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
Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.1 are simple (and overdue)
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.
iOS 18.2 has fewer features — but a lot more promise
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.
Apple’s initial promise won’t be fulfilled until iOS 18.4
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.
More from Tom's Guide
- iOS 18.1 is finally here — 5 Apple Intelligence features you need to try first
- Memory Movie is one of Apple Intelligence’s best features — here’s how to use it
- iOS 18.1 launches with Apple Intelligence — here's how to install it
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