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Apple has started rolling out the first wave of Apple Intelligence features for iPhone users. As long as you have an iPhone 15 Pro or a newer model, you can start taking advantage of them. Here’s a look at all the AI features you get with iOS 18.1.
1Photos App Improvements, Including Clean Up
Apple Intelligence adds a couple of new features to the Photos app. When you try to edit an image, you’ll now see aClean Uptool that can remove unwanted objects from an image. Muchlike Google’s Magic Eraser feature, you can use it with any image—it doesn’t matter whether it’s a screenshot or a photo taken by another camera.
To use it, open a photo, tap theEditicon (indicated by three sliders) at the bottom, and chooseClean Up. Apple Intelligence will highlight areas of the photo you might want to remove. you may also tap, brush, or circle something you want to remove. Pinch to pan and zoom closer into an image. The feature works best with smaller parts of the image or objects on a plain background.
Additionally, you can use natural language in the Photos app to search for something specific, like “Maddie near dolphins.” You can also search for a specific event in a movie clip. In the Memories feature, you can create a movie by typing a description like “Trips to Orlando.”
2Writing Tools
With Apple Intelligence’s suite of Writing Tools, you may tweak anything you write. The tools are available in any app, including Mail and Messages. Just highlight the text and selectWriting Tools.
In the Writing Tools menu that pops up at the bottom, you can selectProofreadto fix the selected text for errors, including spelling. You can go through the changes Apple Intelligence made individually or choose to revert all the changes at once.
Another option isRewrite. That will change the tone of your text using theFriendly,Professional, orConciseoption.
Finally, you can select text and choose to summarize it in a number of ways. You can copy and paste the summarized content wherever you like.
3A Better Siri
When you activate Siri with the voice command or by pressing the Side button, you will see a new glow around the edges of your iPhone’s display. When speaking, the glow will also animate to the sound of your voice.
There’s now also a new way to activate the personal assistant. Just double-tap at the bottom of the screen to bring up a Type to Siri interface. You can type in your command instead of speaking it. When typing, Siri will provide a list of suggested requests.
When talking with Siri, the personal assistant will also remember the context between questions. For example, you’re able to ask, “What’s the time in Los Angeles?” and follow it up with, “What’s the weather there?” and Siri will remember what city you’re asking about.
If you ever change what you’re saying or stumble over a phrase when making a request, Siri can now follow along and still provide the correct answer.
Siri has also become an Apple expert. You can ask Siri various questions about an iPhone, iPad, or Mac, like specific settings or customization tools. For example, you can ask Siri for instructions on scheduling a text message, one of thehandy Messages app features Apple introduced alongside iOS 18.
4Summaries and More in Mail and Safari
Apple Intelligence can help summarize content in both Safari and Mail. When in Reader Mode in Safari, selectSummarizeat the top of the page to see a summary of the article.
In the Mail app, you will now see a quick summary of each email in the inbox, along with the sender and subject. Previously, you saw the first few lines of the email. You can also open a specific email and then chooseSummarizein the upper-right corner to see a summary of the email’s content.
Also, whenever you get a time-sensitive email, the Mail app will automatically put it at the top of your inbox for easy access. When replying to an email, the Smart Reply option will provide fast responses depending on the context of the email.
5Transcription for Phone Calls and Voice Memos
In iOS 18.1, you can take advantage of the transcription feature when recording phone calls or audio in apps like Notes and Voice Memos. You can see exactly what was said and even share or use the text in another app.
With Apple Intelligence, you can also see a summary of those transcriptions.
6Smart Replies for Messages
Just like the Mail app, you’re able to tap the Smart Reply option in Messages. Doing this will examine the message’s text and provide some suggestions so that you can respond quickly. This usually works best in situations where there’s a question that you can answer with “Yes” or “No.”
7Notification Summaries
If you’re like me, your iPhone’s Lock Screen is probably full of notifications from almost any app imaginable. That’s when Notification Summaries come in handy; they help you better manage all that information.
Instead of having to read multiple notifications from a single app, the feature will provide a summary of what’s happening from each app. It works for all apps. During the short setup process, you can turn on the feature for all apps or select specific ones.
Additionally, iOS 18.1 has a new Priority Notifications feature that uses Apple Intelligence to scan all your notifications and prioritize any that need immediate attention. This feature also works with the new Reduce Interruptions Focus mode, which you can activate by going toSettings > Focusand choosingReduce Interruptions.
Once set up, Apple Intelligence will allow important notifications to interrupt you while silencing any that it considers unimportant. You can furthercustomize the Focus modeto allow specific people and apps to interrupt you.
Even though this is just the first wave ofall the Apple Intelligence features announced at WWDC 2024, Apple is off to a good start by adding the essentials to improve the overall iPhone user experience.
