iPhone 16's Visual Intelligence: Enhanced Camera Functionality

The iPhone 16's visual intelligence feature transforms camera use into a quick information tool.

### Apple Introduces Visual Intelligence for iPhone 16: A New Way to Explore Your Surroundings
* 📱 Apple is launching a new feature called **visual intelligence** for the iPhone 16 lineup, enhancing the utility of the **camera control button**.
* 🔍 This feature is part of the **iOS 18.2 Developer beta**, which was released in **late October**, and is currently available only to **developers**, not general consumers.
* 🖼 Users can activate visual intelligence by holding down the camera control button, snapping a photo, and then utilizing icons to **access chat GPT or conduct Google searches for similar images**.
* 🏪 The iPhone will automatically recognize nearby storefronts and restaurants, providing information like **photos of food** and **operational hours**.
* 🌆 Testing this feature at City Point Shopping Center in Brooklyn revealed that it offers a **faster way to access information** without needing to navigate through apps.
* ⚡ Although still in beta and not radically different from existing tools, visual intelligence serves as a **convenient shortcut to obtain information quickly**.
* 🤖 While comparisons to Google Lens are inevitable, Apple's integration of this feature **directly into the operating system** hints at **exciting possibilities for the future of AI and search technology**.
* 🔄 As new software updates are rolled out, further testing will continue to explore the **potential of visual intelligence** and other **Apple intelligence features**.

The camera control button on your iPhone 16 is about to get much more useful. I've been playing around with an early version of Apple's new visual intelligence feature, and here's what it's like to use it. Apple is launching a new feature called visual intelligence for the iPhone 16 lineup, which lets you use the camera to learn about the world around you. It's part of the iOS 18.2 Developer beta, which just arrived in late October. Now, it's important to remember that this is just a beta, meaning it's a really early version meant for developers rather than general consumers. But even in this early stage, I'm starting to get a sense of what this tool does and what it might be useful for. It kind of feels like having a dedicated AI button on your iPhone since it requires the camera control button. You need an iPhone 16 or 16 Pro model to use it. Before we go test it out, here's a quick look at how it works. Simply hold down the camera control button, and you'll launch the visual intelligence.

interface tap the shutter button to snap a photo, and from there you can tap the icon that looks like a speech bubble to send it to chat GPT, or the icon with the magnifying glass to launch a Google search for similar images. But your iPhone will also recognize things like storefronts and restaurants in your surroundings automatically, so that it can pull up photos of the food, hours, and other information. I thought the best way to try visual intelligence would be to take it somewhere I've never been before, City Point Shopping Center in downtown Brooklyn. Let's go check it out. [Music] So I've been playing around with visual intelligence, which again is in beta and as part of the iOS 18.2 Developer beta. Since it's an early version, some of the functionality isn't really working yet. It's hard for me to have a really strong impression of how it's going to work when this finally reaches consumers, but in the time that I have had with it and the parts in it that have worked, I do

feel like it's a quicker way to access chat GPT. So, for example, when I was roaming around the anime store across the street, it was really quick and easy to just point my camera at a character and then ask chat GPT about the show or the character that or the manga that the character was from. So, I do feel like it is a quicker way to access information and find things without having to open your phone, open chat GPT, or Google and search. Same thing goes for Google image search. I was able to point my camera at a character and, um, you know, an item in the store and find other links on eBay and other sources in case I wanted to buy it somewhere else or in case I just wanted to learn more about that character and find web links about it. So, I do think it's a faster way to access some of those tools. Is it radically different from what you can already do on your phone? No, at least not yet, but it is a handy little shortcut. Overall, I do think there's a lot of promise in visual

intelligence. It's clear that this is a beta and that this version is not meant for general consumers just yet. But I really liked the convenience of being able to just point my iPhone at something and get more information out of it. And even though this kind of feels a little bit like Google Lens, it's almost impossible to talk about this without drawing comparisons to Google Lens. So in a sense, it doesn't feel entirely new, but the fact that Apple is baking this right into the operating system and is putting a button on this device essentially to use AI and to think about searching for things in the world around you in a different way, I do feel like it's very telling and it makes me really curious about the future and where things will go. So we'll keep testing out visual intelligence and many more Apple intelligence features as new software updates roll out. Feel free to check out my full story on CET for more details. Thanks for watching and I'll see you next time.

Visual Intelligence Hands-On: Apple’s Answer to Google Lens?

CNET is the premier destination for explaining and navigating the changing world around us. Through news, product reviews, price comparisons, and more, we’ll tell you what’s new in the parts of modern life that increasingly matter more — from health, home, and money to tech, culture, and climate — and how to get the most out of them.

CNET

Apple's New Visual Intelligence Feature for iPhone 16

Apple's visual intelligence feature for the iPhone 16 lineup uses the camera to provide information about the surroundings.

2 Developer beta and requires an iPhone 16 or 16 Pro model.

Users can launch the visual intelligence interface by holding the camera control button, allowing them to snap photos and access additional information through chat GPT and Google search.

The Benefits of Visual Search for Quick Information

Visual search offers a faster way to access information by pointing the camera at characters or items, eliminating the need to open apps or search engines.

It provides quick links to additional sources, like eBay, for purchasing or learning more about the character.

While not radically different from phone capabilities, it serves as a handy shortcut with promising potential.

Apple's new visual intelligence feature allows users to point their iPhone at objects for more information, drawing comparisons to Google Lens.

The integration of this feature into the operating system and the addition of a dedicated button for AI use is a significant move for Apple.

The author is curious about the future of this feature and plans to test it further with upcoming software updates.