iOS 18 will be released to the public on Monday, but the first Apple Intelligence features won’t be available until iOS 18.1 is released in October.
iPhone 16 Pro
Apple Intelligence features will continue to roll out in iOS 18.2 and later, and according to Apple’s website and rumors, the expected rollout order is as follows.
Apple Intelligence supports models including the iPhone 15 Pro series or any iPhone 16 model, and initially requires the device and Siri language to be set to US English.
iOS 18.1
Here are some of the key Apple Intelligence features in the iOS 18.1 beta:
Several Siri enhancements, including improved understanding of follow-up requests and stuttering;
writing tools for rewriting, summarizing, and proofreading texts;
Notification summaries for Messages, Mail, and many other apps;
suggested replies in Messages and Mail apps;
A new Clean Up tool in the Photos app that removes unwanted people or objects from photos and fills in backgrounds using generative AI;
You can create a memory movie in the Photos app by entering a description;
telephone recording and transcription;
New focus mode “Reduce Distractions” shows only important notifications;
Article summaries when using Reader Mode in the Safari app;
iOS 18.2
According to online news, Apple has been conducting internal testing of iOS 18.2 for at least several months.
iOS 18.2 will likely be released in December, as Apple says that Apple Intelligence will be available in more English-speaking countries by then, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom.
Separately, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says two other Apple Intelligence features previewed earlier this year will be added to iOS 18.2, including Image Playground for generating images and Genmoji for generating custom emoji.
According to Apple’s official introduction, with the help of the Image Playground experience in the application, you can create interesting original images in just seconds.
For Genmoji, Apple’s official introduction says: Make a new Genmoji directly on the keyboard to match any conversation. Provide a description to see a preview, and adjust the description until it’s perfect. You can even select someone from your photo library and create a Genmoji similar to them.
Apple says ChatGPT will be available through Siri by the end of the year, so this integration could go live in iOS 18.2.
With user permission, Siri will be able to directly display ChatGPT answers to questions and other prompts. ChatGPT will also become an option for Apple’s system-wide writing tool feature, allowing users to generate text and images. Apple said ChatGPT will be powered by OpenAI’s latest GPT-4o model on its platform.
iPhone, iPad, and Mac users will be able to use ChatGPT for free without creating an account, and ChatGPT Plus subscribers will be able to connect their accounts to access paid features on those devices. Apple said OpenAI will not store ChatGPT requests made from its devices and said users’ IP addresses will be hidden.
iOS 18.3
It’s unclear whether this release will add any new Apple Intelligence features.
iOS 18.4
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman reiterated Thursday that Siri’s ability to provide more personalized and contextual responses won’t arrive until March. Previously, he said Siri’s personal contexts, screen awareness, and deeper per-app controls will be available as part of iOS 18.4, which is expected to be released to the public in March.
However, the Chinese version will not be available until next year. Apple previously stated that Apple Intelligence will support more languages next year, such as Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish. This time frame indicates that these languages will be added in iOS 18.4. Another possibility is iOS 18.3, but this update is likely to be a small update that will be released shortly after the US holidays.
