Apple Intelligence: Features and Limitations in iOS 18.1

Apple's intelligence in iPhone is promising but still a work in progress, with features limited for the public release.

### Apple Intelligence: A Sneak Peek into iOS 18.1 Features
* 📱 After a month of public beta testing, Apple Intelligence is introduced in the iPhone, though it remains a **work in progress** with many features **held back for the public release**.
* 🤖 The upcoming iOS 18.1 update will include **Apple Intelligence**, but only **iPhone 15 Pro models** and the new **iPhone 16s** will have access to it initially.
* 💻 Mac computers with M series chips and iPads with M chips, including the new iPad Mini, will also support **Apple Intelligence**, which is currently **limited to the US** and available only in **English**.
* 💬 Users will notice changes in how they interact with their devices, including **AI suggestions for improving message tone**, **summarizing texts**, and a **more robotic interpretation of conversations**.
* 📸 The photo search feature allows users to **search more conversationally**, and AI can create **memory movies** based on user requests, although it may struggle with specific terms like **"Legoland."**
* 🖌 Users can now **erase unwanted elements from photos** by circling them, with the AI generating **appropriate background filler**.
* 🗣 Siri's functionality is evolving, allowing for **smoother follow-up questions** and **typed queries**, but it still has limitations and may not always provide the **expected responses**.
* 🔄 Apple's vice president highlighted that improvements to Siri will be rolled out in stages over the coming year, with the first developer beta of iOS 18.2 introducing new features like **custom Emojis** and **ChatGPT integration**.

after a month of public beta testing in our secret Labs, behold Apple intelligence in the iPhone is alive. It's [Laughter] alive. Well, I mean, it's kind of sort of alive. I mean, it's an experience that's not quite whole yet. You see, a lot of the stuff is being held back for the public release. The developer tests, they include some of the flashiest things, but it's going to be a while before the public gets that. You might call this a patchwork job. When iOS 18.1 rolls out in the next few days, it's a bit of a spooky time for Apple right now. The company is making a bold jump into weaving generative AI with Siri, but it's not a finished product. I mean, Apple even says it's not a finished product, and there's going to be criticism because of that. My own experience with the public beta has me questioning a few things, like is it really improving my life when it summarizes my quirky friend's text messages in this inhuman way? So, as we

all get one more software update to download. Let us go over what to expect in Apple intelligence. I'm Briet Cary, and this is one more thing. Back in June, Apple first announced all of the coolest things coming to Apple intelligence, and you will be hearing about people testing some of those cool things on their iPhones, but the general public will not yet be getting all of those cool things right away. The hype has been building. iOS 18.1 lands just about any day now, and it comes with a couple of new features, including Apple intelligence. But the only iPhones that can tap into AI are the iPhone 15 Pro Models and the new iPhone 16s. Now, as for Mac computers, anything with Apple silicon will get the Apple intelligence, and by that, I mean anything with the M series chips. Apple's AI also will land on the iPads with M chips, and it's going to be in the brand new iPad Mini since it has an A17 Pro chip, same as the iPhone 15 Pro. Apple intelligence is only in the US for now.

and it's only in English, but more countries are expected to get access later in the year. When you come across things that use Apple intelligence, you're going to notice a rainbow glow, like how Siri makes the whole phone border glow. Now, I've been using it on this iPhone 16 Plus, this Franken phone of mine, in a beta version of the operating system, and the first public release has three big areas of change in how you're going to interact with the iPhone. It's in writing, images, and how you talk to Siri. Let's say you're typing and you highlight your text. Well, Apple can make suggestions to improve the tone of the message you're writing. Now, I know how I want to convey my thoughts, so I have no need for this, but I guess you could use it if you want to think twice about how you might be phrasing something sensitive. But I think these tools can also make you come off sounding stuffy sometimes. The AI can also be set up to summarize emails and notifications. I turned on everything.

just to be exposed to all the summaries, and it can get a little weird knowing that a computer is stripping out the personality of your friend's messages and delivering it to you in this administrative robotic way. Here's an example of a group chat where we shared a photo of my son having fun working with Dad on the car, and it became photos shared of child reaching into car hood. Okay, or there was a slack when an editor tells me he got the draft of a video down to 17 minutes, but he needs some input assembly timeline reduced to 17 minutes request to cut critical parts. This happens when there are long messages or several messages from one source, such as a slack or iMessage. It is condensing all the information, and you can quickly expand it, but it also could give you some dystopian vibes if you choose to turn that on. That is, you may have seen one summary that went viral earlier this month, Jared on X. It was a New York City software developer who got a summary of his ex-girlfriend breaking.

up with him now. Nothing has been that bad from what I have tested, but it made me inspired to send a flurry of messages to my colleague Lisa edico. And well, it did not include everything in my rambles to her, so just be prepared for someone to say that they missed some details of your message if you send something long. That means if you're in a relationship, tread carefully. The second big area of change is going to be with your photos. You can play around with searching for photos in different ways. Maybe you want to be a little more conversational or descriptive in what you're looking for in a photo. One thing that's cool is that AI can make a memory movie for you now by just taking your requests. And it might not get everything perfect, but it is pretty impressive. When I wanted to dig into the past, I would ask for a movie of my kids crawling, and it even pulled up different images when I asked for a video of kids learning how to walk. You see, it knew the difference. Now of

course. There are going to be limitations. When I asked for photos of my kids at Legoland, it didn't know what Legoland was, but it did understand when I wanted to show images of my kids playing with Lego bricks. And you might also get a kick out of cleaning up photos now. I took this cool picture of my son dressed as Link, and I wanted to erase that person in the background. I could just take my finger, circle the area I want gone, and it will generate more of that general tree and grass imagery as filler in the place of where the person was. You may also find yourself learning to communicate differently with your Siri requests. Maybe you'll have some better luck with smoother follow-up questions, or you'll notice that if you stammer into a question, Siri's okay with it. It still understands you. You can also type to Siri easily by double-tapping the bottom of your phone to get a text prompt, so you can just type in your question. Just be prepared to know that Siri might not do everything you just

expect it to know how to do. Now mine is still in beta; kinks are to be expected. But I got a little bold and I asked it to show photos of Bridget and I would get Bing search results on Bridgerton. So yeah, there's that whole work-in-progress thing we talked about. Apple's big pitch here is that the new assistant is more personal and can stitch together facts from your calendar, email, and messages to give you these tailored answers. But that's not. Now in an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Apple vice president Craig III said Siri's improvements are coming in stages over the coming year. This is a big lift and we feel like we want to get it right. Uh, you know, you could put something out there and have it be sort of a mess or uh, you know, Apple's point of view is more like let's try to get each piece right and release it when it's ready. Perhaps the biggest question right now is what about JMI? When can you make your own Emoji? Well, the first iOS 18.2

Developer beta dropped this week, so you might see examples of it in social media, or maybe you have a tech-savvy friend sending you some very unique Emoji. But it is developer beta; it is not for everyone. And there's other things in the developer beta. It also has chat GPT integration for questions that may require knowledge from the broader worldwide web. Also, this developer beta has visual intelligence; that's Apple's version of Google Lens. Consider this a to-be-continued moment, and please subscribe because we're going to keep poking at this. If you've been testing the betas, chime in in the comments about your thoughts so far, and we'll just have to see what monster Apple created here when Apple intelligence begins to roam the land. And also, thanks to my daughter, who doesn't know I totally rummaged through her arts and craft supply box this morning to make this monster. I don't know; I think he's kind of cute.

Apple Intelligence is ALIVE! The Spooky iOS 18.1 Update Details

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Apple's AI feature is now live in the iPhone after a month of public beta testing, but it's not fully rolled out yet.

1 update, coming soon, will bring Apple intelligence to the iPhone 15 Pro models and new iPhone 16s, as well as to Mac computers and iPads with M series chips.

Currently, Apple intelligence is only available in the US.

Apple's AI features are currently only available in English, with more countries to be added later.

The AI offers suggestions for improving message tone, summarizes emails and notifications, and condenses information from long messages or multiple sources.

While these tools can be helpful, they may also come off as robotic and strip away the personality of messages.

Changes in Communication and Photo Management

AI is influencing communication, making it important to be concise in messages.

The AI now offers innovative ways to search for photos and create memory movies based on requests.

Additionally, it provides photo editing features and allows for smoother communication with Siri through follow-up questions and typing prompts.

Apple's New Personal Assistant: Siri's Improvements

Siri's new updates aim to provide more personalized and tailored answers by integrating information from your calendar, email, and messages.

The improvements are being rolled out in stages over the coming year, with a focus on getting each piece right before release.

2 may introduce the feature to create your own Emoji.

Apple's developer beta was released this week, featuring unique emojis and chat GPT integration for web-based knowledge.

The beta also includes visual intelligence, similar to Google Lens.

The author encourages feedback from beta testers and teases future updates on Apple's developments.