Apple is finally rolling out some of the Apple Intelligence features it announced at its Worldwide Developers Conference in June.
However, the current release is limited to the developer beta version of iOS 18.1, so if you don’t want to deal with buggy software in its early stages, you may want to wait for the release of the Apple Intelligence feature in the public beta or the stable release later this year.
If you are using the developer beta, Apple Intelligence features are only available if your language is set to US English and your region is set to the United States. This does not affect your App Store region or purchases.
Here's how to use Apple Intelligence features:
- Open the Settings app
- Go to the Apple Intelligence & Siri menu.
- Tap the option to “Join the Apple Intelligence Waitlist.”
You will be notified when your waitlist is approved. It may take some time for your system to download all the models and data needed to run Apple Intelligence. You can turn off the Apple Intelligence feature at any time from the menu.
Apple’s AI suite of capabilities work through a combination of on-device and Apple Private Cloud requests. Apple says the waitlist is there to ensure sufficient service capacity.
Currently, Apple Intelligence is only compatible with iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPads and Macs with the M1 chip.
Available features
- New Siri: Siri has new animations based on Apple Intelligence. Plus, you can now send Siri a text message by double-tapping the bottom bar when you’re in a noisy place or in a meeting. Siri can also handle nonsense, so you can say, “Hey Siri, set a timer for 10 minutes, no, 15 minutes,” and it’ll set a timer for 15 minutes.
- How to ask questions: You can also ask Siri questions related to Apple systems, such as “How do I record my screen?”
- Writing tools: You can now reformat all text throughout the system. Use “Proofread” to check for spelling and grammar errors, and “Rewrite” to rewrite selected text without significantly changing the meaning. You can also change the tone of the text with three options: “Friendly”, “Professional”, or “Concise”. You can summarize text to create lists, key points, or tables.
- Mail app: The Mail app now displays a one-line summary of your email without having to open it. Apple Intelligence also displays important emails above your inbox. Plus, you can quickly respond to emails using AI-generated smart replies.
- picture: You can now search for photos using natural language queries. You can also create memories using prompts.
- Notification Summary: Apple Intelligence also shows summaries of some mail and message notifications.
- Transcript of the call: Apple Intelligence now offers call recording at the tap of a button. Recordings are saved to a new “Call Recordings” folder in the Notes app.
- Notes app audio support: You can also record audio directly into the Notes app and transcribe it. Apple’s AI suite will also automatically generate a summary.
Apple Intelligence doesn’t yet have features like removing unwanted objects from photos, emojis, image playgrounds, or ChatGPT interactions. There’s no firm timeline for when we might be able to test these features.
