Apple Intelligence: First look at new AI features on iPhone

Apple Intelligence, the much-hyped and long-awaited artificial intelligence platform from the tech major, described as a game-changer for mobile users, has finally arrived.

The California-based company is promising a lot of features but, for now, we'll dive into the key elements in the technology's first iteration, which was released on Monday through software updates.

Polish your writing

Your favourite Apple Intelligence feature will depend on your preference. In our case, we'd have to give that nod to Rewrite within Writing Tools, which helps you modify a message to make it more friendly, professional or concise. This comes in handy when you want to tailor messages to different recipients.

You can access Writing Tools by tapping on the new Apple Intelligence icon alongside the tool bar above the virtual keyboard. You can also proofread messages to scan for errors, in addition to adding summaries, key points and lists. There's also an option to insert a table, but this feature isn't available yet.

Summaries all over

Normally, when you receive a bulk of notifications on your lock screen, it's stacked up and you have to tap to view all of them. Apple Intelligence helps clean this up by summarising the content of all those notifications.

On the mail app, you also have the option to summarise an email, which can come in handy, especially if it's a long one and you only want an idea of what it contains. The same concept applies to Messages on the lock screen. Over on Safari, you'll also have an option to get an overview of the web page you're visiting.

Cleaning up and editing images

This is probably what a good number of iPhone users have been waiting for: highly advanced editing of images and cleaning up unwanted elements from your snaps.

In the Photos app, select an image and tap on the edit icon (the one that looks like sliders), and the new clean-up option will appear (tapping on it the first time will prompt a download for the feature). Tap on it and Apple Intelligence will highlight the elements it thinks need to be removed; otherwise, you can just make a selection by drawing an outline around the things you want gone.

This works well for, say, removing objects on a grass field, as the feature can quickly fill that up. More complex backgrounds such as a busy street or a cafe with tables in the background can be tricky. This one's a work in progress that we expect will be improved over time.

Hey Siri, you're (too) fast

Long-time AI assistant Siri is now “more natural, flexible and deeply integrated into the system experience”, according to Apple. In other words, Siri is more accurate – even if you change your request.

For example, we asked it to “set an alarm for 5pm, no make that 6pm to go to the grocery and pick up apples, no, bananas”; it was able to understand and make all the changes we requested.

Here's what we observed: Siri sometimes seems to be a little too fast to respond: in the request above, it sometimes went ahead and set the reminder for the alarm before we could even say what it was for, or it set the alarm and what it was for before we said what we wanted to buy. We aren't sure on how much delay Siri needs before it can execute your command.

But the important thing is that it works and is very fluid. And a bonus aesthetic: activating Siri won't trigger its famous glowing ball below the screen; instead, the borders of your iPhone will glow, which is like bringing your device to life (and seemingly driving home the point of a new era for it).

Apple Intelligence isn't perfect for now – but we won't fault Apple for a modest first version. It is most certainly working behind the scenes to improve things. The next iteration is expected on the iOS 18.2 update, set to be launched in December.

How do you get Apple Intelligence?

To get Apple Intelligence, just upgrade to iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1. The compatible devices are the iPhone 16 line-up, the iPhone 15 Pro models, iPad Air and Pro with M1 and upwards. Also suitable are the A17 Pro iPad Mini, MacBook Air and Pro, iMac and Mac mini with M1 and later, the Mac Studio with M1 and upwards, and the M2 Ultra Mac Pro.

But here's a caveat: you'll have to join a waiting list before you can actually use Apple Intelligence. Under settings, go to Apple Intelligence and Siri (this was formerly only Siri) then hit “join the waitlist”. You will be notified once the platform is ready for you to download.

We were fortunate enough to get Apple Intelligence on the iPhone in less than an hour.

Here's the most important point to remember: Apple says the platform is available “in most regions around the world” – but only as long as the language of your device and Siri are set to US English.

Next month, it will be available for localised English in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK, with more languages – Chinese, English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese and others – coming in April.

For the EU, users can access Apple Intelligence (in US English) on their Macs with macOS Sequoia 15.1, with availability on iPhones and iPads coming in April.

New Macs launched

Meanwhile, Apple has also unveiled new generations of its Mac computers, running on the latest macOS Sequioa 15.1, which also has Apple Intelligence.

The latest iMac, Mac mini and MacBook Pro now come with Apple’s latest M4 chip. While all devices come with the base M4 chip, the Mac mini also has an M4 Pro option, while the MacBook Pro also comes with the M4 Pro and M4 Max.

Apple did not introduce a new MacBook Air. However, the company said that it is now doubling its base memory to 16GB at no additional cost.