At launch events for both the iPhone 16 and iOS 18, Apple made much of its new Apple Intelligence software features: a collection of AI tools and features intended to help you get more from your iPhone. Now, those features are starting to roll out—though we’re still waiting for certain upgrades.
Here’s everything you can do at the moment in Apple Intelligence on iOS 18.2, in the parts of the world where it has launched (including the US and Canada). You’ll also need an iPhone 15 Pro, an iPhone 15 Pro Max, or any of the iPhone 16 models to access these AI functions.
Getting started with Apple Intelligence
You’ll be prompted to set up Apple Intelligence right after upgrading to iOS 18, but if you need to set it up later, head to Settings in iOS: Tap More for Your iPhone, and then Set Up Apple Intelligence. You’ll get an explanation of some of the AI upgrades you can use, and a short demo of how they work.
You can also choose to enable notification summaries as you work through the setup process. The feature will be explained on screen, but it’s basically exactly what it sounds like: Apple Intelligence will attempt to summarize multiple notifications from the same apps, so you don’t have to waste time wading through each one.
iOS will give you the option of choosing particular categories for summaries (you can change this later if needed): News & Entertainment, Communication & Social, and All Other Apps. Some trial and error will probably be needed to figure out how you want to use it—it doesn’t necessarily work great for break-up texts.
The AI image creation capabilities need to be downloaded and installed separately. The easiest way to trigger this is to find the new Image Playground app on your phone. Once you’ve launched this, and followed the prompts on screen, the image creation setup process is initiated (you’ll get a notification when it’s ready to use).
This setup process covers the Image Playground app (for general AI image creation), Genmoji (emoji made from your text prompts), and the Image Wand (which lets you turn rough sketches into AI images through the Notes app). If you try to use these apps ahead of time, you’ll see a message saying the necessary files are still being downloaded.
Finally, you can set up ChatGPT inside Siri. If you choose Apple Intelligence & Siri from iOS Settings then tap on ChatGPT, you can give Siri access to ChatGPT for longer or more complex answers. You can connect an existing ChatGPT account to Siri, but you don’t need to (if you’ve got a ChatGPT Plus account, connecting this will mean you “can use advanced ChatGPT capabilities more often” according to Apple).
The Apple Intelligence & Siri menu in Settings gives you access to most of the settings you’ll need to manage AI on your iPhone. You can enable or disable the AI features on your handset, for example, as well as control which apps have access to these tools (you might not want every app infused with some extra AI).
Using Apple Intelligence
Right now, you can split Apple Intelligence features on the iPhone into three sections. The first is Writing Tools, which show up in any app with a text box: Select the text you’re composing, then tap Writing Tools on the toolbar that pops up. You can have the text rewritten in a certain style or tone, or proofread it for errors. You can also expand or shorten blocks of text, and compose new text with ChatGPT.
You can also use Writing Tools to summarize existing blocks of text. For example: Highlight text on a webpage, then choose Writing Tools, and you can pick from Summary, Key Points, List, or Table to get a more digestible breakdown. You can use it on long emails, long documents, or anywhere else summaries are useful. These summaries are presented in a separate overlay on screen.
The second group of tools covers image creation, and we’ve already mentioned the three key components in the setup section. Launch the Image Playground app, and you can start prompting: Ask for a cabin in the woods, or a cosy winter scene, or a cat heading off to space on a rocketship. Whatever you can imagine, Image Playground can create. You can also add to prompts using suggested themes, costumes, and other tweaks.
Genmoji is similar, but for emojis: Look for the Genmoji symbol on the right of the emoji keyboard in any app. There’s also the Image Wand, which you can find in the drawing tools inside any note in Notes: Tap the pen icon then the wand (which looks like a magic wand), and you’re able to start creating images with a combination of AI and your own drawing.
Finally, there’s ChatGPT in Siri. Whenever you launch Siri by saying “hey Siri” or by pressing and holding the power button, you’ll see a suggestion to use ChatGPT for certain prompts and questions. You can also specify that ChatGPT gets used in your requests—so you could say “hey Siri, use ChatGPT to plan out a birthday party for a 5-year-old that lasts an hour” for example.
ChatGPT can also lend a hand in a feature called Visual Intelligence, though this is an iPhone 16 exclusive. Launch the iPhone Camera app, get something in shot, then press and hold the Camera Control button on the side of your phone. Tap the speech bubble button on screen, and ChatGPT will give you a description of what you’re looking at, and any more information you need about it.
There are more features on the way too: More advanced and personalized Siri responses are expected for iOS 18.4, and it’s thought Apple is working on its own ChatGPT competitor so that eventually Siri won’t need any extra help. More picture styles are apparently on the way for Image Playground too.
Win the Holidays with PopSci’s Gift Guides
