The highly anticipated iOS 18 will be released to the public on Monday. However, the first batch of Apple Intelligence features will not be available until iOS 18.1 is released in October.
Apple Intelligence Features in iOS 18.1
Apple Intelligence requires an iPhone 15 Pro model or any iPhone 16 model, and it will initially require the device and Siri language to be set to U.S. English. Some key features in the iOS 18.1 beta include:
- Image Playground for generating images.
- Genmoji for creating custom emoji.
More features will continue to roll out in iOS 18.2 and beyond.
iOS 18.2: Expanded Features and Availability
Apple has been internally testing iOS 18.2 for a few months, and it is likely to be released in December. This update will expand Apple Intelligence to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Additionally, two new features, Image Playground and Genmoji, will be added in iOS 18.2:
Image Playground
Produce fun, original images in seconds with the Image Playground experience right in your apps. Create an entirely new image based on a description, suggested concepts, or even a person from your Photos library. You can easily adjust the style to match a Messages thread, your Freeform board, or a slide in Keynote.
Genmoji
Make a brand-new Genmoji right in the keyboard to match any conversation. Provide a description to see a preview, and adjust your description until it’s perfect. You can even pick someone from your Photos library and create a Genmoji that looks like them.
ChatGPT Integration
Apple announced that ChatGPT will be available through Siri by the end of the year, likely going live with iOS 18.2. With user permission, Siri will be able to show ChatGPT answers directly in response to questions and other prompts. ChatGPT will also be an option for Apple’s system-wide Writing Tools feature, allowing users to generate text and images. ChatGPT will be powered by OpenAI’s latest GPT-4 model on Apple platforms. Users will be able to use ChatGPT for free, without creating an account, and ChatGPT Plus subscribers can connect their accounts to access paid features on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. OpenAI will not store ChatGPT requests made from Apple devices, and users’ IP addresses will be obscured.
Future Updates: iOS 18.3 and iOS 18.4
iOS 18.3 is expected to be a minor update released shortly after the U.S. holiday season. It is unclear if it will add any new Apple Intelligence features. Meanwhile, iOS 18.4, expected in March, will introduce more personalized and contextual responses from Siri. Moreover, Apple Intelligence will gain support for additional languages such as Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish next year, likely in iOS 18.4.
