Apple intelligence: Here’s when the new AI features come to the iPhone and iPad

The new Siri and other tools won’t be available until iOS 18.1 is released in a few months. This is the timeline.

People shop at an Apple store in a shopping mall in Tehran in May. Picture: AFP

All good AI things come to those who wait.

Yep, that’s how the saying goes. Just ask Apple’s new Siri chatbot … when it finally arrives later this fall.

The first wave of Apple Intelligence tools won’t be in the initial iOS 18 release this fall. Instead, they’ll be a part of iOS 18.1, which is expected a few weeks later. In the past, Apple has released the new iOS in mid-September, followed by the first big update in October. Microsoft, Google, Samsung and Meta have already released generative-AI tools to users.

An Apple spokeswoman wouldn’t comment on the exact timing.

On Monday, the company released a developer-only beta version of iOS and iPadOS 18.1 and MacOS Sequoia 15.1, which include some of those Apple Intelligence tools. Keyword: some. Text summarisation tools and some Siri enhancements are there, but the promised visual tools and ChatGPT integration aren’t coming until later in the year.

To test the new tools, developers will have to download the latest build of iOS 18.1 then sign up for the Apple Intelligence wait list. This helps the company ensure sufficient server capacity, Apple said. The company didn’t say if or when Apple Intelligence would be available in the iOS 18.1 public betas.

Apple’s new Siri and other tools won’t be available until iOS 18.1 is released later this fall. Picture: Gerard Julien/AFP

For the rest of us, we have to wait until … well, it’s confusing. Here’s my best attempt to make sense of everything Apple’s said about its AI timeline:

Coming in iOS 18.1

Big reminder: Only those with an iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, and iPads and Macs with M chips will be able to get Apple’s AI. Apple says the features require the latest and fastest chips.

If you’ve got one of those devices and iOS/iPadOS 18.1, you’ll get access to the following:

• New Siri: With the redesigned assistant, you can move between talking and texting. It will also have a more natural voice, and it can better understand you if you flub or change your ask midsentence. (Example: “Set an alarm for 3am, oh wait, I mean 3:10am.”) Siri can also answer questions about your Apple products and their settings.

• Writing tools: Available wherever you’re able to copy and paste text, these can proofread and rewrite your words. The AI can also take a big chunk of text and summarise it, and even distil it into a list or a table.

• Photos: The Photos app supports natural language search and can create a video based on a written prompt. (Example: “A movie about my trip to the New Jersey Shore.”) This specific release will also include transcriptions and summaries of phone calls and recordings in Notes. And there are AI-generated summaries of Messages, emails and notifications.

Coming later this year or next

Before the New Year’s Eve ball drops, Siri will get ChatGPT integration and the ability to tap in to your personal context. (Example: “When should I leave to get mom from the airport?”) Siri’s ability to perform actions within third-party apps is coming next year.

What Apple won’t commit to is when the rest of the following promised features will arrive. The company will only say they’ll arrive in software updates this year and over the course of next year:

• Image creation/editing: Missing from iOS 18.1 are a number of the photo tools Apple previewed. These include Photos Clean Up (removes objects in a photo, similar to Android’s Magic Eraser), Image Playground (generates images in different styles) and Genmoji (generates new emojis).

• More Siri: Plus, there’s also Apple’s promise that Siri will have an understanding of what appears on your screen. (Example: “Add this address to his contact card.”)

• Additional languages + countries: Initially, Apple Intelligence will only support American English. Like I said, these things could come this year or next. Maybe we can ask the new Siri about this, too. Oh, wait …

The Wall Street Journal