly anticipated feature is the call recording functionality, which includes note-taking and transcription capabilities. While this feature is currently pending, it holds immense potential for enhancing your communication and record-keeping processes. Lastly, the Photos app receives an upgrade with the ability to create memory movies, allowing you to compile and relive your cherished moments seamlessly. Looking ahead, Apple has exciting plans to introduce even more AI-powered features in upcoming software updates. This commitment to continuous improvement demonstrates Apple's dedication to leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance your device's capabilities and provide an unparalleled user experience. In conclusion, iOS 18.1 represents a significant milestone in the evolution of Apple's mobile operating system. With a strong focus on Apple Intelligence, this update brings a wide array of enhancements and new features designed to streamline your interactions with your iPhone. From the revamped Control Center to advanced AI tools, iOS 18.1 sets the stage for a more intuitive, efficient, and personalized user experience. As Apple continues to push the boundaries of what's possible with artificial intelligence, you can look forward to even more exciting developments in future updates.

Apple Intelligence goes live with iOS 18.1 update

Apple on Monday confirmed the general availability of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. The point update is most notable for its inclusion of the first batch of Apple Intelligence features, which the company announced at WWDC back in June. However, only select Apple devices are equipped to run the new generative AI offering. This includes iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, all iPhone 16 models, iPads with an A17 Pro chip (including the new iPad Mini) or M1 and later, or a Mac with an M1 or later. After downloading the update, Apple will ask whether you'd like to opt into the feature. Once you do, you'll be added to a waitlist, a process that shouldn't last longer than a couple of hours. It's an unusual move for the company, owing to the remote server requirement for the LLM-based offering. Essentially Apple wants to get its back end ready for some big compute demands. Not every function requires off-board processing, however. One piece that makes the system unique versus offerings like ChatGPT is its small model approach. The new Apple Intelligence features are trained on a selective dataset aimed at specific functions, rather than the massive, black box approach employed by others. The first batch of Apple Intelligence features includes integrated writing tools, image cleanup, article summaries, and a typing input for the redesigned Siri experience. iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 -- which are currently available as developer betas -- will bring another round of features. These updates will bring an additional list of Apple Intelligence updates, including Genmoji, Image Playground, Visual Intelligence, Image Wand, and ChatGPT integration. Apple has yet to announce a time frame for GA on those updates.

Apple Intelligence is here! iOS 18.1 is the free update that brings AI to iPhones | Stuff

Apple's AI is finally available for your iPhone, thanks to the free iOS 18.1 update that's rolling out from today This year, all the big smartphone players are making a splash in AI. Until now, Apple has been notably absent from the space. The tech giant showed off its version of AI called Apple Intelligence back in June at WWDC 2024. But while it's been in beta for the past few months, it's not been available for most people to get. That changes today. Apple Intelligence is now officially here for everyone. It comes in the free iOS 18.1 software update that's rolling out to all users from today. To update, just head in to the Settings app, General, and then Software Update. It might take a while to download at first, as everyone rushes to get the AI features. Note that it's only available in the English (US) language for now, so you'll need to change your device and Siri settings accordingly if you live elsewhere. If you've been following the Apple headlines, you'll know that Apple Intelligence features are being staggered. That is to say, you won't get everything in iOS 18.1 - you'll have to wait for subsequent updates for certain features. So what do you get in iOS 18.1? For writing, users can now rewrite, proofread, and summarise text across various apps like Mail, Notes, Pages, and even some third-party apps with Writing Tools. Siri gets a visual upgrade with a glowing edge light and now smoothly switches between text and voice commands. This smart assistant also retains context between interactions and offers device support guides for iPhone, iPad, and Mac. But the full personal context features aren't here just yet. The Mail app has been enhanced with Apple Intelligence. You'll find an Urgent section at the inbox's top, message summaries for quick previews, and a Smart Reply that identifies questions for rapid responses. This Smart Reply also lives in the Messages app. Alongside this, you'll get notification summaries that give you a brief overview of your messages or other notifications. A new Focus mode has been added to limit notifications strictly to urgent ones, helping reduce interruptions. In the Photos app, users can search by natural language, find specific video moments, create Memories based on descriptive storylines, and enjoy transcript summaries. Some highly anticipated Apple Intelligence features like the Image Playground, Genmoji, Priority Notifications, and an upgraded Siri with on-screen awareness are yet to roll out, including Apple's ChatGPT integration. This is coming in iOS 18.2, which is currently available for beta testing. Rumours suggest this will be released in December. Other features have arrived in iOS 18.1, including further Control Center customisation options, the ability to take selfies with Camera Control, Sleep Apnea detection on the latest Apple Watches, and some Music app tweaks.

Apple Intelligence - a full breakdown of Apple's AI features in iOS 18.1

Apple has rolled out its first artificial intelligence-powered features to its products, but under the branding of Apple Intelligence, a slew of new features are designed to provide more value to the user by increasing the "intelligence" level of the device. Apple Intelligence has become available with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. As for what devices are supported, Apple Intelligence is available on the iPhone 15 Pro and above, M1 and later iPad Pro models, M1, and later iPad Air models, and the M1 and above for the MacBook Pro, iMac, and Mac Mini. Additionally, M1 Max and later Mac Studio models will support Apple Intelligence, along with the M2 Ultra Mac Pro. The limitation on the number of products that can support Apple Intelligence can be traced back to the Apple Silicon within each product. Apple Intelligence requires a Neural Processing Unit (NPU) and substantial RAM capacity, which some of the products lack. For example, Apple's A16 Bionic chip that was used to power the iPhone 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max, 15, and 15 Plus has 6GB of RAM and an NPU capable of 17 TOPS (trillions of operations per second). Apple has made the cutoff point for Apple Intelligence at the iPhone 15 Pro, which is powered by the A17 Pro chip and has 8GB of RAM and a 35 TOPS NPU. Apple touched on this during its initial presentation of Apple Intelligence, with its head of machine learning and AI, John Giannandrea, saying that Apple Intelligence requires substantial bandwidth on the device and a powerful Apple Neural Engine (NPU). It appears that Apple Intelligence requires at least 8GB of RAM and 35 TOPS, as that is the base specification on the latest A18 and A18 Pro chips found in the iPhone 16 lineup. The same applies to MacBooks and iPads and their respective chips. Apple states that it is rolling out Apple Intelligence in stages, with iOS 18.1 being the first in a long process of familiarising users with the new suite of AI-powered features that will be at their fingertips. Writing Tools is designed to refine the language used by the user into different forms while also being a helpful tool for proofreading important messages, making suggestions based on what to write based on the information provided on screen, and summarizing bodies of text into easily digestible footnotes. Furthermore, Rewrite will enable users to completely overhaul what they have written in a different writing style, with writing style options such as professional, funny, concise, friendly, etc. As you can imagine, Proofread checks highlighted text for any grammatical errors, sentence structure issues, and general improvements. If it detects any improvements, it will provide these to the user via suggestions. Notably, these suggestions have explanations, which is a very nice touch from Apple as the user can see the reasoning behind the suggestion. Additionally, users can select text and summarize it into a simple, digestible paragraph, bullet points, or even a table. Apple intends to make Siri more human, and to do that, she needs to be able to communicate better with humans through natural language. iOS 18.1 introduced that change and made Siri a much more integrated part of the iPhone, with big improvements to its understanding of language. This was demonstrated by Siri still being able to fulfill a request even after I purposefully stumbled over my words in an attempt to add more difficulty. Furthermore, Siri can now maintain context from one request to the next and has been injected with extensive knowledge about Apple products and thousands of answers about features, settings, applications, etc. Users can even ask Siri how to share a Wi-Fi password or take a screen recording, and the upgraded AI will respond with thorough instructions. The Photos App has received a substantial improvement in iOS 18.1 as users are now able to use natural language to search through their library of photos. For example, users can now search for "Food I ate in Taiwan," and all the images of food from your trip to Taiwan will appear in the results. Apple has also made this feature available for videos, but it's even more specific, as users will be able to quickly jump to that section in the video that's being searched for. Apple has also rolled out Clean Up, a new tool that enables users to remove entire elements from images and video. The tool is extremely simple to use and incredibly powerful, being capable of cropping out entire objects, people, and anything else in between from an image or video by simply selecting the tools and painting over the target element. Once painted, Apple Intelligence will cut around the target element, cut it out of the image, and attempt to blend the surrounding background into the vacant area of the image. Lastly, users can now create memory movies with simple descriptions in natural language. For example, a user could create a memory movie by simply writing, "Everything we ate in Taiwan 2024". Apple has added a new feature to the top of the Mail app called "Priority Messages,," which will contain all of a user's most important messages. Examples of what will appear here are boarding passes for flights, calendar invitations, deliveries, reservations, etc. Additionally, summaries will be generated for mail without even having to open it, and this will occur for mail that has particularly long threads. Notification Summaries are also a new way Apple wants to enable users to streamline their day, as Apple Intelligence can provide a short summary of long or stacked notifications right on the device's Lock Screen. For example, suppose a group chat is extremely active. In that case, Apple Intelligence can summarize all the notifications that come through and catch the user up quickly on what is being discussed. Apple has also added a new Focus mode called Reduce Interruptions, which only showcases notifications that might need immediate attention. Users can now record, transcribe, and summarise audio in the Notes and Phone apps. For example, when a user is on a call, they can start recording the audio. However, when a recording is initiated, it will notify all users on the phone that a recording has been started. Additionally, Apple Intelligence will generate a summary of the conversation in key points in the event the conversation needs to be referenced. Apple isn't finished with Apple Intelligence by any means, as the company outlines in its announcement that more features will be released in December, with more capabilities rolling out in the coming months. Apple has Genmoji and Image Playground on the horizon, which will enable users to create custom emojis by simply typing a description or using an image of a friend or family member, and Image Playground, which allows users to create images in moments. December will also have improvements to Writing Tools, as users will be able to describe a specific change they want to apply to text and implement it to the target area. An example of this would be selecting a sentence and making it sound more sophisticated by improving the accuracy of the words used. Moreover, December will see the integration of ChatGPT further into iOS as users will be able to access the powerful AI model within Writing Tools and Siri. Apple Intelligence is available now as a free software update with iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. Apple informs us that it will be available in most regions worldwide when the device has set its Siri language to US English. Apple states it will be making its new AI features available in more languages and regions within the coming months, with the new feature becoming available in localized English in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK in December.

Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1 -- all the new features for your iPhone and what's still coming

Here's all the AI features that are and aren't available with iOS 18.1 After many months of promises, and plenty of beta testing, Apple is finally rolling out iOS 18.1 -- bringing Apple Intelligence to the masses. Well part of Apple Intelligence, at least, because not every single promised feature is arriving right away. Instead, we're getting a rolling release, with new features now scheduled to show up in future iOS 18.2, 18.3 and 18.4 updates. It's a little bit confusing, I know, but if you're wondering why certain AI features are apparently missing from your iPhone it's because they're still works in progress. That's not to say iOS 18.1 isn't a pretty meaty update, with plenty of new features for you to enjoy. Here are all the Apple Intelligence features launching as part of iOS 18.1 -- and which ones will require a little more patience. iOS 18.1 is rolling out to every iPhone up to (and including) the 2018's iPhone Xs, so there's an update for everyone rolling out from today. Not every phone will be getting Apple Intelligence, since that's limited to a handful of recent iPhones -- specifically devices with 8GB of RAM. Unless you have an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro or iPhone 16 Pro Max, Apple Intelligence will be completely out of your reach. As far as we know this situation won't be changing in the near future, so older iPhone owners shouldn't ever expect there to be a surprise AI upgrade. Writing Tools is a feature that's available throughout iOS 18.1, available wherever you're able to type. The idea here is that these tools will improve your written work in a variety of ways, including checking spelling and grammar, rewriting sections of text in a brand new tone, and a summarization tool that can give you an overview of highlighted portions of text. You can check out our guide on how to use Apple Intelligence's Writing Tools here. The Photos app now has the ability to create what Apple calls a Movie Memory. Based on your written prompts, the app will use AI to piece together photos, and videos to create a movie slideshow. AI photo editing tools can perform miracles on your snaps, fixing up problems that would otherwise ruin your photo reel. Photo Clean Up is Apple's take on Google's Magic Eraser, with the ability to identify unwanted objects or people in your photos, then remove them before filling in the gaps with generative AI. Apple also made big changes to Photos' search feature, to the point where it should actually be able to find what you're looking for. This is all down to the new Natural Language search feature, which is able to understand more complex search requests. That means you don't have to stick to individual words and a complicated selection of filters to find the photos you want. We all know the pain of having to sift through an avalanche of notifications, unable to figure out which ones are important without checking them individually. Thankfully iOS 18.1 lets AI do all the hard work, filtering out the less useful notifications and keeping you apprised of the more important or actionable alerts. Siri has been long overdue an upgrade, and while there are still some changes yet to come iOS 18.1 is making big changes to Apple's AI assistant. Siri is now able to converse with a more conversational tone, while also having a better understanding of all the things you ask it. In other words, it's now more human-like than ever before, and can carry on conversations beyond the initial voice command. Plus you can now type to Siri and communicate without having to use your voice. Just in case you're in situations where normal voice commands aren't appropriate. Priority messages in Mail & Messages If your inbox is like mine, you get a lot of emails each day -- too many to read them all. Which ones are important and actually need taking care of first? Apple Intelligence can help you out, detecting time-sensitive emails and pushing them to the very top of your inbox. For those of you that never know how to respond to emails and messages, Smart Reply will be an absolute lifesaver. This feature lets you choose from some AI-generated replies, with Apple Intelligence also able to understand the contents of the message and adapt your possible responses accordingly. If you still don't have time to read an entire email or text from start to finish, perhaps because it's a little too long, Apple Intelligence can summarize it all for you. Giving you the broad strokes of what the message is about, with more detail than a basic excerpt might, letting you figure out whether you need to go back and read it in more detail. Reduce Interruptions Focus iOS 18.1 brings a new Focus mode called "Reduce Interruptions," which uses AI. to prioritize your notifications and only let through the alerts that are actually important. That way you can get on with whatever needs doing, while still having the benefit or knowing when something urgent is going on. The core part of this Focus is called "Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing" which lets you apply similar conditions on all your existing Focus modes as well. Summarized audio recordings Not only can iOS 18.1 let you record and transcribe phone calls, provided you use Apple's phone app, it can summarize the contents of that conversation. That way it's much easier to refer back to the call and figure out what was going on and when, without having to sift through the entire recording or transcript. This summary feature also applies to any recordings you make in the Notes app as well. An iPhone 16-exclusive feature, Visual Intelligence is essentially Apple's take on Google Lens. Albeit with the benefit of letting you access the features via the Camera Control button. Visual Intelligence is essentially an AI Vision-style feature, using the camera to view and analyze the world around you. Whether you want to translate text, search the web for things you see in real life, and so on. Visual Intelligence is coming with iOS 18.2, and is currently available in the iOS 18.2 developer beta. It wouldn't be AI if there wasn't the option to create images out of nowhere, and that's what Apple's Image Playground is all about. You offer up a prompt of what you want to see, and Image Playground will produce relevant images for you. Apple doesn't have its own chatbot, but it is bringing one to iOS 18.2 thanks to a partnership with OpenAI -- developers of ChatGPT. The chatbot will be built into Siri, letting you talk to ChatGPT and send prompts to the chatbot just as you would Apple's own AI assistant. The difference being that ChatGPT has access to even more information and features. ChatGPT can also integrate with Image Playground and Writing Tools, letting you generate images and text across a wide number of apps -- regardless of Siri's involvement. Read more about ChatGPT and iOS 18.2 here to learn what it can do. Genmoji Ever found yourself needing an emoji, but none of the official options quite fit? Genmoji is a feature coming to Apple Messages in iOS 18.2, letting you offer prompts for custom emoji that will be created using generative AI. While Siri has had some important upgrades in iSS 18.2, the biggest upgrades likely aren't coming until iOS 18.4. So if you were waiting on Siri getting better control and awareness of what's going on in your phone, it's going to be a while yet. These features include on-screen awareness, which lets Siri see what's happening on screen when you're talking to it, and what Apple calls Personal Context -- which lets Siri remember details unique to you and answer questions accordingly. This effectively makes the AI assistant behave more like a real human being when you talk. Siri will also be able to gain access to more apps, and let you control what's happening in software that was otherwise off limits. Another image generation feature, Image Wand lets you turn your hand-drawn sketches into more detailed images via the Notes app. According to Apple, Image Wand can also create images using context from the surrounding area if needed. Just in case your own sketching skills aren't great -- which is definitely true for me. This should arrive in iOS 18.2. iOS 18.1 officially only brings Apple Intelligence to the U.S., though other regions can access the features if they set their system to U.S. English. That's going to change going forward, with Apple confirming that other regions and languages will get official Apple intelligence support in the near future. In fact the U.K., South Africa, Australia, Canada and New Zealand are expected to get support with iOS 18.2. Apple has also confirmed that Apple Intelligence will be available in Chinese, French, Japanese, Spanish, German, Italian, Portuguese, Korean, Vietnamese and more languages at some point in 2025 with iOS 18.4.

Apple Intelligence finally arrives in iOS 18.1 - here's what's new (and what's still missing)

It's finally here! Apple Intelligence has arrived as part of iOS 18.1. The new update for iPhone brings the first wave of Apple's AI features to your device and can be installed right now. This update includes the first set of Apple Intelligence features, such as Writing Tools for proofreading and rewriting, Smart Replies to reply to messages quickly, Notification Summaries, Cleaning Photos, and a redesign of Siri. You'll also get these experiences on an iPad or Mac courtesy of iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1, which also began rolling out today. Other Apple Intelligence features, like Genmoji, Image Playground, and ChatGPT-integration for Siri will arrive in iOS 18.2 later this year. For owners of the best iPhone, the iPhone 16, Visual Intelligence using the device's Camera Control will also be made available as part of iOS 18.2. We've been talking about Apple Intelligence for months, so it's incredibly exciting to finally be able to install the official release of iOS 18.1 and get started with everything Apple's AI-powered tools have to offer. If you'd like to know more about Apple Intelligence and its features, check out this list of Apple Intelligence features. Unfortunately, to use Apple Intelligence on the iPhone, you need an iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, or 16 Pro Max. That said, iOS 18.1 offers a range of other updates outside of AI. On a Mac, you'll need an M-Series chip and on the iPad you'll need either the A17 Pro, M1, M2, or M4 chips to get Apple Intelligence. This launch is for Apple Intelligence in US English, if you want to try Apple Intelligence but don't live in the United States, here's how to get Apple Intelligence in the UK and other countries. iOS 18.1 also introduces a range of upgrades for AirPods owners, including an FDA-approved over-the-counter hearing aid feature for those with mild to moderate hearing loss. iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro owners will also be able to change the camera that Camera Control launches, with a new option to switch quickly to the front TrueDepth Camera. You'll also find new Control Center options in the newly redesigned Control Center found in iOS 18. iOS 18.1 also fixes many bugs and brings stability improvements to all iOS 18-compatible iPhones. That said, Apple Intelligence is really the star of the show here, and with the latest update, Apple looks to be prioritizing iPhone 15 Pro owners and newer. Want to know more about our thoughts? Check out our iOS 18.1 Apple Intelligence hands-on to get a rundown of every AI feature you can use in the new update. If you're looking for a new Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone, check out our iPhone 16 review.

10 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.2

Apple is set to release iOS 18.2 in December, bringing the second round of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update brings several major advancements to Apple's AI integration, including completely new image generation tools and a range of Visual Intelligence-based enhancements. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls incoming as well. While not all advertised Apple Intelligence features will be available immediately, iOS 18.2 introduces several capabilities that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've listed 10 new things your iPhone will be able to do when the update rolls out in December. Thankfully, Apple is bringing the control back as an option in iOS 18.2. If you're already on the iOS 18.2 beta, you'll find a toggle in Settings ➝ Accessibility ➝ Audio & Visual, labeled "Always Show Volume Control". Enable the switch, and you'll be able to adjust volume from the Lock Screen without having to unlock your iPhone or use the physical volume buttons. This addition will be the fourth puzzle game available with an Apple News+ subscription, joining Crossword, Crossword Mini, and Quartiles. In the latest beta, US users can access the Default App interface to choose their preferred Email, Call Filtering, Browser, and Passwords, and Keyboards. EU users should have more options for choosing non-Apple apps as their default, as they are able to delete core apps like Messages, App Store, Safari, Camera, and Photos. Important emails are grouped in a "Primary" category, while other types are categorized into three additional sections. The "Transactions" section streamlines access to receipts, orders, and shipping information, allowing you to quickly locate your purchases. Meanwhile, the "Updates" section gathers newsletters, appointment reminders, and various subscription emails, keeping you informed. Lastly, the "Promotions" category highlights special offers and promotional messages, to make sure you don't miss out on any deals. Additionally, you can include likenesses of friends and family by pulling images directly from your Photos app. While Image Playground functions as a standalone app, it can also be integrated into apps like Notes and Messages and added to third-party applications. While they function like emojis on Apple devices, they are not encoded characters from the Unicode Consortium. Instead, Apple developed a unique API for Genmoji, ensuring they display correctly in any application that supports rich text. You can generate a Genmoji by providing a description of your desired design, and you even have the option to create Genmoji that resemble individuals from your Photos library. For instance, you can open a lengthy PDF and ask Siri to summarize information on a specific topic; Siri can then pass this request to ChatGPT to generate a comprehensive summary. Apple envisions Siri as a facilitator for AI models and tools, optimizing available resources to provide you with answers without the need to switch between multiple apps. Additional capabilities of Visual Intelligence include reading text aloud, identifying phone numbers and addresses for adding to Contacts, copying text, and summarizing information. Users can also search Google to find where to purchase a specific item they see, and by pointing the camera at an object, they can access further information through ChatGPT. Apple intends to enhance this feature by introducing more functionalities in the future.

Apple Intelligence AI rollout starts today with release of iOS 18.1

Apple devices got a little bit smarter on Monday when the tech giant officially released its first Apple Intelligence features in the U.S. through its iOS 18.1 software. The tech giant is rolling out new, AI-powered tools in a phased approach, and a number of AI-enabled features it has touted are still not available. Apple Intelligence features released Monday include improvements to Siri, which has a more "natural-sounding voice" and improved conversational skills. Other AI-powered features include new writing and summary tools, and enhanced photo-editing capabilities. There will be a longer wait for other AI features such as Genmoji, or the ability for users to create their own emojis, ChatGPT integration on Apple devices, and more. Some tech experts said users might even be underwhelmed what iOS 18.1 currently has to offer in terms of AI capabilities. "I would say if you download it and you have AI, you might even go, 'Wait, that's it?' Because this is coming out in stages," CNET editor-at-large Bridget Carey told CBS Mornings. As for the new Apple Intelligence-powered Siri, "This is not something that you instantly get a chatbot that you can converse with on your phone," said Carey, adding, "Think of this as Siri getting a little easier to use if you stammer and stumble over commands. It will understand you better. But it's not going to make wild new answers," she explained. Apple Intelligence is only compatible with the latest iPhone, iPad and Mac devices that are equipped with Apple Pro chips. The new features are now available on iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later, according to Apple. Additionally, both the device and Siri language must be set to U.S. English for Apple Intelligence to work. Some of the most noticeable new, AI-powered tools that come with iOS 18.1 relate to Apple's Photos app. A "Clean Up" tool lets photographers remove distracting or unwanted objects from photos with just a tap. The app also incorporates new natural language search capabilities making it easier for users to quickly locate and organize old photos. The new software update also allows Apple's AirPods Pro to operate as hearing aids. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) last month authorized Hearing Aid Feature (HAF), the first piece of FDA-approved, over-the-counter hearing aid software. The new HAF is for the estimated 30 million Americans who suffer from mild to moderate hearing loss, due to "aging, exposure to loud noises, certain medical conditions, and other factors," the FDA said.

Apple Intelligence Launches With iOS 18.1: Here's What You Get Today

Apple Intelligence is now available on eligible devices with iOS 18.1. Apple first unveiled Apple Intelligence at WWDC in June, promising to roll it out on Pro versions of the iPhone 15 and the iPhone 16 lineup in the fall. However, its AI tools were a no-show at September's "Glowtime" event. Instead, Apple promised the first Apple Intelligence features in October, with "more to come" in the months ahead. That begins today with the latest iOS software update in what's expected to be a months-long rollout. "Apple Intelligence introduces a new era for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, delivering brand-new experiences and tools that will transform what our users can accomplish," Apple CEO Tim Cook said in a statement. "Apple Intelligence builds on years of innovation in AI and machine learning to put Apple's generative models at the core of our devices, giving our users a personal intelligence system that is easy to use -- all while protecting their privacy." Here's what's available now, what's coming later in 2024, and what to expect in 2025. What Is Apple Intelligence? Apple Intelligence is not a single operating system or AI model. Instead, it's a slew of generative AI features grouped under a new branding. Apple built the models that power it, though it did not name the model specifically, as OpenAI does with each new model release, for example. Apple Intelligence can only run on the newest devices (iPhone 15 Pro and up, plus iPads or Macs with at least an M1 chip). That's not only because Apple wants to cash in on upgrades, but also because Apple Intelligence requires "a chip with substantial high-performance compute," Sribalan Santhanam, VP of Apple's silicon engineering group, said at the iPhone 16 event. Apple created a new chip for the iPhone 16, which is the company's first device "designed from the ground up for Apple Intelligence," Cook says. The A18 and A18 Pro are optimized for running large, generative models, with up to 2X faster processing for machine learning, 17% more system memory bandwidth, and more energy efficiency. Privacy is another big focus. Apple says many generative AI features will be processed on-device, on the new chips, rather than sending the request to remote servers. For any requests that must be processed externally, Apple developed a private network of servers. "It's all built on a foundation of privacy with on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute, a groundbreaking new approach that extends the privacy and security of iPhone into the cloud to protect users' information," says Craig Federighi, Apple's SVP of Software Engineering. Apple Intelligence Features in iOS 18.1 Here's the full list of Apple Intelligence features available now with iOS 18.1 if your phone is set to US English. Apple will add English for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK in late 2024. Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish arrive in 2025. Writing Tools When composing an email, text, Note, or "almost anywhere you type," as Federighi put it, Writing Tools can help improve your prose. Highlight the text, then select "Writing tools." A pop-up menu will offer to proofread, re-write, and summarize text, as PCMag's Angela Moscaritolo demonstrates. This could potentially be the most used Apple Intelligence feature, given how ubiquitous it is. But be warned: Apple is reportedly still working on preventing AI hallucinations. Siri's Big Glow-Up Apple's voice assistant gets some major upgrades, including new capabilities and improvements on existing ones. The familiar swirling ball is now a multi-colored glow around the screen edges. (Hence the iPhone 16 launch event's "Glowtime" tagline.) You can speak to Siri by pressing and holding the lock button or type out queries by double-tapping the bottom of the screen. Apple trained Siri on "extensive product knowledge" about its devices, which can help users answer questions about features and settings, such as how to take a screen recording or share a Wi-Fi password. In our initial testing with the beta, the new Siri worked best for Apple-specific questions. While the ability to type to Siri was useful for basic inquiries, it sometimes returned less information than we were expecting. Below, the two screenshots on the right show the responses for "recipe for espresso martini" and "history of NYC." It only surfaced the basic ingredients for the martini, no proportions, and only the founding date for New York City. Siri can now handle more natural language requests, even if you stumble over your words when speaking. If you say, "Siri, what is the weather in Seattle, um, wait, actually I mean Portland," it should go with Portland. If you follow up with, "How about San Francisco?" it will maintain the context of the question from the previous request and return the weather for San Francisco. Eventually, the new-and-improved Siri will be able to take actions within apps, and "gain onscreen awareness." Expect this in early- to mid-2025. Photo Cleanup, Natural Language Search Apple's photo editor can remove people or objects from images with a new Clean Up tool. It works quite well. All you do is select an object, such as a car in the photo below, and it's gone. Apple's new natural language photo search is hit or miss. A new search bar appears on top of the photo album, where you can ask it to pull up specific photos, such as "Sarah playing with a dog." But in our testing, it only worked well for broad inquiries (i.e., "Trip to Seattle") but not for specific photos (i.e., "Photo with Jenna in Brooklyn" or "Green River in Chicago on St. Patrick's Day). It returned no results more often than not. Notification Summaries Apple is trying to make notifications less overwhelming and confusing. If your phone is flooded with alerts about texts and emails, Apple Intelligence will prioritize the most important at the top. "Apple Intelligence helps users prioritize and stay in the moment with notification summaries that allow users to scan long or stacked notifications with key details right on the Lock Screen, such as when a group chat is particularly active," says Apple. Instead of seeing the first few lines of a text or email (i.e. "Hi Sarah, Excited to see you tonight...") you'll see a summary of what the email is about, generated by Apple (i.e. "Plans tonight, need arrival time"). Coming Late 2024: Image Playground, Genmojis, ChatGPT In December, new Apple Intelligence features will debut alongside improvements to the features dropping today. Writing Tools "will get even more powerful," with the ability to describe a specific change to the text. You can ask it to "make a dinner party read like a poem." A new ChatGPT integration will bring more knowledge into Writing Tools, as well as Siri. This should improve the output, particularly with better image generation and "document-understanding capabilities." Those with an iPhone 16 will be able to use the new Camera Control button to pull up information about an image. Apple gives the example of being able to get details about a restaurant you see on the street or translate text. Camera Control will also sync with third-party apps, such as asking Google where to buy an item shown in the camera. A new Image Playground will let you create images with AI in three styles: Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. It lives in its own app and is also integrated into other apps, including Messages, so you can send your creations to friends. An Image Wand can turn rough sketches into full images or create images from context in a designated area. Your friends might also get a kick out of your "Genmojis," or generative AI emojis, which can be custom generated with a simple prompt. Importantly, Apple Intelligence images are generated on device.

Apple Intelligence exits beta

Apple on Monday confirmed the general availability of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. The point update is most notable for its inclusion of the first batch of Apple Intelligence features, which the company announced at WWDC back in June. However, only select Apple devices are equipped to run the new generative AI offering. This includes iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, all iPhone 16 models, iPads with an A17 Pro chip (including the new iPad Mini) or M1 and later, or a Mac with an M1 or later. After downloading the update, Apple will ask whether you'd like to opt into the feature. Once you do, you'll be added to a waitlist, a process that shouldn't last longer than a couple of hours. It's an unusual move for the company, owing the remote server requirement for the LLM-based offering. Essentially Apple wants to get its back end ready for some big compute demands. Not every function requires off-board processing, however. One piece that makes the system unique versus offerings like ChatGPT is its small model approach. The new Apple Intelligence features are trained on a selective data set aimed at specific functions, rather than the massive, black box approach employed by others. The first batch of Apple Intelligence features includes integrated writing tools, image cleanup, article summaries, and a typing input for the redesigned Siri experience. iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 -- which are currently available as developer betas -- will bring another round of features. These updates will bring an additional list of Apple Intelligence updates, including Genmoji, Image Playground, Visual Intelligence, Image Wand, and ChatGPT integration. Apple has yet to announce a timeframe for GA on those updates.

iOS 18.1 launches with Apple Intelligence -- here's how to install it

iOS 18.1 has landed, and with it comes the full release of Apple Intelligence -- the tech giant's ambitious AI integration and a sea change for the industry. This update transforms everyday tasks across your iPhone, from smarter photo editing to more intuitive writing tools. After months of beta testing the stable release introduces the suite of Apple Intelligence features to regular users. The update includes tools for photo editing, writing assistance, and email management, all integrated into existing iPhone apps and services. These features work directly on your device, allowing users to edit photos, generate text suggestions, and organize emails through the native iOS interface. The rollout marks a significant shift in how we'll interact with our Apple devices (providing they're compatible), introducing AI assistance that feels less like a flashy add-on and more like a natural extension of familiar features. Let's explore what's new in iOS 18.1 and how you can get started with these features. The new writing assistant functions in all text-enabled apps, providing spelling and grammar checks, tone adjustment options, and text summarization capabilities. The feature operates across the system, functioning in email applications, note-taking software, and document editors. The Photos app update includes three new functions: Clean Up for object and person removal, Memory Movie for prompt-based slideshow creation, and natural language search capabilities. Users can now search their photo library using descriptive phrases to find specific images. A new summarization tool generates concise versions of audio recordings from phone calls and Notes app content. The feature creates text summaries of recorded content, allowing users to review key points from longer recordings. iOS 18.1 includes initial Siri updates, with the full version 2.0 scheduled for iOS 18.4. Current improvements focus on device troubleshooting capabilities and enhanced contextual responses to follow-up questions. The Mail app update introduces automatic email summarization, quick response options, and message prioritization features. Important emails receive highlighting and suggested actions. Additional categorization features for receipts, deals, newsletters, and personal messages are planned for future releases.

Apple releases Apple Intelligence. Here's how to get it on your iPhone

Some investors believe Apple Intelligence could drive a major upgrade cycle and cement Apple as the leader in daily usage of cutting-edge AI. Apple on Monday released iOS 18.1, an update that includes the company's artificial intelligence, called Apple Intelligence, for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro. It also released software updates for iPad and Mac with Apple Intelligence. The release is a critical milestone for Apple, which is relying on the feature launch to power its marketing campaign for the iPhone 16 lineup released last month. It is also Apple's answer to Wall Street's questions about its AI strategy. Apple has taken a different path with its device-based AI than its megacap rivals, which are focused on cloud-based AI systems powered by billions of dollars of Nvidia chips. Apple Intelligence is limited to start. The first wave of Apple Intelligence features includes writing tools that can proofread or rewrite text, new features that can remove objects from photos and a feature that can summarize a stack of notifications into a single message. Monday's release includes improvements to Siri, including a new look that makes the entire screen glow around the phone's edges. Siri can answer questions about Apple products, including troubleshooting, and has more natural voices. However, the update does not let Siri take actions inside of apps, which is expected in another update next year. Plus, another update with ChatGPT integration and image-generation abilities is also scheduled for later this year as part of iOS 18.2. Some investors believe Apple Intelligence could drive a major upgrade cycle and cement Apple as the leader in daily usage of cutting-edge AI. "Given the staggered launch of Apple Intelligence, we expect iPhone demand to pick up post initial release of Apple Intelligence in late Oct," Bank of America Securities analyst Wamsi Mohan wrote in an Oct. 25 note. You need an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max or any iPhone 16 model to install and use Apple Intelligence. The service primarily uses the iPhone's chip, which is why it does not work on earlier phones, though some more complicated queries will be handled by Apple's servers. You also need to turn it on by asking for access to Apple Intelligence in the Settings app. Doing so puts users on a waitlist. Apple has not said how long the wait will take, but during beta tests over the summer, users typically received access within the same day. Your phone will then download large files -- Apple's AI models -- that Apple Intelligence needs to operate. The most prominent feature included with Apple Intelligence is its ability to summarize notifications. Instead of the typical stack of notifications on previous iPhone interfaces, Apple will summarize an entire stack into a single notification. It has not been perfect, but it can be useful into taking 12 market alerts from CNBC or a long conversation in a group chat into something that can be easily digested. Another major change that users will quickly notice is that Siri has a new text interface, accessed through swiping up from the bottom of the screen, enabling users to query Siri without speaking out loud. Apple's Writing Tools will also show up in any place in the operating system that you can enter text, including non-Apple apps. Users can highlight chunks of text and choose to rewrite it in a more "friendly," "professional" or "concise" style. However, Apple's Writing Tools will not generate entire paragraphs without input. The software suite also includes updates to Apple's Mail and Photos apps. The Photos app now has a more intelligent search, which can understand natural language. It can also generate a short movie from a user's photos. To download iOS 18.1, go to Settings > General > Software Update. To sign up for the Apple Intelligence waitlist, go to Settings > Apple Intelligence and Siri > Join the Apple Waitlist.

iOS 18.1 Brings Apple Intelligence to Your iPhone -- but Only These 7 Features

Apple has started rolling out the first wave of Apple Intelligence features for iPhone users. As long as you have an iPhone 15 Pro or a newer model, you can start taking advantage of them. Here's a look at all the AI features you get with iOS 18.1. ✕ Remove Ads 1 Photos App Improvements, Including Clean Up Close Apple Intelligence adds a couple of new features to the Photos app. When you try to edit an image, you'll now see a Clean Up tool that can remove unwanted objects from an image. Much like Google's Magic Eraser feature, you can use it with any image -- it doesn't matter whether it's a screenshot or a photo taken by another camera. To use it, open a photo, tap the Edit icon (indicated by three sliders) at the bottom, and choose Clean Up. Apple Intelligence will highlight areas of the photo you might want to remove. You can also tap, brush, or circle something you want to remove. Pinch to pan and zoom closer into an image. The feature works best with smaller parts of the image or objects on a plain background. ✕ Remove Ads Additionally, you can use natural language in the Photos app to search for something specific, like "Maddie near dolphins." You can also search for a specific event in a movie clip. In the Memories feature, you can create a movie by typing a description like "Trips to Orlando." 2 Writing Tools Close With Apple Intelligence's suite of Writing Tools, you can tweak anything you write. The tools are available in any app, including Mail and Messages. Just highlight the text and select Writing Tools. In the Writing Tools menu that pops up at the bottom, you can select Proofread to fix the selected text for errors, including spelling. You can go through the changes Apple Intelligence made individually or choose to revert all the changes at once. ✕ Remove Ads Another option is Rewrite. That will change the tone of your text using the Friendly, Professional, or Concise option. Finally, you can select text and choose to summarize it in a number of ways. You can copy and paste the summarized content wherever you like. 3 A Better Siri Close When you activate Siri with the voice command or by pressing the Side button, you will see a new glow around the edges of your iPhone's display. When speaking, the glow will also animate to the sound of your voice. There's now also a new way to activate the personal assistant. Just double-tap at the bottom of the screen to bring up a Type to Siri interface. You can type in your command instead of speaking it. When typing, Siri will provide a list of suggested requests. ✕ Remove Ads When talking with Siri, the personal assistant will also remember the context between questions. For example, you can ask, "What's the time in Los Angeles?" and follow it up with, "What's the weather there?" and Siri will remember what city you're asking about. If you ever change what you're saying or stumble over a phrase when making a request, Siri can now follow along and still provide the correct answer. Siri has also become an Apple expert. You can ask Siri various questions about an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, like specific settings or customization tools. For example, you can ask Siri for instructions on scheduling a text message, one of the handy Messages app features Apple introduced alongside iOS 18. 4 Summaries and More in Mail and Safari Close ✕ Remove Ads Apple Intelligence can help summarize content in both Safari and Mail. When in Reader Mode in Safari, select Summarize at the top of the page to see a summary of the article. In the Mail app, you will now see a quick summary of each email in the inbox, along with the sender and subject. Previously, you saw the first few lines of the email. You can also open a specific email and then choose Summarize in the upper-right corner to see a summary of the email's content. Also, whenever you get a time-sensitive email, the Mail app will automatically put it at the top of your inbox for easy access. When replying to an email, the Smart Reply option will provide fast responses depending on the context of the email. 5 Transcription for Phone Calls and Voice Memos In iOS 18.1, you can take advantage of the transcription feature when recording phone calls or audio in apps like Notes and Voice Memos. You can see exactly what was said and even share or use the text in another app. ✕ Remove Ads With Apple Intelligence, you can also see a summary of those transcriptions. 6 Smart Replies for Messages Just like the Mail app, you can tap the Smart Reply option in Messages. Doing this will examine the message's text and provide some suggestions so that you can respond quickly. This usually works best in situations where there's a question that you can answer with "Yes" or "No." 7 Notification Summaries Close If you're like me, your iPhone's Lock Screen is probably full of notifications from almost any app imaginable. That's when Notification Summaries come in handy; they help you better manage all that information. ✕ Remove Ads Instead of having to read multiple notifications from a single app, the feature will provide a summary of what's happening from each app. It works for all apps. During the short setup process, you can turn on the feature for all apps or select specific ones. Additionally, iOS 18.1 has a new Priority Notifications feature that uses Apple Intelligence to scan all your notifications and prioritize any that need immediate attention. This feature also works with the new Reduce Interruptions Focus mode, which you can activate by going to Settings > Focus and choosing Reduce Interruptions. Once set up, Apple Intelligence will allow important notifications to interrupt you while silencing any that it considers unimportant. You can further customize the Focus mode to allow specific people and apps to interrupt you. Even though this is just the first wave of all the Apple Intelligence features announced at WWDC 2024, Apple is off to a good start by adding the essentials to improve the overall iPhone user experience. ✕ Remove Ads

Here's How to Enable Apple Intelligence on Your iPhone

The AI suite can be used in India by switching language to US English Apple has rolled out the iOS 18.1 update for the iPhone, which brings Apple Intelligence -- the suite of artificial intelligence (AI) features that the company previewed at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 in June. The features are available on Apple devices such as the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but only select models are compatible. Until now, Apple Intelligence was only available in beta but has been globally released, enabling users to take advantage of AI features. Apple says its AI suite is compatible with the entire iPhone 16 series: iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. However, only the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max are the models supporting it from Apple's previous smartphone lineup. In addition to smartphones, the iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later models, and the Mac with M1 and later devices are eligible to receive it, following the latest iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates, respectively. Apple Intelligence can be accessed on the iPhone by updating it to the latest software version, which is iOS 18.1. However, there are a few caveats, such as requiring the user to switch the device language to a particular version if you're in India. Notably, the AI suite is not available for users in China or in the EU. Here's how to enable Apple Intelligence: One of the most notable additions to the iPhone with Apple Intelligence is Writing Tools. Leveraging AI, it can perform grammar checks, proofread documents, and change its tone with three preset options: Concise, Friendly or Professional. Furthermore, it can change the text for presentation in a list-based or tabular format. The feature can also summarise the text. It also gets ChatGPT integration, which opens up further options for tweaking. Using OpenAI's chatbot, it can rewrite the entire text based on textual prompts. Writing Tools can be used in various first and third-party apps including Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages, and WhatsApp on iPhone, iPad and Mac, as per Apple. Apple Intelligence has been added to the Photos app, which now gets a new Clean Up tool that can remove unwanted objects or people from images. There's also a Memory Movie feature which creates movies from the library, based on textual prompts. It also gets natural language search, which as the name suggests, allows users to search for media in simple language. In addition to the Writing Tools, Siri also gets ChatGPT upgrades. The voice assistant can now provide more in-depth responses to queries. It can provide insights into photos and documents, and also generate images based on voice prompts using Siri. Another notable highlight of Apple Intelligence is Image Playground. It is a standalone app which leverages generative AI to create images based on textual prompts. Apart from that, Image Playground also includes additional functionalities, namely Image Wand and Genmoji. The former can turn rough sketches into artwork in the Notes app, while the latter can generate customised emojis based on prompts. However, only the first set of Apple Intelligence features, comprising Writing Tools, Memory Movie, Clean Up and a handful of others, are currently available on iPhone courtesy of the iOS 18.1 update. Apple says others, such as ChatGPT integration and Image Playground will be available in December.

Apple Intelligence features released with iOS 18.1 update: Check how to download, eligible iPhones

Apple has officially launched its highly anticipated Apple Intelligence features as part of the iOS 18.1 update, released on Monday. This marks a significant step for the company, introducing AI capabilities designed to enhance user interaction with iPhones, particularly for models like the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, and iPhone 16 Pro. The update is also available for iPads with M-series processors and the latest iPad mini, bringing similar advancements to those devices. The rollout of Apple Intelligence is a crucial moment for Apple as it positions itself in the competitive landscape of artificial intelligence. Unlike other tech giants focused on cloud-based AI, Apple is opting for a device-centric approach. The initial features include tools for writing assistance, smarter photo management, and a redesigned Siri that offers improved functionality and responsiveness. Key features now available with the update include: To utilize these new AI features, iPhone users must first join a waitlist. Here's how to do it: Apple has not specified how long users will need to wait for access, but during beta tests, many received access within hours. Apple Intelligence is specifically designed for: iPhone Models: iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and all iPhone 16 variants. iPad Models: iPads with M-series chips and the latest iPad Mini. Apple has plans to introduce more features in the coming months, including Genmojis (customizable AI-generated emojis) and an image playground. There will also be updates to Siri and the writing tools in December, which are expected to include OpenAI's ChatGPT integration. As Apple continues to develop its AI capabilities, many analysts believe that these advancements will help bolster iPhone sales and redefine user interaction with technology.

3 Apple Intelligence Features You'll Embrace in iOS 18.1

Apple has teased and promised many features of Apple Intelligence since the AI technology was first introduced earlier this year, but now that iOS 18.1 is available we finally get a taste of Apple's AI ambitions. And although the first suite of features is modest in scope, you're sure to find at least some of them to be helpful. After running the iOS betas with access to Apple Intelligence for several weeks, I think these are the three features you'll actually use on a day-to-day basis. You need an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro (or their Plus and Max variants) running iOS 18.1 and, crucially, you must request access to Apple Intelligence to take advantage of these new technologies. Once you're in, here's what you can realistically expect. More features will be added as time goes on -- and keep in mind that Apple Intelligence is still officially beta software -- but this is where Apple is starting its AI age. In an era when there are so many demands on our attention and seemingly less time to dig into longer topics...Sorry, what was I saying? Oh, right: How often have you wanted a "too long; didn't read" version of not just long emails but the fire hose of communication that blasts your way? The ability to summarize notifications, Mail messages and web pages is perhaps the most pervasive and least intrusive feature of Apple Intelligence so far. When a notification arrives, such as a text from a friend or group in Messages, the iPhone creates a short, single-sentence summary. Sometimes summaries are vague, and sometimes they're unintentionally funny, but so far I've found them to be more helpful than not. Summaries can also be generated from alerts by third-party apps like news or social media apps -- although I suspect that my outdoor security camera is picking up multiple passersby over time and not telling me that 10 people are stacked by the door. That said, Apple Intelligence definitely doesn't understand sarcasm or colloquialisms -- you can turn summaries off if you prefer. You can also generate a longer summary of emails in the Mail app: Tap the Summarize button at the top of a message to view a rundown of the contents in a few dozen words. In Safari, when viewing a page where the Reader feature is available, tap the Page Menu button in the address bar, tap Show Reader and then tap the Summary button at the top of the page. I was amused during the iOS 18 and the iPhone 16 releases that the main visual indicator of Apple Intelligence -- the full-screen, color-at-the-edges Siri animation -- was noticeably missing. Apple even lit up the edges of the massive glass cube of its Apple Fifth Avenue Store in New York City like a Siri search. Instead, iOS 18 used the same-old Siri sphere. Now, the modern Siri look has arrived in iOS 18.1, but only on devices that support Apple Intelligence. If you're still tapping your fingers in the Apple Intelligence waitlist queue, you'll also see the Siri sphere for now. With the new look are a few Siri interaction improvements: It's more forgiving if you stumble through a query, like saying the wrong word or interrupting yourself mid-thought. It's also better about listening after delivering results, so you can ask related followup questions. However, the ability to personalize answers based on what Apple Intelligence knows about you is still down the road. iOS 18.1 also doesn't yet tie in ChatGPT as an alternate source of information -- that interaction has only just rolled out in the iOS 18.2 developer beta. Until iOS 18.1, the Photos app on the iPhone and iPad has lacked a simple retouch feature. Dust on the camera lens? Litter on the ground? Sorry, you need to deal with those and other distractions in the Photos app on MacOS or using a third-party app. Now Apple Intelligence includes Clean Up, an AI-enhanced removal tool, in the Photos app. When you edit an image and tap the Clean Up button, the iPhone analyzes the photo and suggests potential items to remove by highlighting them. Tap one or draw a circle around an area -- the app erases those areas and uses generative AI to fill in plausible pixels. In this first incarnation, Clean Up isn't perfect, and you'll often get better results in other dedicated image editors. But for quickly removing annoyances from photos, it's fine.

Apple Launches First Set of Intelligence Features for iPhone, iPad, and Mac Users

Privacy Focus: On-device processing and Private Cloud Compute ensure data security. Apple has introduced its new Apple Intelligence features for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, integrated into the latest software updates: iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. Apple Intelligence, a generative AI system leveraging Apple silicon, is designed to enhance user experience through privacy-first AI capabilities that allow language understanding, image creation, cross-app actions, personalised automation and more, all while maintaining strict privacy standards, Apple explained. Also Read: SK Telecom and Samsung Leverage AI to Optimise 5G Base Station Quality Here are some highlights of Apple Intelligence's features: Writing Tools, available across various Apple and third-party apps, allow users to rewrite, proofread, and summarise text with tailored suggestions. Users can adjust tone, receive grammar and style checks with explanations, and generate summaries in multiple formats like lists or tables. Siri now responds in a more natural, conversational manner, seamlessly switching between text and voice. It's visually redesigned with an animated edge glow and gains new capabilities, including context awareness across interactions and thousands of Apple device-specific answers. The Photos app's search function allows users to locate specific moments by describing them, e.g., "Maya skateboarding in a tie-dye shirt." It includes a new Clean Up tool to remove distractions from photos and a Memories feature to create movies based on user-provided descriptions. Apple Intelligence introduces Priority Messages in Mail, displaying high-priority emails, and Smart Reply, which suggests responses. Notification summaries for quick updates on the Lock Screen and focus tools also help users stay on task. Users can record, transcribe, and get summaries of audio in the Phone and Notes apps. Visual enhancements set to arrive in December include Genmoji, an Image Playground, and the ability to use Siri to visually interpret objects through Camera Control. "Apple Intelligence introduces a new era for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, delivering brand-new experiences and tools that will transform what our users can accomplish," said Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Apple Intelligence builds on years of innovation in AI and machine learning to put Apple's generative models at the core of our devices, giving our users a personal intelligence system that is easy to use -- all while protecting their privacy. Apple Intelligence is generative AI in a way that only Apple can deliver, and we're incredibly excited about its ability to enrich our users' lives." "Apple Intelligence unlocks exciting new capabilities that make your iPhone, iPad, and Mac even more helpful and useful, from Writing Tools to help refine your writing, to summarised notifications that surface what's most important, to the ability to search for almost anything in your photos and videos by simply describing it," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering. "And it's all built on a foundation of privacy with on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute, a groundbreaking new approach that extends the privacy and security of iPhone into the cloud to protect users' information. We are thrilled to bring the first set of Apple Intelligence features to users today, and this is just the beginning." Also Read: E& International and Ericsson Sign MoU to Develop AI-Powered Autonomous Networks Apple Intelligence uses on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute for complex tasks, ensuring data security. Optional ChatGPT integration offers knowledge expansion within Siri and Writing Tools, with no accounts required. This rollout introduces the first phase of Apple Intelligence. Apple on Monday said future updates will add expanded language support and new ways to customise visual and text tools, rolling out in December and continuing into 2025. According to Apple, Apple Intelligence is available on iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later, and Mac with M1 and later.

Apple Intelligence is now available for iPhone, iPad, and Mac

The big picture: Apple has launched its answer to the generative AI models and features offered by the likes of OpenAI, Google, and Microsoft. Although Apple Intelligence is now available to owners of compatible devices, many of its intended features are still slated for release in the coming months. Furthermore, leaked internal communications suggest that its capabilities currently fall significantly behind those of ChatGPT. New Apple Intelligence features are now available on recent iPhone models, iPads, and Macs. Users can access the generative AI suite by updating the operating systems to iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. Supported devices include the iPhone 15 Pro, all iPhone 16 models, and all devices with Apple M-series processors. Apple Intelligence currently only supports US English. The December update will add support for Australian, Canadian, Irish, New Zealand, South African, and UK English. Beginning in April and continuing throughout 2025, Apple will expand support to Chinese, Indian English, French, German, Spanish, and additional languages. With the Writing Tools function, Apple Intelligence can edit, summarize, and rewrite text in Mail, Notes, Pages, Messages, and other apps. It can proofread, make alterations, and explain its editing choices to enhance users' writing, similar to Grammarly. Moreover, selected text can be condensed into bullet points, lists, or tables. The summarization feature also works on notifications, long message chains, and recorded phone calls. When Apple Intelligence begins recording, all participants are immediately notified. Following a December update, Writing Tools will be able to make more specific changes based on natural language prompts. For instance, users can ask it to make an invitation sound poetic or to enhance a resume. Apple Intelligence also enhances Siri, making it function more like ChatGPT. The virtual assistant now responds to spoken and typed natural language prompts for answering questions. Additionally, users can search for photos using natural language descriptions, and a clean-up tool helps remove objects from photos with minimal impact. Apple has opted for a light-touch approach to AI image editing compared to Samsung, accusing its competitors of turning reliable photos into fantasy. The December update will enable users to generate emojis and cartoon images or turn simple sketches into more complex pictures. Another forthcoming feature leverages Camera Control, introduced with the iPhone 16, to provide information about photographed objects and places. Third-party developers can also use Camera Control to create custom features. Some of these new features, particularly Writing Tools and Siri, partially rely on ChatGPT - an indication that Apple Intelligence isn't yet on par with OpenAI's influential chatbot. Cupertino's own research indicates that ChatGPT remains approximately 25 percent more accurate and can answer 30 percent more queries than Apple Intelligence. However, Apple's financial muscle and market power could help close the gap.

Apple Intelligence finally arrives in iOS 18.1

Apple has released iOS 18.1, the first major update to iOS 18 that includes the first wave of Apple Intelligence features usable by the public. The initial release of iOS 18 took place on September 16, but it lacked Apple's headline feature, Apple Intelligence. With the just-released update to iOS 18.1, some of the functionality is finally becoming available to use. Apple has been beta-testing Apple Intelligence's tools since not long after the first beta of iOS 18. Since the start of the betas, including the eventual public betas, Apple has included some of the features, and gradually added more over time. With the public release, this marks the first time that Apple Intelligence has left beta and is now usable by the general public. The initial features to surface in the betas included writing tools, which could proofread text, summarize it, and even rewrite it in a different style. At the same time, Apple introduced a new Siri animation, as well as Type to Siri and built-in product knowledge so users could ask Siri for help. The third beta added in Clean Up for Photos, which used generative AI to make changes to a user's photographs without any major manual effort required. Other Apple Intelligence features are still in development. This list includes Image Playground graphic generation from prompts, as well as ChatGPT support with Siri. Outside of Apple Intelligence, there are some changes made to the operating system usable by others. This includes a new Camera Control option for the iPhone 16 that lets users switch to the front camera. Control Center gains new toggles for connectivity and a reset layout button. Users of iPhone Mirroring can also drag and drop files from their Mac onto their iPhone and vice versa. The release of iOS 18.1 will work on iPhone models that support iOS 18. This includes iPhones from the iPhone XS and iPhone XR to the present iPhone 16 releases, as well as the second-gen iPhone SE or later models. Apple Intelligence requires an iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro, or the iPhone 15 Pro lines, in order to function. Other models will benefit from all other non-Apple Intelligence features.

Apple Intelligence Brings a Better Siri and New Photo Tools to iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Apple's diverse family of products is now smarter and more capable, thanks to the highly anticipated launch of Apple Intelligence. Available across compatible iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices, Apple Intelligence features an improved Siri, writing tools, and Clean Up. This AI-powered image editing tool removes distractions while preserving realism. Apple first previewed Apple Intelligence at WWDC in June, promising to bring AI to Apple products smartly and securely. Although Apple Intelligence notably missed the launch of the iPhone 16 smartphones last month, including the standard iPhone 16 and the iPhone 16 Pro, its debut looks to fulfill many of Apple's promises. Arriving via iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, Apple Intelligence is a personal intelligence system that relies heavily upon Apple Silicon to perform on-device tasks, including taking action across apps, understanding text and images, utilizing secure personal data to help people manage calendars, and more. "Apple Intelligence introduces a new era for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, delivering brand-new experiences and tools that will transform what our users can accomplish," says Tim Cook, Apple's CEO. "Apple Intelligence builds on years of innovation in AI and machine learning to put Apple's generative models at the core of our devices, giving our users a personal intelligence system that is easy to use -- all while protecting their privacy. Apple Intelligence is generative AI in a way that only Apple can deliver, and we're incredibly excited about its ability to enrich our users' lives." Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president of Software Engineering, explains that Apple Intelligence "unlocks exciting new capabilities that make your iPhone, iPad, and Mac even more helpful and useful..." "And it's all built on a foundation of privacy with on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute, a groundbreaking new approach that extends the privacy and security of iPhone into the cloud to protect users' information. We are thrilled to bring the first set of Apple Intelligence features to users today, and this is just the beginning," Federighi adds. While not everything Apple has shown off arrives today, many of Apple Intelligence's core features are available now. Integrated across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, Apple Intelligence's Writing Tools enable users to refine their words through AI-assisted rewriting, proofreading, and summarization functions. This works across nearly every place users write, including Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages, and numerous third-party apps. Rewrite lets users choose between different versions of what they have written, selecting variants based on tone and the target audience. Proofread checks grammar, word choice, and sentence structure while suggesting edits, with explanations, that may improve delivery. Meanwhile, summary tools can condense a large chunk of text into a paragraph, bulleted list, table, or standard list. Apple's longtime virtual assistant, Siri, has taken a lot of flak over the years for not being as helpful or natural as some competing AI assistants. Apple hopes to change that with the new Apple Intelligence-powered Siri. Siri promises to be more natural, flexible, and better integrated across the entire system experience. Siri has a new, glowing design and is always available to users. Siri works across text and voice, and Apple says Siri is much better at understanding users through richer natural-language understanding. Siri is also able to help users understand the features and functions of their Apple device, which should help novice iPhone and Mac users get more from their products. PetaPixel did a deep-dive on the redesigned Photos app earlier this year, which arrived with iOS 18 last month. While Photos has been much smarter since then, Apple Intelligence brings even more to the table. With Apple Intelligence, users can search for specific photos and videos using natural language inside the app. For example, users can find pictures of a person wearing a particular outfit or doing a certain action. Within videos, users can even search for a specific scene or moment. The new Memories feature empowers people to create movies by simply typing a description. With natural language understanding and complex analysis of a user's images, Photos and Apple Intelligence craft a storyline and arrange a person's content into a memory movie. It promises to be as easy as typing a short description. Apple Intelligence also helps people improve their photos. Clean Up uses AI to quickly and easily remove distracting elements from an image. While some companies are using AI to craft all-new images -- to varying success -- Apple is taking a reality-based approach to AI. Apple Intelligence is built to improve a person's real photos rather than synthesize fake memories or moments. While Apple Intelligence has some of this starting today, Apple is treating its new AI platform as a work in progress. To that end, some features shown off earlier this year, like Image Playground and ChatGPT integration, will arrive later this year. One upcoming feature of particular interest to mobile photographers is visual intelligence. Leveraging the new Camera Control button in the iPhone 16 family, Apple Intelligence will be able to provide details about whatever the camera sees. When Apple showed this off earlier in the year, it noted that photographers could use it to help them scout locations for photoshoots. Apple Intelligence is now available as a free software update. It is only available in U.S. English, although additional language support will arrive in December, with more languages to follow next spring. Due to its on-device processing and privacy features, Apple Intelligence is not compatible with all Apple devices. Apple Intelligence is available on iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max. It works on all iPad tablets with an A17 Pro and M1 chip or newer, and all Mac computers with M1 and later.

These Apple Intelligence Features Are Now Available With iOS 18.1 Update

A call recording feature has also been added after the update Apple on Monday announced that its suite of artificial intelligence (AI) features -- dubbed Apple Intelligence -- is now widely available for iPhone, in addition to other devices, following the iOS 18.1 update. The features were first previewed at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 in June but the Cupertino-based tech giant held them back from a public release, even after the introduction of iOS 18 in September. Apple's latest iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates include additions such as Writing Tools, Clean Up, and automatic movie creation. Notably, this development comes after months of testing of the Apple Intelligence features carried out by Apple via developer and public beta updates. According to Apple, Apple Intelligence is available across the entire iPhone 16 series, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Additionally, the iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later models, and the Mac with M1 and later devices are compatible with the Cupertino-based tech giant's AI suite. It has been added as part of the iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates. One of the most notable additions of the iOS 18.1 update comprising Apple Intelligence is Writing Tools. As the name suggests, the feature leverages AI for proofreading documents with spelling and grammar checks, summarising it and rewriting text for different tones: Concise, Friendly or Professional. It can also present the text in a tabular or list format, depending on the user's preference. Writing Tools can be used in various first and third-party apps including Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages, and WhatsApp on iPhone, iPad and Mac. The Photos app on iPhone has also been upgraded with Apple Intelligence capability related to automatic movie creation. Users can now take advantage of the Memory Movie option to create movies related to their prompts automatically. In addition to the extensive visual overhaul of the app, it also gets natural language search, which as the name suggests, allows users to search for media in simple language. Apple Intelligence brings a new Clean Up tool in the same app which is an object removal tool. The company says it can remove unwanted objects or people from images. Following the update, the new Siri UI that glows around the edges of the screen has also been introduced, when the voice assistant is enabled. It also brings a type-to-Siri functionality where users can converse with the voice assistant via text, in addition to voice prompts. Apple says it has enhanced understanding and can now respond to queries related to device management. The company also brings a call recording feature to the Phone app. The recorded calls can be found in the Notes app, along with an option to get its transcription. Apple says more extensive Apple Intelligence features, such as ChatGPT in Siri, Image Playground, Image Wand, Genmoji, and Visual Intelligence With Camera Control, will be rolled out in December.

How To Unlock Apple Intelligence On Your iPhone With iOS 18.1 - Apple (NASDAQ:AAPL)

On Monday, the release of iOS 18.1 brought Apple Inc.'s AAPL new AI-powered features, known as Apple Intelligence, to iPhone users. If you own an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max, here's what you need to know to start using Apple Intelligence. The Waitlist System To manage demand and avoid overload on its servers, Apple is using a waitlist system to roll out Apple Intelligence. This phased release allows Apple to increase capacity gradually as more users download iOS 18.1. How To Sign Up For Apple Intelligence Step I: Update to iOS 18 Ensure your device has the latest update. Before updating, back up your iPhone to avoid losing data. Step II: Join the Waitlist Open Settings and navigate to Apple Intelligence & Siri (formerly Siri settings). Tap Join the Apple Intelligence Waitlist and confirm your spot. See Also: How To Make Calls Faster Using This iOS 18 Feature On Your iPhone When Will Apple Intelligence Be Available? Wait times can vary -- some beta testers received access within minutes, while others waited longer. As more users are added, times may increase. Subscribe to the Benzinga Tech Trends newsletter to get all the latest tech developments delivered to your inbox. Apple Intelligence Features With iOS 18.1, Apple Intelligence has integrated improved AI capabilities across various apps and functions. These features include advanced writing tools, the Clean Up tool in Photos, and options to create Memory movies or perform natural language searches in Photos. The update also offers Notification summaries and smarter interruption management through Focus settings, such as Intelligent Breakthrough and Silencing. In Mail, users will gain features like Priority messages, Smart Reply, and message summaries. Siri is set to receive improvements such as enhanced product knowledge, better request handling, a refreshed interface, a more natural voice, and the ability to type responses directly. Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link. Read Next: iOS 18 Includes Apple's New Passwords App with End-to-End Encryption: Here's How You Use It Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors. Photo courtesy: Apple Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs

What is Apple Intelligence?

Apple Intelligence has finally launched with the rollout of iOS 18.1 from Monday. Apple has been leading up to this release for months, riding on high interest in artificial intelligence with the the tagline "AI for the rest of us." Even so, it's still unclear to many people exactly what Apple Intelligence even is. We've broken it down to give you everything you need to know about Apple Intelligence. Apple describes Apple Intelligence as a "personal intelligence system that combines the power of generative models with personal context." Essentially, Apple Intelligence is a suite of AI-powered tools, ones which use your personal data to generate information which is more tailored to your specific circumstances. These tools are embedded directly within Apple's operating system and existing apps, rather than being their own separate, standalone programs. "It's personal intelligence, and it's the next big step for Apple," CEO Tim Cook said during Apple Intelligence's announcement in June. Available in iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, Apple Intelligence may draw from data such as "your routine, your relationships, your communications, and more" in order to learn about your personal context and customise its generated results and recommendations to you. There are understandable privacy concerns regarding giving AI access to all that personal information. Apple has stressed that privacy and security were important considerations when designing Apple Intelligence, with many of its features running entirely on your device. Others use Private Cloud Compute, Apple's cloud computing system dedicated to AI processing. "When using Private Cloud Compute, users' data is never stored or shared with Apple; it is used only to fulfill their request," Apple said in this week's press release. ChatGPT is integrated into some parts of Apple Intelligence, including its Writing Tools and Siri, for which OpenAI's data-use policies apply. However, users can opt out of ChatGPT integration. You won't be seeing a shiny new Apple Intelligence app pop up on your Home Screen. Instead, Apple Intelligence will show up as new tools and features added to your devices' existing apps and operations. At launch, this includes: In addition to all of this, Apple Intelligence has added several enhancements to Apple's digital assistant Siri. These include the ability to type to Siri, a more natural voice, and "more resilient request handling." Apple does intend to add more Apple Intelligence features in the future, with a significant update currently planned for December. This will include Priority Notifications, onscreen awareness for Siri, and AI-generated emoji. Still, Apple Intelligence's current features should be more than enough for Apple fans to explore until then. At launch, Apple Intelligence is available on all iPhone 16 models, as well as a couple of the more souped up iPhone 15 phones. Specifically, you can get Apple Intelligence on: Apple Intelligence is also available on several of Apple's tablet and laptop devices. In order to get it, Apple devices must have an M1 chip or later (or an A17 Pro chip in the case of the iPad mini): Apple Intelligence is available in most regions, the primary exceptions being the EU (though they can get it on Mac) and China. However, only US English is supported, meaning users outside the US will have to change their device and Siri's language if they want to play around with Apple Intelligence now. The company will be adding English-language support for more regions in December, specifically for Australian, Canadian, Irish, Kiwi, South African, and UK English. Indian and Singaporean English will have to wait longer, with Apple looking to add them as it expands to more languages over the next year. Other languages it will be adding include Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese. If you decide you do want to try Apple Intelligence out, getting it is relatively easy. First, check that you have a compatible device. If you do, make sure it's set to US English, and switch it over if it isn't. You can do this by going to "Settings," "General," "Language & Region," "Add Language...," then selecting "English (US)." You'll also have to make sure you have at least 4GB of storage. Apple Intelligence's storage requirements will increase as more features are added in the future, so you'll probably want to make sure there's a bit of leeway. Once those requirements are confirmed: This doesn't mean you can immediately dive into Apple Intelligence, as following these steps will only put you on the waitlist. Apple states that while waitlist times vary, Apple Intelligence will usually be available within a few hours. You'll receive a notification letting you know that you can activate Apple Intelligence once it's available.

How Apple Intelligence will change how you use Siri on your iPhone | TechCrunch

Following years of talk around Apple's lack of innovation when it comes to Siri, Apple has promised the launch of a smarter version of its digital assistant. Siri is getting new features and updates with the launch of iOS 18.1 thanks to the addition of Apple Intelligence, the company's generative AI offering. It's worth noting that some of Siri's upcoming major updates, such as an integration with OpenAI's ChatGPT and onscreen awareness, aren't yet available with iOS 18.1. Here's a look at what the introduction of Apple Intelligence allows you to do with the revamped digital assistant. Apple is making it easier for people to communicate with Siri, as the assistant is now equipped to better understand natural language. Even if you stumble on your words when talking to Siri, the assistant will still be able to understand you. You can say, for instance, "Siri, set an alarm for, oh wait no, set a timer for 10 minutes. Actually, make that five." Siri will understand what you're asking. Plus, you can ask Siri follow-up questions without having to repeat context. For example, if you ask Siri where your next family reunion is going to take place, it will respond with a location. You can then follow up by asking, "What will the weather be like there?" without having to mention the name of the location. Up until now, you could only communicate with Siri via your voice. With Apple Intelligence, you can now type to Siri when you don't want to speak out loud. You just need to double tap the button on your iPhone or iPad screen to ask Siri any question. The option to type to Siri is handy when you're in a quiet environment and can't speak out loud. Or, perhaps you're in a loud environment; typing to Siri can ensure your inquiry is understood clearly. Siri now has more information about Apple's products and services, so if you have a question about your Apple device, you can ask Siri for help. That includes how to use a feature for the first time on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac. For instance, you can ask Siri how to schedule a text message to send later. Siri will then give you step-by-step instructions on how to do so. Otherwise you'd have to go into your settings and navigate to a help page if you needed more information about your device. While the features listed above are launching Monday, Apple has promised the roll out of additional Apple Intelligence-powered features for Siri. Siri will be able to tap into OpenAI's ChatGPT to answer certain questions. For example, if you need recipe ideas to make a meal using some ingredients from your garden, you will be able to ask Siri, and Siri will automatically feed that info to ChatGPT to generate some options for you. You won't need a ChatGPT account, but you will need to grant permission for Siri to tap into the service. Siri will also soon become aware of your personal context, which means it will be able to take actions that are unique to you. Siri will be able to use the information available on your device to find what you're looking for. For instance, if you can't remember whether your friend Alice shared a recipe with you in a text or an email, you can ask Siri to "pull up the recipe that Alice sent a few days ago." Or, if you quickly need to find your passport number when booking a flight, you can ask Siri to pull it from your email or your images to automatically enter it into a required field. In addition, Siri will soon be able to understand what's on your screen and take action based on what you're currently looking at on your device. For instance, if your friend texts you a new address, you will be able to tell Siri to add the address to their contact card. Siri will also be able to take action in and across apps. You will be able to ask Siri to enhance a photo for you in the Photos app and then ask the digital assistant to send it to a specific person in Messages. You won't have to open the separate apps or complete the tasks, as Siri will be able to take action in both apps on its own.

How to use Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence has arrived and it's ushering in a new era of AI. The iOS 18.1 update packs a set of AI-powered features designed to enhance how we communicate, work, and create. However, with all things Apple, gaining access can be a hassle. So here's what you need to know to use Apple Intelligence. You must have an Apple Intelligence-supported iPhone to use Apple Intelligence. This includes the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, as well as the entire iPhone 16 line (i.e., iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max). And just like that, you're ready to explore the latest in Apple's AI-powered features. Apple Intelligence is also available on iPad and Mac devices; you'll have to upgrade to iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1, respectively. The Apple Intelligence AI suite includes the following perks, as outlined here: Take a look at Mashable Tech Editor Kim Gedeon's exploration of Apple Intelligence for a follow-along on how to use some of the aforementioned Apple Intelligence features. If you're wondering when you'll have the chance to play with Genmoji, a highly anticipated feature that lets you make your own emoji with a natural-language description, it won't drop until December. Other delayed Apple Intelligence features include Image Playground (lets you generate your own images), ChatGPT integration with Siri, Image Wand (transform rough sketches into sophisticated images), and Visual Intelligence (only available with iPhone 16 series via new Camera Control feature).

Apple releases Apple Intelligence. Here's how to get it on your iPhone

Apple CEO Tim Cook poses as Apple holds an event at the Steve Jobs Theater on its campus in Cupertino, California, on Sept. 9, 2024. Apple on Monday released iOS 18.1, an update that includes the company's artificial intelligence, called Apple Intelligence, for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro. It also released software updates for iPad and Mac with Apple Intelligence. The release is a critical milestone for Apple, which is relying on the feature launch to power its marketing campaign for the iPhone 16 lineup released last month. It is also Apple's answer to Wall Street's questions about its AI strategy. Apple has taken a different path with its device-based AI than its megacap rivals, which are focused on cloud-based AI systems powered by billions of dollars of Nvidia chips. Apple Intelligence is limited to start. The first wave of Apple Intelligence features includes writing tools that can proofread or rewrite text, new features that can remove objects from photos and a feature that can summarize a stack of notifications into a single message.

Apple Intelligence begins rolling out alongside iOS 18.1

Yesterday was a pretty big one for technology giant Apple. The company decided not just to debut a new update to iOS 18, an update that kicks off the rollout of the long-awaited Apple Intelligence AI suite, but it also lifted the curtain on a new slate of iMac computers. Speaking about Apple Intelligence first, this will be available to some users through the iOS 18.1/iPadOS 18.1/macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates and as for what it will enable your devices to do, we're promised more helpful writing tools, a better Siri, more interactive photos, easier ways to stay focussed and prioritise, and plans for countless other features too. In a press release, Craig Federighi, senior vice president of software engineering, mentioned: "Apple Intelligence unlocks exciting new capabilities that make your iPhone, iPad, and Mac even more helpful and useful, from Writing Tools to help refine your writing, to summarized notifications that surface what's most important, to the ability to search for almost anything in your photos and videos by simply describing it. And it's all built on a foundation of privacy with on-device processing and Private Cloud Compute, a groundbreaking new approach that extends the privacy and security of iPhone into the cloud to protect users' information. We are thrilled to bring the first set of Apple Intelligence features to users today, and this is just the beginning." Due to EU laws and restrictions, Apple Intelligence is not releasing in many countries in the continent now, with plans for a rollout in April 2025 instead. For UK and US users, and various other countries around the world, the rollout has now begun. As per the new iMacs, these have been upgraded with the more powerful M4 chip and feature support for Apple Intelligence. They will offer a 24-inch 4.5K Retina display, a 12MP Center Stage camera, up to four Thunderbolt 4 ports, 16GB of RAM, and all at the starting price of $1,299, with pre-orders available today and launch planned for November 8. John Ternus, senior vice president of hardware engineering, also commented on these iMacs in a press release too, adding: "iMac is beloved by millions of users, from families at home to entrepreneurs hard at work. With the incredible features of Apple Intelligence and the powerful performance of Apple silicon, the new iMac changes the game once again. With M4 and Apple Intelligence, gorgeous new colors that pop in any space, an advanced 12MP Center Stage camera, and a new nano-texture glass display option, it's a whole new era for iMac." Do you plan to check out Apple Intelligence or pick up a new iMac?

The first Apple Intelligence features are hit-and-miss

The iPhone 16 finally has a real reason to exist, but the big AI stuff is still more than a month away. Apple Intelligence is finally here (sort of). With iOS 18.1, the first tranche set of AI features finally comes to our phones (albeit in beta and temporarily behind a waitlist). The iPhone 16 line was sold as made for Apple Intelligence. It was Apple's big push at WWDC in the summer, and fancy AI-powered features are front-and-center in all the phone marketing. Camera Control button? Even that is just an AI-powered feature waiting for its true purpose. But the first set of Apple Intelligence features is kind of...feeble. I've been using iOS 18.1 throughout its extended beta test, and there are only two really good AI features, with the rest being a mix of annoyances and "use it a few times and forget about it" demonstrations. There are two new AI features that I use daily and I think most people will make a part of their everyday iPhone use: Notification summaries and the Clean Up tool. The new notification summaries capability can take almost any notification with more than a couple of lines of text and shorten it to fit in the notification. Text messages, social media posts, news alerts, email alerts... It turns out, most notifications are basically useless. They let you know something happened, but I've become so accustomed to not really seeing the information I need that I just tap the notification and open the app to see what it says. With notification summaries, I get an idea of what an alert is actually about, and it lets me know which notifications actually need my attention and which ones can wait. It's brilliant and fully intuitive. There's no learning curve; your notifications just instantly become much more useful. The Clean Up tool in Photos, while not perfect, is a fun, fast, and easy way to play around with some light photo editing and can quickly improve a lot of impromptu shots. Unfortunately, Apple sort of hides it. You have to open a photo, tap the Edit button (which looks like a set of levers and is not entirely intuitive), and then press the Clean Up button. This is the kind of helpful feature that really deserves a top-level interface button! The suggested replies in Messages and Mail are routinely terrible. I can't remember the last time I actually opted to use one, and their glowing presence has become a total nuisance I wish I could easily disable. The new Siri interface feels like a bad idea, too. I really love the new edge-lit glow and the way it washes over the screen (from the bottom if you say "Hey Siri" and from the right side if you use the side button). But this new look is selling a new Siri that just doesn't exist. Siri is better about gracefully handling your "um"s and "ah"s and mid-sentence corrections, but it's just as dumb as ever about answering requests. The real new Siri isn't coming until early next year when they roll out the personal contextual awareness, screen awareness, and overhauled App Intent system to work within apps. I get the impression iPhone users are going to complain that "the new Siri still sucks" because they don't realize that the new Siri isn't here yet, just its facelift. Writing tools aren't especially useful. I almost never found the need to select some text and change its tone or summarize it, and let's face it, nobody's going to proofread their emails or social media posts with this. It's kind of a neat tech demo, the sort of thing you use a few times just to say "cool!" and then hardly ever touch again. When people think of AI and text, they think of asking a question or giving a short prompt and getting paragraphs of original text as a reply, and this isn't that. Fortunately, it's also hidden behind the text-selection interface so it's easy enough to ignore entirely. It won't get in your way. The new natural Photos search works great and is really useful, but hardly a game-changer. Same with the new focus mode and summaries of call recordings and transcripts. When the general public thinks of "AI" today, they think of two things: long-form generative AI text, like having ChatGPT write your book report, and AI images. But Apple Intelligence doesn't give you access to any of that yet. The generative image features (other than the Clean Up tool) have already made an appearance in the first iOS 18.2 beta and are expected to arrive later this year, including seamless integration with ChatGPT. The Camera Control button will also get its upgrade to summon "Visual Intelligence" in iOS 18.2 as well, making it more useful than the app launcher and shutter it is now. And of course, there's the long wait for the new Siri. Siri has been the poster child for AI since Apple bought the original Siri app and integrated it into the iPhone 4s 13 years ago. After years of not investing properly in advancing Siri's capabilities, it seems like Apple Intelligence is finally poised to give it a big boost, but we still have five or six months from getting that on our iPhone 16s. In other words, our first taste of Apple Intelligence is a mixed bag at best, and it's going to be months before our new iPhone 16s do all the neat things shown in Apple's marketing.

I tried all new Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.1 -- here's the best (and worst)

After months of waiting, Apple Intelligence is now available to users with compatible iPhones by downloading iOS 18.1. The only question with Apple's suite of AI tools is where to start. With AI becoming a huge selling point of smartphones in the past year or so, Apple's thrown together a bunch of Apple Intelligence-powered features for the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro models as well as the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max. This includes productivity, editing, photo and video features, plus a revamp of the oft-maligned Siri. Since I've been testing the beta version of this software for several months already, I can explain to you what all the new features are for, and how well they do it. Make sure you've got the iOS 18.1 update downloaded before following along, but just read on if you're curious about what this update brings to the latest iPhones. Writing Tools was one of the first features I tried when installing the beta version of iOS 18, and it is quite substantial in what it offers. Proofreading is fairly self-explanatory, and does more for you than just relying on traditional autocorrect options. However, it works best with longer passages, and may refuse to work on shorter pieces of text. At the very least, you'll get a warning that the feature may not work as well on shorter selections. The Rewrite option, plus the the three tone options (Friendly, Professional and Concise) can be helpful for finding alternate ways to express yourself, but I never found myself using them outside of deliberate experimentation. I like the Summary and Key Points options for their data-digesting roles, and the same goes for List and Table, which help reformat text. The fact these work on any writing, such as articles online, adds even more potential to these features, as long as you have the patience to select all the text on the page first. Writing Tools feels like a feature that would work better on a device you're likely to be doing more substantive writing on, such as in macOS Sequoia or iPadOS 18. But it's still a versatile addition that feels especially useful for unconfident writers or people looking for an easy way to rearrange information into a more easily consumable form. Apple's digital assistant is the most familiar part of the Apple Intelligence bundle. But Siri gets quite the makeover with iOS 18.1. First off, Siri's new look helps illustrate the fact that the digital assistant has undergone quite the transformation. And that continues, as it becomes clear how much easier Siri keeps up if you change your mind or trip over your words as you give your command. And while it's hardly a great demonstration of Apple Intelligence's power, the option to type to Siri is great for when you need answers but aren't in a good spot to give voice commands. Or like me, you're just a bit shy about talking at your phone to ask it what the time is. Possibly my favorite application of Siri 2.0 is its new product knowledge, which allows it to give you instructions on how to use your Apple devices. It's much snappier than trying to search online, though the instructions come as text-only, which aren't necessarily as handy as guides with illustrations attached. I think I am in a minority of people who use the default iOS Mail app, but perhaps more users will be tempted to try it now that Apple's added some new and much-needed features via Apple Intelligence. Priority messages, which pulls up emails that Apple Intelligence judges to be important to a special box at the top of the app, wasn't super handy for me. But as someone who obsessively monitors my inbox and gets rid of any chaff before Apple Intelligence has the chance to deprioritize it, I feel like the average user would get more benefit from this. I've never been one for auto-generated email replies, so the addition of smart replies with Apple Intelligence hasn't really factored into my iPhone email habits. But since this is something Gmail's been able to do for years already, I'm at least glad to see Apple catch up. The Mail app's also a great place to see Apple's new summaries feature in action. The message preview in your inbox are automatically summarized, and you can also tap a Summarize button within an email to give you a more specific rundown. The main place you'll see summaries, though, is in your notifications on the lock screen. In general, the summaries Apple Intelligence produces for your notifications work well. They can be a little wonky with text messages with friends -- where you're more likely to talk in informal, incomplete phrases and about multiple subjects at once -- that Apple Intelligence has a hard time parsing, and likewise for shorter emails. But they usually give a strong-enough indication of what a message is about that you can get the gist with a little interpretation. The Photos app has had some unique Apple Intelligence additions made to it, which I was curious to try out once I'd got used to the major redesign of iOS 18 Photos. The headliner of these features is the ability to create a memory movie with a text prompt. I'm not a photo slideshow kind of guy, but watching the movie that Photos generated of me and my parents' dog was still pretty cute. I appreciate you have the option to refine the AI-curated movie too, by altering things like the title, the soundtrack, adding a filter or removing and replacing images. The human touch helps bring everything together, after all. As for images you'd rather look a little better, Photos can try to improve them with its Clean Up tool. This is available for any image in your gallery, so you can apply a fix to any photos you shot prior to this update, or ones taken on other devices. Simple edits work just fine, but if you try to generate anything too complicated, Apple's software falls behind the competition, as I found when comparing the iPhone's Clean Up and Samsung's version of the same tool. Natural language search for Photos should be a feature I really like, as it ought to make it easier to find images just by describing them to the Photos app. However, the image recognition system that underpins this seems quite strict, missing out photos I feel should have come up in my searches. For instance, a search for "coffee" seems to be limited to obvious photos of a cup of joe or the word appearing within the image. Photos of coffee bag labels, which contain words like "espresso" and "cafetière," but not the precise search term of "coffee," don't appear. The last feature we'll look at is the Phone app's new transcription and recording abilities, with summarization on offer for the transcription too. These are kept in the Notes app, where you can also set up recordings/transcriptions yourself too, to keep track of a meeting or lecture, for example. Apple Intelligence does not always an accurate transcription, especially if your iPhone's not right by the speakers involved or there's other noise in the background. But having the recording available right there with you means you can always listen to any passages that sound funny in the transcription and set things right yourself. Even with the release of iOS 18.1, Apple Intelligence is still incomplete, with users waiting on promised additions like Image Playground, Image Wand and Genmoji generative image features, Visual Intelligence for the iPhone 16, priority notifications and ChatGPT integration. Although all of these are now offered within the iOS 18.2 beta, expected to be ready for prime time by December or perhaps early next year, we're still waiting for the ability for Siri to take actions in-app and tailor its answers based on your personal details, introduced alongside all the other features at WWDC. Complaints about the rollout schedule aside, the Apple Intelligence features added in iOS 18.1 are a strong mix of productivity and creativity tools. Some of them are done better by other smartphone brands, but their presence on iPhones is still better than nothing for users who are comfortable with their Apple devices and wouldn't dream of switching to Android. If your iPhone is compatible with Apple Intelligence features, I recommend trying out Writing Tools, notification summaries and the new and improved Siri first. I feel these are the most generally useful of the iPhone's new AI abilities, with the others generally still decent, but with more limitations caused by specific applications or the underlying Apple Intelligence software itself. Perhaps that'll change as Apple releases updates, but this is how things stand as Apple Intelligence arrives in the hands of regular users.

18 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 18.1

Apple has released iOS 18.1, bringing the first set of Apple Intelligence features to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models. This update marks the first significant step forward in Apple's AI integration, offering a new Siri contextually-aware experience and a range of additional capabilities powered by on-device machine learning and large language models. There are a handful of new non-AI related feature controls coming, too. While not all Apple Intelligence features will be available immediately, iOS 18.1 introduces several enhancements that aim to make your iPhone smarter and more intuitive. Below, we've listed 18 new things your iPhone will be able to do when the update rolls out later this month.

How to Install and Use Apple Intelligence iOS 18.1

If you'd like to learn how to install and use the latest Apple Intelligence features introduced this week in the new 18.1 iOS update, Brandon Butch has prepared an in-depth guide. His step-by-step instructions cover the installation process and outline everything you need to access Apple's AI features on iOS 18.1. In a world where smartphones have become indispensable companions, Apple's latest iOS 18.1 update promises to transform how we interact with our devices. If you're using an iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, or one of the new iPhone 16 models, you're in luck. From smarter notifications to improved writing tools, Apple Intelligence is here to make life a bit easier. But before diving into these exciting features, a few straightforward steps will ensure you're fully prepared to unlock their potential. And let's not forget Siri -- now smarter and more intuitive than ever, ready to assist with a natural, expressive voice. This guide provides more insights into these key functionalities and offers practical advice on how to harness their full potential. To access the full range of Apple Intelligence features, follow these crucial steps: These preliminary steps ensure you're ready to explore the enhanced capabilities of your iPhone. iOS 18.1 introduces a smart notification system that transforms how you manage incoming alerts. The new automatic notification summary feature collects and organizes your notifications into a concise overview, allowing you to process information more efficiently. Key aspects of this feature include: By fine-tuning these settings, you can create a notification experience that aligns perfectly with your preferences and workflow. Here are more guides from our previous articles and guides related to iOS Update: Software update that you may find helpful. The enhanced writing tools in iOS 18.1 elevate your text editing capabilities. Whether you're drafting an email, composing a message, or working on a document, these tools offer intelligent assistance: These features adapt to your writing style over time, providing increasingly personalized suggestions to enhance your communication. Siri undergoes a significant upgrade in iOS 18.1, offering a more natural and efficient interaction experience: These improvements make Siri a more capable assistant, adept at handling a wider range of tasks and queries with increased accuracy. The Mail and Messages apps receive substantial upgrades, focusing on prioritization and efficiency: These features work together to help you manage your communications more effectively, making sure important messages don't get lost in the shuffle. The Photos app now incorporates advanced AI capabilities to improve image management and editing: These tools make it easier to organize, find, and edit your photos, turning your image library into a more accessible and useful resource. iOS 18.1 introduces several other noteworthy features that enhance productivity and user experience: These features work in concert to create a more intuitive and efficient iOS experience, adapting to your needs and usage patterns over time. Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1 represents a significant leap forward in smartphone functionality. By using these new features, you can transform your iPhone into a more powerful, personalized, and efficient tool. As you explore these capabilities, you'll discover new ways to streamline your digital life, enhance your productivity, and enjoy a more seamless interaction with your device.

Apple Intelligence is here. Early users are underwhelmed

Michael Hunter, an Atlanta-based real estate marketing professional and Apple (AAPL+0.11%) power user, has watched Apple's new Apple Intelligence features evolve from promising to problematic. After a month with iOS 18.1's early release through his developer account, Hunter was impressed by the system's enhanced Siri capabilities and responsiveness. But his enthusiasm dimmed after updating to iOS 18.2 beta last week. "This has to be the buggiest rollout that Apple has ever done," said Hunter, who uses Siri across his collection of 20 Apple devices. The latest version has proven unstable, with voice responses frequently defaulting to screen text and basic Siri functions becoming unreliable. "They took away Siri from me and ruined my day-to-day use," Hunter said. Apple began rolling out its Intelligence features to regular iPhone users this week, marking its biggest push yet into consumer AI as it races to compete with OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's (GOOGL+1.67%) Gemini. The update represents a crucial moment for Apple, which has bet that by integrating AI more deeply into iOS while maintaining its privacy-first approach, it can catch up to competitors who got an earlier start in the AI race. But the response so far has been muted, with users facing long waitlists only to find capabilities that feel familiar after two years of similar features from competitors. And it's raising questions about whether Apple's characteristically late but polished entrance into AI can still excite consumers. Potential users (only those with the iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16) eager to try Apple Intelligence are finding themselves in an unusual position: waiting in line for a software update. After downloading iOS 18.1, users must toggle a switch in Settings and then join a waitlist that can last several hours. The reason for the delay isn't entirely clear. One Apple watcher has speculated it's either due to the need to enroll each user in Private Cloud Compute, where sophisticated AI requests are processed on privacy-focused hardware, or simply because Apple is deliberately pacing the rollout of these beta features. Either way, the wait adds another layer of friction to a launch that's already testing users' patience. Once through the waitlist, Apple Intelligence adds several AI-powered features to everyday iPhone tasks. Messages and notifications now come with quick AI summaries right on the lock screen. The Photos app gains an eraser tool that can remove unwanted objects and automatically fill in the background. A new writing assistant can proofread and restyle text in various tones, from friendly to professional. And Siri has been upgraded to better understand natural, messy speech patterns - even handling corrections mid-sentence when users stumble over their words. But these features, while polished, arrive as familiar territory in 2024. Sources told Bloomberg that internal research at Apple found ChatGPT to be 25% more accurate than Siri and capable of answering 30% more questions. Some within Apple believe their generative AI technology lags more than two years behind industry leaders, Bloomberg reports -- a stark admission for a company known for setting technology trends rather than following them. Apple executives frame this measured pace as intentional. "This is a many-year, honestly, even decades-long arc of this technology playing out, and so we're going to do it responsibly," Craig Federighi, Apple's head of software, told The Wall Street Journal. It's a familiar playbook for Apple: Enter late but with polish, emphasizing privacy and integration over speed to market. But in an AI race where competitors are shipping new features weekly, this slow-and-steady approach faces unprecedented pressure to prove itself. Apple's AI push comes at a crucial moment for iPhone sales. Despite positioning the iPhone 15 Pro as its first AI-ready device, Apple is now cutting orders for about 10 million baseline iPhones through early 2025, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. While premium models remain unaffected, Kuo notably doesn't expect Apple's new AI features to boost overall iPhone sales, suggesting the company's late entry into consumer AI might not provide the market lift it needs. Still, Wall Street remains bullish on Apple's AI ambitions, with Daniel Ives, managing director at Wedbush Securities, predicting the company will reach a $4 trillion valuation by 2025. "Apple Intelligence is the beginning of an AI Revolution at Apple," Ives said. With Apple set to report fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, Ives sees iOS 18.1 as just the opening move in a broader transformation that will "unlock a multiyear supercycle." With an estimated 20% of the world's population eventually accessing AI through Apple devices, Ives said December's iOS 18.2 features will be key to maintaining that momentum. But early access to those features isn't inspiring confidence for everyone. For Hunter, who doesn't use ChatGPT or other AI tools, Apple Intelligence was supposed to be a game changer -- and it just hasn't lived up to his expectations. "I thought it was going to be my actual assistant," he said. "I was expecting a little bit more."

iOS 18.1 now available with Apple Intelligence features, more - 9to5Mac

After three months of beta testing, iOS 18.1 with the first Apple Intelligence features is now available to everyone. This update includes features like Writing Tools, Clean Up in the Photos app, notification summaries, and much more. iOS 18.1 is available to all iPhone models that run iOS 18. Apple Intelligence features, however, are only available on a subset of those phones. Here's the full list: iOS 18.1 is rolling out now with the build number 22B83. You can update your iPhone by going to the Settings app, choosing General, then tapping on Software Update. With the new Writing Tools feature in iOS 18.1, you can effortlessly rewrite, proofread, and summarize text in just a few taps, anywhere you type. Here are the available options in iOS 18.1: In general, you can access Writing Tools by highlighting your text and selecting "Writing Tools" from the popover menu. However, iOS 18.1 beta 5 also added a dedicated button for Writing Tools in the always-visible toolbar of the Notes app. More on Writing Tools: "Reduce Interruptions" is a new Focus mode iOS 18.1 powered by Apple Intelligence, using AI to prioritize notifications that require immediate attention. For instance, it will display a text message indicating an early pickup from daycare, while other notifications will be silenced. Similar to other Focus modes in iOS, Reduce Interruptions enables you to customize which apps and contacts you always want to receive notifications from. This feature can be managed through the Settings app. iOS 18.1 brings multiple new Apple Intelligence features to the Photos app. One of the biggest changes is the addition of the Clean Up feature, which lets you remove distracting objects and people from your photos with a single tap. When editing a picture, look for the new Clean Up option and simply highlight what you want to remove. The feature will also automatically suggest people and objects it thinks you should remove. Second, Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1 enables you to create personalized memories by simply typing a description. It uses language and image comprehension to select the most relevant photos and videos based on the provided description. Then, it constructs a storyline with chapters organized around themes extracted from the photos. Finally, these chapters are assembled into a movie with its own unique narrative arc. Lastly, the Photos app now incorporates new natural language search capabilities, making it easier to find specific photos. Moreover, the ability to search in videos has been enhanced, allowing you to locate specific moments within clips and directly jump to the relevant segment. More on Apple Intelligence features in the Photos app: While most of Siri's major upgrades won't be available until later this year or next year, iOS 18.1 introduces a few notable changes for Apple's voice assistant. Notably, iOS 18.1 introduces a completely new design for Siri, featuring a glowing light that encircles the edge of the screen whenever Siri is active. Additionally, iOS 18.1 introduces the ability to switch between text and voice input for Siri by simply double-tapping the home indicator at the bottom of your iPhone. Thanks to extensive training based on Apple's comprehensive support documentation, Siri can now provide detailed answers to questions about Apple products and software. Furthermore, Apple claims that Siri in iOS 18.1 is better equipped to handle interruptions and maintain context when you stumble over words or change your request mid-sentence. Siri has also improved at keeping track of multiple requests. Again, most of the more advanced Siri features won't be available until future iOS updates. The forthcoming iOS 18.2 release, for example, adds ChatGPT integration to Siri. Features such as in-app actions and personal context for Siri aren't excepted until 2025, though. Here are the features in iOS 18.1 that are important enough, in Apple's eyes, to earn a mention in the release notes: Apple Intelligence (All iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)

What's new in Apple Intelligence - and how to install it in the UK

Apple Intelligence is rolling out on certain iPhones, iPads and Macs around the world. The artificial intelligence (AI) now helps Apple users with things like writing, emailing and photo curation. "This is the beginning of an exciting new era," said Apple chief executive Tim Cook on X. But, for many users in the UK, it won't be immediately available until they change their settings. In order to install Apple Intelligence, in the UK, users with iPhone 16s, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later, and Mac with M1 and later can follow these steps: * Download the latest system update, iOS 18.1, in settings * Change the language of the device and Siri to English (US) and then restart the device * Once it has restarted, head to the Apple Intelligence section of the settings and click to join the waitlist. You may have to wait for a few hours but soon, it'll start installing Although a number of features are yet to roll out, the current update does add some new functions. When you're writing emails, texts, or documents, there are some new AI features that can lend a hand. They can help you curate your emails, suggest smart replies, and even change the tone of your writing. For example, this paragraph was rewritten by Apple Intelligence to make it sound more friendly. Users can also search with more natural language in the memories section of the Photos app. When Sky News tested this feature, however, Apple Intelligence struggled with matching phrases like "kitties napping in the sun" with the many pictures of kitties napping in the sun that were on the user's iPhone. There's also a "clean up" feature to remove unwanted people from photos, but while that is new to iPhones, other devices have had that ability for a while. "My pixel 4xl has been doing better than this for more than a year," said one X user on a post showing the process. Read more from Sky News: Video shows 'face-off' before MP punches man UNRWA banned from Israel Man Utd line up new manager While Apple Intelligence is a huge technological advancement for the company, it is not necessarily groundbreaking among its competitors. Google and Samsung both released their AI systems earlier this year, but Apple elected to wait, hoping its heightened security features would set it apart. Most Apple Intelligence requests will be processed on the device, and if the request is complex and has to be sent to Apple's servers, it'll be encrypted and anonymised. Once the full version rolls out in December, Siri will be integrated with ChatGPT. If Apple Intelligence can't answer your request, it'll pass it to OpenAI's chatbot, but users will receive a notification if their request is being sent out of the Apple systems.

Apple Intelligence is more about convenience with initial iOS 18.1 launch | TechCrunch

After much hype, Apple Intelligence, the company's suite of AI features, finally shipped to users this week with the iOS 18.1 update. I used these features for months through beta software and realized that the feature set rolling out this week is more about creating convenience for users rather than letting users plan or brainstorm ideas with ChatGPT or search the web with Perplexity. One of my favorite features in the rollout is the ability to type and talk to Siri. This allows me to easily set timers or ask for currency conversions without Siri going "I didn't quite understand that." You can enable this through Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Talk & Type to Siri > Type to Siri toggle and then double tap on the bottom bar anytime to invoke Siri. This is more of a convenience. The new Siri will possibly understand you better when you stutter or change the timer from 10 minutes to 15 minutes. However, for a lot of queries -- such as "What can you use as a pine nut substitute?" -- Siri will still get knowledge from the web or redirect you to a website. One of my most used features in the last few weeks is Apple's photo cleanup feature. This allows people to remove certain objects in photos, such as a passerby photobombing your selfie, through auto selection or manual selection. The removal is not flawless, but if you look closely at the removed part, you will see blemishes. At times, these artifacts are more noticeable. But through some cropping and clever filter use, these photos are useful for posting on social media at least. After I demoed this feature to a few friends, they started routinely sending me photos to clean them up. Notably, Google has its own photo cleanup feature called Magic Eraser, which is available on Pixel phones and Google Photos. Notification summary is a tricky feature. You can choose to summarize notifications from all, none, or selected apps. The summary is mostly accurate, but at times, it reads weirdly. For example, my friend said in separate messages that she didn't know why her feet hurt. The end result was this: Admittedly, the summary feature helped me remove messages from the notification tray that were informational or didn't need my attention at that point. I am not alone in finding the notification summaries funny sometimes. Plenty of people on social media posted about these summaries, including a person who allegedly said he learned he was being dumped through these summaries. I don't know what the right combination of useful and funny, but Apple's Craig Federighi told The Wall Street Journal that, at times, the summary might not be funny for users. Plus, the system won't automatically summarize notifications for contexts that might be sensitive. Apple's Writing Tools feature is something that I haven't used a lot on the iPhone. That's partly because I do a ton of writing on a desktop and partly because I didn't feel the need to have AI make my email more "professional." I used the proofread function on occasion, and it was good enough for a basic check. Early in my testing, I noticed the tool stumble in handling swear words and other topics like rugs, killing, or murder. It might not be useful if you are writing a thriller plot. Apple's first set of features does not generate texts or images for users in a way a tool like ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude does. The second set of AI features available on developer beta might do some of the magic tricks while also integrating with ChatGPT for answers and text generation. For now, Apple Intelligence might make your life a tiny bit better, but it might not be enough to convince you to buy the new iPhone that is "built for Apple Intelligence."

Apple releases iOS 18.1, macOS 15.1 with Apple Intelligence

A promotional image by Apple showing the latest software updates running on a variety of devices. Credit: Apple Today, Apple released iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, macOS Sequoia 15.1, tvOS 18.1, and watchOS 11.1. The iPhone, iPad, and Mac updates are focused on bringing the first AI features the company has marketed as "Apple Intelligence" to users. Once they update, users with supported devices in supported regions can begin using the first wave of Apple Intelligence features, including writing tools, notification summaries, and the "reduce interruptions" focus mode. In terms of features baked into specific apps, Photos has natural language search, the ability to generate memories (those short gallery sequences set to video) from a text prompt, and a tool to remove certain objects from the background in photos. Mail and Messages get summaries and smart reply (auto-generating contextual responses). Apple says many of the other Apple Intelligence features will become available in an update this December, including Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT integration, visual intelligence, and more. The company says more features will come even later than that, though, like Siri's onscreen awareness. Note that all the features under the Apple Intelligence banner require devices that have either an A17 Pro, A18, A18 Pro, or M1 chip or later. There are also some region limitations. While those in the US can use the new Apple Intelligence features on all supported devices right away, those in the EU can only do so on macOS in US English. Apple says Apple Intelligence will roll out to EU iPhone and iPad owners in April. Beyond Apple Intelligence, these software updates also bring some promised new features to AirPods Pro (second generation and later): Hearing Test, Hearing Aid, and Hearing Protection. watchOS doesn't yet support Apple Intelligence, so it doesn't have much to show for this update beyond bug fixes and optimizations. tvOS is mostly similar, though it does add a new "watchlist" view in the TV app that is exclusively populated by items you've added, as opposed to the existing continue watching (formerly called "up next") feed that included both the items you added and items added automatically when you started playing them.

Apple Releases iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 with Apple Intelligence

After months of beta testing, Apple finally released the stable versions of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. The software updates bring the much-awaited Apple Intelligence features to everyone. The iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 updates bring the first set of Apple Intelligence features, including Writing Tools, new Siri UI, Clean Up tool, notification summaries, and much more. If you've got a compatible device, you can download and install the latest update by going to Settings -> General -> Software Update. Apple Intelligence is the main attraction of the new updates. The first set of Apple's AI system is only available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, any iPhone 16 model, iPad with A17 Pro or M-series chipset, and all Apple Silicon Macs. To use Apple Intelligence features, you have to go to Settings -> Apple Intelligence & Siri, and turn the toggle on. Apart from the AI features, iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 bring new additions that might interest users who do not have an Apple Intelligence device. This includes a refined Control Center, Measure app, and the ability to record phone calls. Other Apple Intelligence features like Genmoji, Image Playground, Image Wand, ChatGPT Integration, and more will arrive later this year. Also, Visual Intelligence, an iPhone 16 exclusive feature will arrive with iOS 18.2, sometime in December. Everyone has been talking and waiting for Apple Intelligence for months now, so it's incredibly exciting to finally get hands on the stable version of Apple's AI-powered tools. It's worth knowing that Apple Intelligence is only in US English, for now.

Apple rolls out Apple Intelligence, but fails to wow AI crowd, for now

Apple has officially launched its new AI stack Apple Intelligence for certain iPhone, iPad and Mac users -- however, early reviewers say the new AI tools haven't lived up to the hype. The company revealed the "first set" of new AI-related functions on Oct. 28, with the release of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1. Apple's new main AI feature, "Writing Tools," allows users to refine their language by rewriting, proofreading, and summarizing text in Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps, while users can now have a "more natural and conversation" with Apple's virtual assistant Siri. Users will have the option to access ChatGPT within Writing Tools and Siri, allowing them to benefit from its image and document-understanding capabilities without needing to switch between tools, Apple said. It also introduced a "natural language search" in the Photos app -- allowing users to describe a photo and have it found for them rather than having to scroll through thousands of other photos to find it. However, some Apple users weren't overly thrilled with the new AI features. Max Eddy, a writer for The New York Times who accessed Apple's prerelease version, wasn't too impressed, stating: "We think the highly touted AI-transformed future still seems a long way off." Julian Chokkattu, a senior reviews editor at WIRED who also had access to the prerelease version, wasn't amazed either. "I've been living with a beta version of Apple Intelligence for over a month, and life hasn't changed much since its features arrived on my iPhone 16 Pro." "You might find yourself saying, 'Is that it?'" Chokkattu added. Accessing Apple Intelligence proved a problem of its own for many other Apple users too. United States-based Apple users must first have an Apple Intelligence-compatible device and install Apple's latest software version before joining a waitlist. Things are even more complicated for non-users who also have to change their region and language in settings to the "United States" and "English US" before joining the waitlist. Apple Intelligence was described as the "sloppiest rollout Apple has ever done" by X user Mikey, while X user T said Apple should have waited until the AI tools were "fully functional" and accessible to all users. Apple made no mention of a waitlist in its Oct. 28 announcement. YouTuber and Apple tech reviewer Brandon Butch claims Apple users need to join a waitlist because in order to download Apple Intelligence's models from Apple's servers. Apple was initially scheduled to release Apple Intelligence in September. Related: Apple Intelligence rival secures $10M to develop open-source alternative Apple said it would also roll out a new visual intelligence experience feature in December that would allow users to learn about objects and places instantly. "Users will be able to pull up details about a restaurant in front of them and interact with information -- for example, translating text from one language to another," Apple said. The firm said it would also roll out a new Priority Notifications feature in the coming months which has the "ability to draw on a user's personal context to deliver intelligence that's tailored to them." As part of Apple's privacy measures, users can choose whether to integrate ChatGPT for the new Writing Tools and advanced Siri features.

Apple Intelligence on the iPhone: A lot of promise but no must-have features

Install the newly released iOS 18.1 update on certain phones, and you'll enter the brave, new world of Apple Intelligence. You'll notice it looks a lot like the old, familiar world without Apple Intelligence. Not to undersell the significance of Apple's first batch of AI-powered tools going live on the iPhone -- and other devices if you install the new software updates for iPads and Macs -- but the features now available to the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max and every iPhone 16 model don't really break new barriers to much as they extend capabilities already available on the phone. That's not necessarily a bad thing. In my experience, the best AI tools fit seamlessly into what you already do on a particular device rather than force some new feature upon you that you don't really need. And in that sense, Apple Intelligence succeeds with improvements to Mail, Photos and Notes that do the things you already do on your phone only better. But it's not very attention grabbing, especially given the piecemeal way Apple is rolling out Apple Intelligence changes. iOS 18.1 brings us new writing tools, some significant Photos changes and the initial parts of a Siri overhaul. iOS 18.2, already in beta for developers, is bringing more features like emoji generated by text prompts, other generative image creation tools, and a Visual Intelligence feature just for iPhone 16 users. Introducing new AI features bit by bit gives Apple the space to fine-tune Apple Intelligence capabilities before they reach a wide audience, but they also increase the chances of someone installing another incremental update and wondering if that's all there is. And in a way, the answer to that question is yes. Yes, that is all there is, for now. But what is there is certainly worth exploring. Everyone's going to have their own favorite Apple Intelligence features, and I've certainly detailed my favorites. But what I'd like to do here is call out the most polished Apple Intelligence features thus far, and the ones that will fit easiest into your current workflow. Nearly every Apple Intelligence change to the Mail app is a winner starting with priority mail, which floats messages to the top of your inbox when the AI detects that there's a deadline or a call to action you need to respond to ASAP. Priority emails are set apart from the rest of your inbox -- a great visual indicator that makes it very hard to miss an important message. Most of the messages in your inbox no longer show the first couple lines of the email; instead, Apple Intelligence whips up a summary of what the message is about. This not only gives you the gist of incoming messages, but it makes finding specific messages touching on a given topic a lot easier to do. My only complaint is that Apple only shows two lines of a summary, instead of the full summary -- I'd prefer the latter. Like a lot of apps in Apple Intelligence, Mail gains a summary tool, with a summarize button appearing at the top of each message. This comes in especially handy when you've got a multi-message thread in which several different people are weighing in, as the summary tool pulls out the key points of the exchange for your perusal. Summaries save you the trouble of having to parse a lot of different messages to get the gist of what's being discussed; it's also great for confirming that you're about to dive into the right email exchange. Finally, there's smart replies, a feature that's a lot more powerful than what Google implemented long ago with Gmail. Apple's version add additional prompts when it detects deadlines so that your auto-generated response actually addresses the issue at hand. Other than Mail, the Photos app sees the most significant changes from Apple Intelligence, starting with search. You no longer have to struggle with coming up with the right keywords to track down a particular photo -- just type in exactly what you want to find like "photos of my last vacation in Hawaii" or "my daughter dancing ballet." I've been able to find things much easier since upgrading to iOS 18.1, and this is one Apple Intelligence tool that seems to have trickled down to iPhones that don't necessarily support the feature. (Photo searches are nearly as thorough on my iPhone 12 as they are on the iPhone 15 Pro i've been using to test Apple Intelligence.) I like the idea behind Memory Movies, in which you type in a text prompt -- "my daughter swimming at the lake" -- and Apple Intelligence whips up one of those Memory slideshows you find in the Photos app, complete with its own soundtrack. (Incidentally, you can suggest music styles to accompany your Memory Movie, and if you subscribe to Apple Music, your library of musical selections expands considerably.) However, this may be a situation where Apple over-promised, as its Apple Intelligence preview page mentions narrative arcs for the slideshows. I have noticed anything like that at all. You may find yourself tweaking the Memory Movie, removing photos that don't really fit the the theme or supplying a title to replace the anodyne one Apple Intelligence whipped up. That removes some of the wonder of the feature, but overall, Memory Movie is a fun way to revisit photos and videos that may otherwise be tucked away deep in your library. Finally, Photos features a Clean Up tool that's very similar to the Magic Eraser that's been a part of Google's phones the last several years. Like Magic Erase, you use clean up to remove unwanted people or objects from a photo with a tap. I find that Clean Up works well enough, though it's more likely to leave behind traces of what you've removed than similar editing tools. But in an era where AI-powered photo editing is pretty much de rigueur for phones with AI ambitions, the iPhone finally has a tool of its own. We'll get to Writing Tools in a bit, and not for reasons that Apple will probably like. But I did want to single out the Professional tone feature for praise, as it's really well done. Writing Tools are available in any app that accepts text input, even third party apps. They're made up of different features meant to improve your writing, whether it's a proofreading tool, another button that condenses your text or ones that suggest different tones. The Professional tone is the best of the bunch, as it can take highlighted text in apps like Notes, Mail and more and make it sound very formal. I see this as a great tool for polishing a cover letter or business proposal -- write the text in your words and then turn to the Professional tool to clean things up. Even those of us who write professionally might struggle with the very rigid structure that business writing demands. The Professional tone feature in Writing Tools can improve that skill set, so it's a very welcome addition to the iPhone. With one exception that we'll get to, I don't think there are any Apple Intelligence features that are outright misses. That said, there are ones that require additional fine-tuning by Apple. Transcribing audio -- whether it's a recording from the Voice Memo app, a recorded phone call or an audio note you've created directly in Notes -- isn't necessarily an Apple Intelligence feature. You can get transcripts of recordings on any device running iOS 18, with summaries of those recordings limited to Apple Intelligence-ready iPhones. But there is some on-device AI involved in transcribing audio, and right now, it's more miss than hit. Transcriptions work well enough when the person making the recording speaks clearly, slowly and audibly. But that's not often the case in the scenarios where you're likely to make recordings such as meetings, lectures and phone calls. Apple's transcription tools are easily tripped up by regional dialects and accents, and heaven help if two people decide to speak at once. It's something that will doubtlessly get fixed over time, but be prepared to do lots of clean up work on your own if you plan on using this feature. Apple would be the first to tell you that the work of making a better, more context-aware Siri has only just begun. Indeed, we probably won't see the full improvements to Siri promised at last June's WWDC event until we're well into 2025. So approach the digital assistant in iOS 18.1 with that caveat in mind. You will find a more forgiving Siri in iOS 18.1. You can correct yourself mid-query without confusing the assistant, and Siri responds a lot better when you cut it off mid-reply. Even better, Siri has a better understanding of the context of your questions. Ask the assistant what's the weather like in Barcelona, and Siri will give you the current conditions. Follow that up with "And what it's like for the rest of the week?" and Siri will understand you want a multi-day forecast for Barcelona, even if you didn't specify the city. Ask "What about Madrid?" and Siri still knows you're asking about the weather. It's great when it works, but Siri can get tripped up. Usually when I ask the assistant multiple questions about a particular sporting event, it's good for about two questions before it gets confused and gives me irrelevant or incomplete information. Siri's getting smarter, but it still needs some schooling. As much as I praised the Professional tone feature in Writing Tools, I'm less sold on the other parts of this particular suite of AI-powered writing assistants. The proofreading feature works well enough and the Friendly tone might save you from sending an overly aggressive email if you have the presence of mind to use it before hitting send. But a button that condenses your writing can strip out important details in the interest of saving space. I wouldn't rely on that without triple-checking Apple Intelligence's work, kind of defeating the purpose of a feature that's meant to save you time. It's the Rewrite button in Writing Tools that I really have no use for. The purpose of the Rewrite button seems to be "swap in synonyms whether they're contextually appropriate or not." Rewrite will also remove any last trace of personality from something you've written, putting generic text in its place. I've yet to see the Rewrite tool produce anything that didn't sound like it was written by a robot. Unless that's the impression you're hoping to give, I would steer clear of using that particular part of Writing Tools. There was some speculation among analysts who track Apple as to whether the release of Apple Intelligence will convince people to upgrade to a new iPhone -- specifically the iPhone 16 models, as that's what's on sale now. There are certainly strong arguments to be made for getting an iPhone 16, whether it's the better battery life, improved performance and excellent-as-always cameras; the arrival of Apple Intelligence wouldn't even crack the top 10 reasons to get a new phone. That may come across as an overly harsh assessment, since the Apple Intelligence tools introduced in iOS 18.1 fall neatly under the "nice to have" banner. But "nice to have" isn't "must have," and I don't think anything Apple Intelligence offers at this point rises to the level of the latter. The way I see it, if you have an iPhone that's currently capable of supporting Apple Intelligence, you'll find some use out of the new features your phone has just picked up. And if you don't, you'll probably get by until you are ready to upgrade your phone -- by then, Apple Intelligence is almost certain to have added more features than what's available now. Even though it just arrived, Apple Intelligence continues to be mostly about promise. A better iPhone experience is coming because of Apple Intelligence, though you may find some use out of the tools that are there now.

Can't find Apple's AI features after upgrading to iOS 18.1? Do this

In addition to updating your phone, there is one extra step you need to take to start enjoying Apple's AI features. As someone who tests artificial intelligence (AI) for living and has been stuck in Apple's walled garden for years, I decided last night to update my phone to iOS 18.1 so that when I woke up, I could start tinkering with the features. However, to my disappointment, I could not find them. That is because I did not take the required extra step to join the Apple Intelligence waitlist. Don't let the term "waitlist" put you off, though; it only took minutes for another ZDNET writer and me to get off the waitlist. Also: iOS 18.1 with Apple Intelligence is here. Try these 5 AI features first To join the waitlist, click on Settings > Apple Intelligence and then Siri > Join the Apple Intelligence Waitlist. Once you are off the waitlist, you will be notified that Apple intelligence is ready to be activated for your device. This does not mean your device will be automatically updated to include Apple Intelligence when you are off the list. Instead, you have to go back into the Settings tab and click on "Turn on Apple Intelligence," which will show up where the "Join the Apple Intelligence waitlist" prompt previously was. The waitlist is likely a precaution because the new AI features supported by Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1 are still in beta, prone to mistakes, and not entirely accurate. Since the features aren't entirely ironed out yet, Apple may want to ensure that only people who really want to try them are exposed to them for now. Also: My biggest regret after updating my iPhone to iOS 18 (and I'm not alone) Apple even warns that "Apple Intelligence is currently in beta. Apple Intelligence uses generative models, and outputs may be inaccurate, unexpected, or offensive. Check important information for accuracy." Once you turn it on, you can access various AI features, including Writing Tools, Notification Summaries, recording and summarizing calls and other audio in Notes, and a revamped Siri. Also: How iOS 18 turned my Apple Watch into the productivity tool of my sci-fi dreams Many of the features Apple introduced at WWDC are still missing, including the highly anticipated Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT Integration, and, perhaps the most helpful of them all, Personal Context, which allows AI to use all of the information it knows about you to provide more comprehensive assistance.

I'm Not Sure Apple Intelligence Is Live, but Your iPhone Won't Get It Unless You Do This First

But just installing the latest update doesn't automatically tap into the Apple Intelligence features. You'll need to request access to them and join a waitlist. Here's how to get started with the new technologies. See more: More Apple Intelligence Features Like ChatGPT Drop With the iOS 18.2 Developer Beta and Got iOS 18? Make These Long-Awaited Changes to Your iPhone Settings During the iOS 18.1 developer and public betas, Apple gradually rolled out the first wave of Apple Intelligence features. Although many of the new features run locally on your iPhone, some tasks get handed off to Apple's Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. Keep in mind that AI features tend to be computationally demanding, which is why Google Gemini and OpenAI handle most of their processing in the cloud. They can divide up a task among hundreds or thousands of processors around the world. Apple's Private Cloud Compute technology does the same thing, but with what is surely a smaller number of processors. Rather than risk overwhelming the servers with millions of simultaneous requests as iOS 18.1 is adopted broadly, an Apple Intelligence waitlist gives Apple the ability to ramp up the computational load. After downloading and installing iOS 18.1 onto your iPhone - you made a backup before upgrading, right? - open the Settings app and go to Apple Intelligence & Siri (formerly just Siri). At the top of the settings, tap Join the Apple Intelligence Waitlist > Join Waitlist. How long it will take to be granted access is unknown. On my iPhone running the developer beta it took a few hours, while others got in after a few minutes. As things have scaled up for the release, wait times could be longer. As one example, the iOS 18.2 developer beta includes the new Image Playground app to create Genmoji and AI-generated artwork, and Apple is rolling out access. After a week I'm still waiting to use it.

The TRUTH About Apple Intelligence

Apple has recently introduced a suite of artificial intelligence (AI) features with Apple Intelligence which is designed to enhance user experience while maintaining a strong focus on privacy. These features aim to simplify daily tasks and improve how you interact with your Apple devices. However, it's important to understand the scope and limitations of these AI capabilities to manage expectations effectively. One of the key aspects of Apple's AI implementation is its deep integration at the system level. By embedding AI functionalities into the operating system, Apple ensures that these features operate seamlessly across its devices. This integration also prioritizes user privacy, which is a core principle of Apple's philosophy. Apple's approach to AI is designed to enhance your interactions with your device while keeping your data secure. Among the most significant updates in Apple's AI rollout is the overhaul of Siri, the company's virtual assistant. With improved natural language processing capabilities, Siri can now understand and respond to your queries more accurately and naturally. This enhancement makes it easier for you to interact with your device using everyday language, making the experience more intuitive and user-friendly. In addition to Siri, Apple has introduced new AI-powered writing tools with Apple Intelligence, to assist you in drafting and editing text. These tools are designed to help you write more efficiently by offering real-time suggestions and corrections. Some of the key features include: Another notable addition is the AI-powered notification summaries. These summaries provide a concise overview of your alerts, helping you manage your time and attention more effectively. By prioritizing important notifications and presenting them in a digestible format, Apple's AI helps you stay on top of your digital life without feeling overwhelmed. Apple's approach to AI differs from that of some of its competitors in terms of focus and scope. While other companies may venture into advanced AI fields such as photo-realistic image or voice generation, Apple's primary focus remains on creating user-friendly AI tools that cater to everyday needs. This strategic choice positions Apple as a provider of accessible and practical AI solutions rather than innovative creative technologies. Apple Intelligence features are designed for "the rest of us," meaning they are tailored for everyday users rather than tech-savvy power users. The goal is to make AI accessible and beneficial to a broad audience, ensuring that everyone can enjoy the advantages of AI without needing extensive technical knowledge. This approach aligns with Apple's commitment to creating intuitive and user-friendly products. While Apple's AI features are undoubtedly useful, it's important to manage expectations regarding their scope and impact. These tools offer familiar and practical functionalities, providing incremental improvements rather than innovative advancements. Apple's approach prioritizes safety, privacy, and user-friendliness over innovative creative capabilities. It's essential to understand that Apple's AI features are designed to be engaging and helpful, encouraging you to explore and use them in your daily life. They may not meet the expectations of those seeking groundbreaking innovations, but they serve as reliable and accessible tools that can enhance your overall experience with Apple devices. As Apple continues to develop and refine its Apple Intelligence capabilities, the company encourages users to share their experiences and expectations. By fostering a community of engaged users, Apple aims to gather valuable feedback that can shape the future of Apple Intelligence. Your input plays a crucial role in helping Apple understand the needs and preferences of its diverse user base, allowing the company to continuously improve its AI offerings. As you explore Apple's AI features, remember to approach them with an open mind and realistic expectations. Embrace the incremental improvements and the convenience they bring to your daily interactions with your devices. By providing feedback and engaging with the Apple community, you can contribute to the ongoing evolution of Apple Intelligence, helping to create a more intuitive, accessible, and privacy-centric AI experience for all users.

If You Want Apple Intelligence on Your iPhone, Here's What You Need to Do

But installing the latest updates doesn't automatically add the Apple Intelligence features to your devices. You'll need to request access to Apple Intelligence and join a waitlist. Here's how to get started with the new AI technologies. See more: More Apple Intelligence Features Like ChatGPT Drop With the iOS 18.2 Developer Beta and Got iOS 18? Make These Long-Awaited Changes to Your iPhone Settings During the iOS 18.1 developer and public betas, Apple gradually rolled out the first wave of Apple Intelligence features. Although many of the new features run locally on your iPhone, some tasks get handed off to Apple's Private Cloud Compute infrastructure. Keep in mind that AI features tend to be computationally demanding, which is why Google Gemini and OpenAI handle most of their processing in the cloud. They can divide up a task among hundreds or thousands of processors around the world. Apple's Private Cloud Compute technology does the same thing, but with what is surely a smaller number of processors. Rather than risk overwhelming the servers with millions of simultaneous requests as iOS 18.1 is adopted broadly, an Apple Intelligence waitlist gives Apple the ability to ramp up the computational load. After downloading and installing iOS 18.1 onto your iPhone - you made a backup before upgrading, right? - open the Settings app and go to Apple Intelligence & Siri (formerly just Siri). At the top of the settings, tap Join the Apple Intelligence Waitlist > Join Waitlist. How long it will take to be granted access is unknown. On my iPhone running the developer beta it took a few hours, while others got in after a few minutes. As things have scaled up for the release, wait times could be longer. As one example, the iOS 18.2 developer beta includes the new Image Playground app to create Genmoji and AI-generated artwork, and Apple is rolling out access. After a week I'm still waiting to use it.

iOS 18.1 is already here: these are all the new features - Softonic

It's official. iOS 18.1 is here and with it comes Apple Intelligence to the general public. While we wait for more launches, this is an update full of new features, many of them focused on the implementation of Apple's artificial intelligence, and others aimed at bringing us functions that were introduced a few months ago at WWDC 2024. Let's take a look, without further ado, at all the new features. One of the biggest innovations in iOS 18.1 is the introduction of writing tools, available in any application where text can be written. If we have an iPhone 16 or an iPhone 15 with the Pro designation, currently the only iPhones compatible with Apple Intelligence, we can access features such as rewriting, reviewing, and summarizing texts intelligently. The "Rewrite" tool suggests different versions of the written text, such as Professional, Informal, or Fun. Meanwhile, "Review" allows us to make corrections and improvements in grammar and language. Finally, the "Summary" option helps generate summaries of various types for any selected text. With iOS 18.1, Siri receives an update that transforms the way we interact with the virtual assistant. Siri now features a revamped aesthetic, with a colorful light indicator that wraps around the screen while responding to us, and allows us to continue typing or scrolling through the screen while consulting it. Siri understands natural language much better, adapting to pauses or changes in sentences. It even maintains the context of conversations, making communication much smoother and more similar to human interaction. With iOS 18.1, the possibility of activating the "Type to Siri" function with a double tap at the bottom of the screen also arrives. Siri knows the devices better, so we can ask how to perform certain actions, and it also has improvements in voice, to sound more natural and expressive. Another notable feature in iOS 18.1 is the expansion of search capabilities in Photos. Now, we can find images and videos by describing their content, making the search more intuitive. Additionally, the "Clean" function is added to remove distractions in photos, and a tool to create memory videos describing the story you want to tell. Notification management has also received changes in iOS 18.1. With the notification summary, the system presents a quick overview of the most relevant information, making it easier for us to stay updated without being overwhelmed by alerts. The new feature to reduce interruptions in Focus modes allows us to receive only urgent notifications, silencing distractions. In Mail and Messages, the quick reply suggests responses to streamline communication, and the priority messages feature highlights emails that require immediate attention. We can now record phone calls in the Phone app and transcribe them directly in the Notes app. With an automatic notification informing all participants that the call is being recorded, this feature allows us to later copy parts of the conversation or perform searches within it. In iOS 18.1, the camera has improved with more options for the Camera Control of the iPhone 16, as now we can quickly switch between the front and rear camera. The iPhone 15 Pro also receives new features in the form of a mode for capturing spatial photos, complementing the spatial video capture capabilities they already had. Regarding the AirPods, this update brings new hearing health features to the AirPods Pro. It is now possible to perform a hearing test in the United States, and with the results, the sound is personalized in real-time to assist users with mild or moderate hearing loss. Hearing protection has also been implemented, which minimizes exposure to loud environmental noises in different listening modes. Finally, iOS 18.1 fixes some bugs, such as the one that could interrupt playback in the Podcasts app and an error in the digital keys of some cars. It also improves functionality in the Control Center, where connectivity controls can be added individually. Additionally, the search in the App Store and Game Center invitations have been optimized. A complete update in every sense. News from Apple Intelligence, improvements in various parts of the system, and bug fixes. This is an update we will want to install as soon as possible.

iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 Arrives With Apple Intelligence

How to Wirelessly Transfer Files Between Windows, macOS, Linux, and Mobile Apple has released the new iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 software updates, bringing the first wave of Apple Intelligence features and other new features to iPhone and iPad owners. ✕ Remove Ads You can install an over-the-air update by going to Settings > General > Software Update on your device and following the onscreen instructions. Apple Intelligence is supported on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the iPhone 16 lineup. On the tablet front, you need an iPad running Apple silicon, such as the M1 iPad Pro and later or the M1 iPad Air and later. Apple Intelligence is also available on Apple silicon Macs with the macOS Sequoia 15.1 software, which also dropped today. Keep in mind that Apple Intelligence is currently available in English only. If you live in an unsupported region, you can set your device region to US and language to English to enable Apple Intelligence. Apple says that Apple Intelligence is currently in beta and has a waitlist. After installing iOS 18.1, you must manually turn on Apple Intelligence in Settings. ✕ Remove Ads Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1 brings a new Siri glow animation. The assistant now leverages Apple's large language models (LLMs) to understand complex queries better, especially if you mumble words, and better maintain context between multiple requests. The Type to Siri option can now be invoked by double-taping the Home indicator at the bottom. Siri answers Apple product questions, like how to find or adjust any iPhone feature, giving you a step-by-step tutorial excerpted from Apple's support documents. ✕ Remove Ads Apple Intelligence saves you from notification overload by summarizing multiple notifications on the Lock Screen -- extremely handy when inundated with messages from group chats. The new AI-powered Reduce Interruptions focus mode only allows crucial alerts to break through while silencing those deemed unimportant. The Phone app lets you record phone calls for the first time, with both participants notified. Recorded calls are saved in Notes, along with a message transcript and a summary. Speaking of which, the Notes app automatically transcribes any audio recorded in-app, creating a summary with key points you can share (great for lectures, presentations, meetings, etc.). ✕ Remove Ads The Photos app gets an AI object removal tool called Clean Up for seamless background replacement. Like Google Photos, this feature lets you remove distractions from your photos, including random people in the background, by brushing over them. The new Memory Movie feature allows you to create animated slideshows by providing a description, like "Play time with my cat Sergey" or "My son with his dog, happy vibes." Writing Tools let you proofread, rewrite, and reformat texts, emails, notes, etc. Like Grammarly, proofreading highlights embarrassing typos and grammar mistakes, with suggestions to improve sentence structure. The Rewrite tool changes the tone of your writing to be friendly, professional, or concise. The Summarize function distills long documents and lengthy emails to their essence, with options to summarize as a paragraph, key points, list, or table. ✕ Remove Ads The Mail app uses AI for brief summaries instead of the first few lines of the email. Smart Reply in Mail and Messages analyzes messages, suggesting contextually relevant replies instead of canned responses. Safari's Reader Mode can summarize long articles when you don't have the time to read the whole thing. You can export your Apple Intelligence activity and data in Settings > Privacy & Security > Apple Intelligence Report. iOS 18.1 includes other improvements. If you go overboard with Control Center customization, there's an option to reset its layout to factory defaults in Settings > Control Center. Before, you had to reset all iPhone settings to roll back Control Center changes. ✕ Remove Ads Plus, separate toggles are now available for Wi-Fi and VPN (AirDrop and Satellite are the only remaining controls in the Connectivity group that aren't available separately). iOS 18.1 also improves the Camera Control capture button on the iPhone 16 models by letting you switch to the selfie camera when changing lenses. Just swipe your way to the mugshot icon to switch to the front-facing camera without interacting with the onscreen buttons. iPhone Mirroring in iOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 got an upgrade with drag and drop support, allowing you to easily copy files from one device to another. ✕ Remove Ads The TV app gains a Watchlist in the Home section for shows you've queued but haven't started watching yet (your Up Next now only includes in-progress videos). The new hearing aid features on the AirPods Pro 2 are now available with iOS 18.1. To protect everyone's hearing better, iOS 18.1 brings a new "Show Off Listening Modes" toggle in your AirPods settings to hide the option of turning noise cancelation off. ✕ Remove Ads Lastly, iOS 18.1 opens up the iPhone's NFC chip for contactless transactions to third-party developers, so companies like PayPal and Revolut could establish their own wallets on the iPhone. Apps can implement contactless transactions for digital keys for cars, hotels, and homes, event tickets, in-store payments, corporate badges, student IDs, government IDs, closed-loop transit, as well as loyalty and rewards cards. Additional information can be found in the official iOS 18.1 release notes on Apple's website. For details about important security fixes and patched vulnerabilities in iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1, read Apple's support document. Some features are only available in specific languages and regions, as detailed on the iOS and iPadOS 18 Feature Availability page. Source: Apple ✕ Remove Ads

How to enable Apple Intelligence on your iPhone

Apple has finally releasing some of the Apple Intelligence features it announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June. After releasing Apple Intelligence features in developer beta and then public beta over the last few months, the company has released these features through iOS 18.1 to all users. While the initial beta version had restrictions on the region where Apple Intelligence was available, you can use the new AI features from anywhere -- apart from EU and China -- by setting the language as U.S. English. Here is how you can start using Apple Intelligence features: It will take a while for your iPhone to download the models related to Apple Intelligence and prepare your system for these features. You will get a notification when your iPhone is ready to use Apple Intelligence features. At the moment, Apple Intelligence is only compatible with iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPads and Macs that run on M1 chips. Available features

New vs. Old Siri: How Much of an Upgrade Is Apple Intelligence?

Apple Intelligence debuted this week with iOS 18.1, adding a slew of generative AI smarts to long-standing features, like Siri. Apple's digital assistant is no longer a pulsing ball at the base of the screen. Instead, it's a multi-colored, neon glow around the edges, which you can interact with in two new ways: Pressing the lock button or a new text-to-Siri option. How do responses from an Apple Intelligence Siri differ from the standard Siri? Apple says it can now understand you even if you stumble over your words. It can also field follow-up questions without you needing to repeat the premise of the conversation. Did Apple succeed? We tested the Siri's new features on an iPhone 15 Pro equipped with Apple Intelligence, and compared the performance to the old Siri on an iPhone 13, which lacks the advanced chip required to run the latest AI. 1. Apple-Specific Knowledge Apple trained the new Siri on a trove of device-specific questions, and delivered on that promise. Here's how the new and old Siri responded to the following questions: The new Siri surfaced a concise summary of the directions, which we preferred over the list of links the old Siri provided. The new Siri also surfaced the information without speaking out loud, whereas the old one added an unnecessary voiceover: "Here's what I found on the web about Apple CarPlay." Both devices are set to have Siri decide when to speak and when to hold back, and the new Siri seems to prioritize silence. 2. Stumbling Over Your Words The new Siri should not get thrown off course when you backtrack on a sentence, or throw in an "um," "like," or, "no wait, not that one." It seemed to perform much better in this regard than the old Siri on the following questions. On both questions, the new Siri adjusted to my mid-sentence correction, while the old one did not. The new Siri provided the average age and the longest highway in the US (correct), while the old Siri got stuck on the weather and the river (incorrect). The new Siri also surfaced an easy-to-read summary of the answer, instead of web links. The old Siri also gave another unnecessary verbal introduction to its on-screen answer: "Here's what I found." Overall, the experience is much improved in the new version. 3. Keeping Context With Follow-Up Questions The upgraded version of Siri handles a string of questions more gracefully than before. Below, I asked it the following questions without repeating each time that I was talking about an espresso martini. The new Siri answered each correctly, while the old Siri did not make it to the second question. When I asked, "How much vodka do I need?" it answered, "Sorry, I don't understand." At the same time, both versions of Siri performed the same on a series of simple questions about the weather. The only difference was the old Siri provided a voiceover for each response (i.e. "Here's the weather in Seattle") while the new Siri kept quiet. Siri is less verbal these days, though you can adjust her chattiness via Settings > Accessibility > Siri > Spoken Responses. The new ability to text to Siri doubles down on non-verbal interactions. When you double-tap the bottom of the screen, it pulls up a text bar to ask a question. Apple did a great job with this command; it seems to work every time as intended. This is a major differentiator for the new Siri, though the responses are not always satisfactory. Here's how it responded to three written questions: It answered the first one accurately, but I expected more information on the other two, such as a full recipe for the martini or more detail about the history of the city beyond when it was founded. 5. Basic Knowledge The new Siri may format its answers differently, be less prone to speaking out loud, and more able to answer a follow-up question, but is it smarter overall? From what we can tell, the quality of Siri's answers have not improved much, and are not on par with competing chatbots such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, or Claude. We asked the new and old Siri to "write a small essay on poisonous mushrooms" and compared it to those three competitors. Both versions of Siri surfaced a list of links. The new Siri could have differentiated itself by providing a paragraph-style answer, like it did for other questions above. It cannot yet compete with ChatGPT and Claude, which rattled off coherent sentences instantly (although, you still might not want to take their advice verbatim on this topic). In another example, we asked the new and old Siri to create an abdominal workout and it could not. This is bread and butter for a typical chatbot, and Siri is not there yet. It did not even surface a link to an online workout, and instead redirected to fitness apps installed on the device -- an insufficient response altogether. This could change in December, when Siri integrates with ChatGPT, giving users access to its "broad world of knowledge," Apple says, including advanced capabilities like creating images and reading documents. In 2025, Siri will become even more capable and compelling with "onscreen awareness," a version of which Anthropic teased for its Claude chatbot this month. Siri will also be able to take actions across apps. Apple has not provided a specific release date for these capabilities.

How to get Apple Intelligence on iPhone, iPad, and Mac

Apple Intelligence is finally available on all the best iPhones, best iPads, and best Macs. Apple's AI brings exciting tools to your devices like Writing Tools, Clean Up, Notification Summaries, and a new, redesigned, Siri. Have you just updated to the latest software but can't find Apple Intelligence? This guide will show you how to get Apple Intelligence working on a compatible device so you can start using the new era of AI-powered Apple software. Here's how to get Apple Intelligence on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple Intelligence works with all the latest iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Before trying to enable Apple Intelligence make sure to double check you own one of the compatible devices below: Now that you've confirmed your device is compatible with Apple Intelligence and updated to the latest software, it's time to enable the AI features. The process is slightly different for iPhone and iPad compared to Mac, so we'll cover these independently. It's also worth noting that your device must be in US English to use Apple Intelligence at the moment. If it's not, you can either wait until your language is updated to take advantage of AI or check out our how to enable Apple Intelligence in the UK guide, which covers any country outside the EU or China. That's all there is to it. You've now enabled Apple Intelligence and are ready to enter the world of AI tailored to Apple devices. These new features are Apple's first foray into generative AI so give them a try and see what you think. Our guide covering all the Apple Intelligence features breaks down everything the new tools have to offer. If you'd like to check out our thoughts on Apple Intelligence or maybe you're in the market for a new iPhone to take advantage of AI, check out our iPhone 16 Pro review.

How to get Apple Intelligence if you're not in the US

Apple Intelligence has begun rolling out for iPhones, iPads and Macs. Apple's proprietary artificial intelligence tools can summarise notifications and help users to write emails and curate their photos (what do you mean your Android can do that already?) But you might be wondering how to get access. Apple Intelligence is not available for every Apple device, and it's not automatically enabled. Here's what you need to know (First up, you'll need a fairly new Apple device -see our roundup of Apple Black Friday deals). To access Apple Intelligence, you'll need an iPhone 16 of any kind, an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max, an iPad with an M1 chip or later (or the new A17 Pro iPad mini) or a Mac with an M1 or later. The new M4 iMac, M4 Mac mini and M4 MacBook Pros announced this week were designed with Apple Intelligence in mind, but older M-chipped MacBooks will be able to run Apple Intelligence in MacOS Sequoia 15.1. To activate Apple Intelligence on iPhone, you'll need to go to settings to download the latest operating system update: iOS 18.1. Non-US readers will need to make an additional step and change the language of their device and Siri to 'English (US)', and then restart. Only then can you go to Apple Intelligence in settings and click to join the waiting list. Apple says users should only need to wait a few hours to move through the waiting list. So I have to use US English? For now, yes. Apple says it will add support for English localised for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK in December, and will add more languages in a software update in April, including Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish and Vietnamese.

Download: Apple Has Finally Released iOS 18.1 Update With Apple Intelligence For iPhone

Apple has finally released its bug iOS 18.1 update with Apple Intelligence features on board a week after the first release candidate build was seeded to developers. If you have an iPhone 15 Pro or newer model, this specific update holds immense importance as Apple has finally introduced Apple Intelligence features to the public. As mentioned, if you have an iPhone 15 Pro or newer model, all you have to do is head over to the Settings app and navigate to General > Software Update and download and install the latest beta on your compatible device. As mentioned, iOS 18.1 is a major update considering the number of AI features it brings to the table. While the update does not include all the bells and whistles of Apple Intelligence, it does bring some notable improvements.

How to get Apple Intelligence in the UK

Apple Intelligence has arrived, but it's currently limited to US English. If you're looking to use Apple Intelligence in the UK, we've got some good news: It's pretty easy to get access. In this guide, we're going to show you everything you need to do to get Apple Intelligence in the UK, despite Apple's AI features being limited to US English. Here's how to get Apple Intelligence in the UK on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Apple Intelligence works with all the latest iPhones, iPads, and Macs. Before trying to enable Apple Intelligence make sure to double check you own one of the compatible devices below: To get Apple Intelligence in the UK you'll need to change your device language and change your Siri language. Follow these steps to gain access: Note: Apple Intelligence will not be available in the European Union or China at launch. Apple has not disclosed when customers in those regions will get access to the AI tools. Now that you've confirmed your device is compatible with Apple Intelligence and updated to the latest software, it's time to change your device's settings to gain access to the new AI features. So now you've got access to Apple Intelligence in the UK (or anywhere else in the world outside of the US except the EU and China). With Apple Intelligence features, your iPhone, iPad, or Mac is now more powerful than ever before with the ability to rewrite text, remove objects from photos, summarize articles, and even reduce interruptions so you only focus on the most important notifications. More Apple Intelligence AI tools will arrive over the coming months with ChatGPT integration and Visual Intelligence expected before the end of the year. If you're in the market for a new iPhone to make the most of Apple Intelligence, check out our iPhone 16 review.

How to enable Apple Intelligence on your MacBook

Apple Intelligence is available on your Mac, too. Credit: pariwat pannium/Shutterstock.com/Apple Apple Intelligence is the talk of the town and of high interest for anyone with an Apple device. While we've been gushing about our experience with Apple Intelligence on iPhone, we don't want you to forget that some Apple Intelligence features are available on Mac, too. For example, if you record a conversation with the Voice Memos app, Apple Intelligence can step in with a transcription of it. It's very helpful -- and that only scratches the surface of what Apple Intelligence offers to users. But the question is, how do you enable Apple Intelligence on your Mac? Here are the steps. To enable Apple Intelligence on Mac, you must have a Mac with an M1 chip. Plus, it must be updated to macOS Sequoia 15.1. Now that you have Apple Intelligence turned on, you may be wondering which Apple Intelligence features you can use on your Mac. AI-powered perks include the following: To get started with Apple Intelligence, head over to Notes or Messages, type some text, and right click it, allowing you to receive some options on how to adjust the tone to your liking (i.e., friendly or professional). Plus, there's also a new Type-to-Siri feature that you can access by double-pressing the COMMAND key. After exploring Apple Intelligence on your Mac, let us know in the comments how you feel about Apple's new suite of AI features.

Good Luck Trying to Get off the Apple Intelligence Waitlist

Apple Intelligence waitlist times are seeing longer than expected delays. The much-awaited highlight of the new iPhone 16, Apple Intelligence, was finally released on October 28. However, not everyone received immediate access to it; some users were added to a waitlist, and it looks like they will stay there for a while. While Apple did tell us there would be a waitlist for the new Apple Intelligence features, it was estimated to be a few hours. But there's a longer delay in getting users on the platform. According to a non-Apple server engineer (via Apple tipster Brandon Butch), the delay is due to Apple enrolling you in Private Cloud Compute. That is where the more complex requests you send to Apple Intelligence are handled, while the less complex ones are carried out locally. On the Cloud, Apple utilizes custom server hardware to help protect your privacy. You can read more about how your requests are handled here. So, Apple has to individually register everyone on the Cloud and limit the traffic so that its servers aren't overloaded beyond capacity. The engineer pointed out, "They are probably limiting the number of people they let in the door so they can ensure it scales healthily." Most users currently misunderstand the delay as being due to the huge size of the AI model that needs to be installed on our phones. The brief report by the server engineer dismisses that misconception and clarifies that the regular OS updates we routinely download on our iPhones are much larger than this one. Some users are also experiencing rejections from the waitlist. As explained by the engineer, a possible cause for this is that our phones likely have to go through an initial authentication process called the PCC Identity Service. It theorizes that there are probably some anti-fraud measures in place, such as verifying your carrier details, that Apple is executing with the help of a third-party service. This could also be a reason behind the delay. 9to5Mac has a slightly different theory behind the waitlist delay. It attributes the waiting time to "the nascency of these features." The outlet claims it's because the AI features are all in their beta status that they need to be rolled out over a period of time. According to an Apple support page, "Apple Intelligence uses generative models, and outputs may be inaccurate, unexpected, or offensive." The logic is that by gradually releasing the features to the public, Apple can better control their results and ensure accuracy.