The release of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia 15.2 means users of Apple’s products will no longer need to change locale and language settings on their devices to access Apple Intelligence.
The software updates, which were made available today (12 December 2024) bring localised English support for Australia and New Zealand, as well as Canada, Ireland, South Africa, the UK and the US.
Apple Intelligence adds a number of features, many of which have been available on other platforms for some time, such as the ability to remove distracting objects from images with Clean Up, image creation with Image Playground, and Writing Tools that enhance your emails and documents.
Users with an iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro can also learn more about their surroundings with visual intelligence with Camera Control. ChatGPT is integrated into Writing Tools and Siri so users can tap into ChatGPT’s expertise without having to switch between apps
When can you get Apple Intelligence?
Apple Intelligence is available now as a free software update with iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia 15.2, and can be accessed in most regions around the world when the device and Siri language are set to localised English for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the UK or the US.
What devices are supported?
Apple Intelligence is available on iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later, and Mac with M1 and later.
The Photos app gets smarter
The Photos app now has natural language search gives users the ability to search for just about anything by simply describing what they are looking for, like “Maya skateboarding in a tie-dye shirt”. This also works across videos so you can search for something that happened in a specific segment of the video and go right to it. Search also offers smart completion suggestions to help users quickly complete a search.
The Clean Up tool gives users a way to remove distracting elements while staying true to the moment as they intended to capture it. And Memories gives users the ability to create the movies they want to see by simply typing a description. Apple Intelligence will pick out the best photos and videos based on a user’s description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc.
Image Playground and Genmoji
Image Playground enables users to easily create fun and unique images, with concepts like themes, costumes, accessories and places. Users can add their own text descriptions, and can even create images in the likeness of a family member or friend using photos from their photo library. Image Playground generates images in distinct styles, including Animation and Illustration.
The experience is integrated into apps including Freeform, Keynote and many others as well as a brand-new dedicated app.
Genmoji creates new emojis by typing a description into the emoji keyboard. Int can use images from your photo library to create an emojio that’s inspired by a friend or family member.
Wave the Image Wand
The Notes app gets the new Image Wand in the tool palette so you can create images in a note using the written or visual context already captured within the note.
Image Wand transforms a rough sketch into a polished image by simply circling it. Users can circle empty space within a note and Image Wand will gather context from the surrounding area using on-device generative models to analyse the handwritten or typed text and create a relevant image that complements the note and makes it more visual. Users can create images with the Animation, Illustration and an additional Sketch style in Image Wand.
Writing Tools boosts your writing
Writing Tools is integrated across iOS, iPadOS and macOS. It allow you to rewrite, proofread and summarise text in Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages and third-party apps.
Rewrite allows users to choose from different versions of what they have written and adjust the tone, choices are professional, concise or friendly, to suit the audience and task at hand. Proofread checks grammar, word choice and sentence structure while also explaining and suggesting edits that can be reviewed before acepting. Users can also select text and have it summarised in the form of a digestible paragraph, bulleted key points, a table or a list.
There’s also a new Describe Your Change option which gives users even more flexibility and control such as to add more dynamic action words to their resume or even rewrite a dinner party invitation in the form of a poem. Describe Your Change option is available systemwide across Apple and many third-party apps.
Apple is enabling ChatGPT access in Siri and Writing Tools experiences within iOS, iPadOS and macOS, allowing users to access its expertise without needing to jump between applications. With the ChatGPT integration, Siri can suggest a user access ChatGPT for certain requests, and Siri can provide the response directly.
With Compose, users can ask ChatGPT to generate content for anything they are writing about from the systemwide Writing Tools. They can also use ChatGPT’s image-generation capabilities to add images alongside their written content.
You can choose whether to enable ChatGPT integration. Apple says you are in full control of when to use it and what information is shared with ChatGPT. By default, a ChatGPT account is not required to use this integration. When using ChatGPT without an account, OpenAI will not store requests, and will not use the data for model training. Additionally, users’ IP addresses are obscured to prevent their sessions from being linked together.
For those who choose to connect their account, OpenAI’s data-use policies apply.
Email and Phone tweaks
Priority Messages adds a new section at the top of the inbox in Mail and shows the most urgent emails, like a same-day invitation to lunch or a boarding pass. Across their inbox, users can see summaries without needing to open a message, and for long threads, they can tap or click Summarise to view pertinent details. Additionally, Smart Reply provides suggestions for a quick response and will identify questions in an email to ensure everything is answered.
Apple Intelligence also helps users prioritise and stay in the moment with notification summaries that allow users to scan long or stacked notifications with key details right on the Lock Screen, such as when a group chat is particularly active. A new Focus, Reduce Interruptions, surfaces only the notifications that might need immediate attention.
The Notes and Phone apps let you record, transcribe and summarise audio. When a recording is initiated while on a call in the Phone app, participants are automatically notified, and once the call ends, Apple Intelligence generates a summary to help recall key points.
Siri gets smarter
Siri becomes more natural, flexible and deeply integrated into the system experience. A brand-new design with an elegant glowing light wraps around the edge of the screen when active on iPhone, iPad or CarPlay. On Mac, users can place Siri anywhere on their desktop to access it easily as they work. Users can type to Siri at any time on iPhone, iPad and Mac, and can switch fluidly between text and voice as they use Siri to accelerate everyday tasks.
Richer language-understanding capabilities enables Siri to follow along when users stumble over their words, and maintain context from one request to the next. In addition, with extensive product knowledge, Siri can now answer thousands of questions about the features and settings of Apple products. Users can learn everything from how to take a screen recording, to how to easily share a Wi-Fi password.
Visual Intelligence
A new visual intelligence experience builds on Apple Intelligence and helps users learn about objects and places instantly, thanks to the new Camera Control on the iPhone 16 line-up. Visual intelligence can summarise and copy text, translate text between languages, detect phone numbers or email addresses with the option to add to contacts and more. Camera Control also allows users to search Google so they can see where they can buy an item, or benefit from ChatGPT’s problem-solving skills to ask for an explanation about a complex diagram, such as from class notes. Users are in control of when third-party tools are used and what information is shared.
Privacy
Apple Intelligence uses on-device processing so many of the models that power it run entirely on device. Requests that require access to larger models use Private Cloud Compute to extend the privacy and security of iPhone into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence. When using Private Cloud Compute, users’ data is used only to fulfill their request and never stored or shared with Apple.
Independent experts can inspect the code that runs on Apple silicon servers to continuously verify this privacy promise, and are already doing so.
Anthony is the founder of Australian Apple News. He is a long-time Apple user and former editor of Australian Macworld. He has contributed to many technology magazines and newspapers as well as appearing regularly on radio and occasionally on TV.