Apple has announced the debut of iOS 18.2, an expansion of Apple Intelligence that arrived in a barebones form in late October.
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For those that don’t know, Apple will be rolling out Apple Intelligence features in stages, with iOS 18.1 being the first in a long process of slowly familiarizing users with a new suite of AI-powered features. In iOS 18.1, users were introduced to several new features, such as Writing Tools, an overhauled Siri, the Photos App becoming intelligent, the Clean Up tool, and other prioritization features.
iOS 18.2 is an expansion of iOS 18.1, with improvements being made in some of the previously announced features, such as the Photos app becoming even smarter, proofread, rewrite, and summarise text being added to Writing Tools, and ChatGPT being integrated into Siri. There are also other additions in iOS 18.2 that warrant being highlighted, and below, you will find a brief explanation of each.
Genmoji
Genmoji, which enables users to create custom emojis by combining two or more descriptions together. For example, a user could ask Genmoji to create an emoticon from a natural language prompt such as “a giraffe driving a blue bus“.
Image Wand
Moreover, Image Wand grants users the ability to turn rough sketches into fully fledged images. Additionally, Image Wand will allow Notes app users to take notes more visually and fluidly. Once a note is taken, a user can circle the note, and Image Wand will create an image based on the note. Additionally, users will be able to circle empty space within the Notes app and Image Wand will create an image based on the notes taken around that empty space.
Image Playground
Additionally, Image Playground lets users create images in distinct styles such as Animation, 3D animation, Illustration, and others. Users are able to create images based on the likeness of a family member or friend using photos from their photo library. The new feature has been integrated into Messages but is also available as a standalone app.
Photos App Gets Smarter
Apple has rolled out improvements to its Photos app that are designed to make the app more intelligent overall. According to the announcement, users will now be able to use natural language to search their library of photos and videos, with users prompting the Photos app search box by simply writing, “Maya skateboarding in a tie-dye shirt”. The app will then present all relevant images and videos. Additionally, users will now be able to search for something that happened in a specific segment of the video.
Furthermore, iOS 18.2 improves the Memories feature, as users are now able to create movies they want by simply typing out a description using natural language. After receiving the prompt, Apple Intelligence will gather what it determines to be the most relevant images and videos and compile them into a movie with its own narrative arc.
Proofread, Rewrite, and Summarise Text with Writing Tools
Apple has rolled out Proofread, Rewrite, and Summarise Text with Writing Tools, which enables users to improve upon their natural language used across a variety of apps. For example, users will be able to Rewrite entire paragraphs of text to adjust tone, improve upon grammar, and ultimately suit the text to best suit the text for the receiving audience.
Proofread pretty much does what it says, with the new feature checking for grammatical errors in text, word choices, and sentence structure while also suggesting improvements with explanations as to why it believes the improvements are warranted. Summarize Text also does exactly what it says in the tile, with users being able to select a body of text and have it summarized in a digestible paragraph, bullet points, table, or list.
Prioritization and Focus
As part of Apple’s push into Apple Intelligenc-based features, the Cupertino company has rolled out Priority Messages, which is a new section at the top of the inbox in the Mail app. This new section will show the most urgent emails, such as same-day invitations to lunches and parties, boarding passes for flights, and any other messages that are time-sensitive. Additionally, the new Smart Reply feature provides users with suggestions for a quick response to a message while taking into account the contents of the message.
The prioritization doesn’t stop there, as Apple wants to streamline notifications for users, as Apple Intelligence enables summaries notifications, which saves time as users will no longer have to read through every single one. Apple Intelligence will scan long or stacked notifications and generate a summary of the contents of the notification stack. The summary will appear right on the device’s lock screen, and the feature will work for notifications such as group chat conversations.
Additional Prioritization and Focus features come in the form of the Notes and Phone apps being able to record, transcribe, and summarise audio. When audio recording is initiated on a call all participants within the call are automatically notified. Once the call ends, Apple Intelligence will generate a written summary of the conversation.
Siri Improvements
Siri has just got a major upgrade as users are now able to use natural language with the AI companion, and according to Apple’s announcement, Siri now has “richer language-understanding capabilities” that enable it to understand a user still when they are stumbling over their words, is also capable of maintaining context from one request to the next, and has been integrated with extensive Apple product knowledge.
Visual Intelligence
Visual Intelligence is Apple’s version of Google Lens, which if you aren’t familiar with works by pointing a Pixel smartphone camera at an object and tap focussing on the object. What this does is initiates a search for the target object, bringing up relevant information about it, more images of it, etc. Apple’s Visual Intelligence does this, but with more features.
For example, Visual Intelligence is capable of summarizing and copying text that can then be translated into a different language. Visual Intelligence can also detect phone numbers and email addresses through the camera viewfinder and has the option to save that contact information. Additionally, Visual Intelligence is also integrated with ChatGPT, enabling users to use their camera to solve complex problems, such as math equations, by simply scanning them with their camera.
ChatGPT
ChatGPT has now been integrated into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, with it being accessible via Siri and Writing Tools. When a user prompts Siri with a request that it can’t fulfill by itself, it will ask the user if ChatGPT can provide a response. Apple explained in its press release that users can choose to enable ChatGPT and if their information is shared with the AI. Notably, by default, ChatGPT doesn’t require an account, and when using ChatGPT without an account, the company behind the popular AI tool, OpenAI, won’t store any user data or use it for training.
What’s Next
Apple still isn’t finished with Apple Intelligence, with the company writing that it will be rolling out new capabilities in the months to come. Siri is expected to continue to get upgraded, with Apple teasing in its press release that it will be able to “draw on a user’s personal context to deliver intelligence that’s tailored to them.” Moreover, Siri will be getting “onscreen awareness” that will enable hundreds of new actions in and across Apple and third-party applications.
Availability
The latest Apple Intelligence features are available in iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia. Apple Intelligence is available when the device and Siri language are set to localized English for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK, or the US.
Apple Intelligence Compatible Devices
- 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
- Mac with M1 and later
April Update Expands Language Support
- Chinese
- English (India)
- English (Singapore)
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
- Portuguese
- Spanish
- Vietnamese
