Apple Intelligence Everything You Need to Know
Apple Intelligence is designed to help you in different ways throughout various apps, and it’s built right into the system. It will launch on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, exclusively for M series chips and newer, and on the iPhone, it’s available for the iPhone 15 Pro Line. It’s not in the current beta, so if you download the developer beta of iOS 18, you won’t find it yet. However, I’ve seen a demo of it, and if it works as advertised, it has the potential to be the biggest productivity feature Apple has ever introduced.
Assistance with Typed Text
One feature I’m particularly excited about is its assistance with typed text. Whether you’re writing an email, a script, or a blog post, it can spell and grammar check your work, and even rewrite it in different contexts—professional, friendly, or concise. This is incredibly useful for summarizing long texts or extracting key points, which can save a lot of time, especially when dealing with lengthy emails full of fluff.
Notifications
Apple Intelligence will also learn about your notifications. It can prioritize important messages and lower the priority of less important ones. This is beneficial for managing notifications from group chats or apps that aren’t immediately important. Additionally, it will summarize active group threads, so you can catch up quickly without reading every single message.
A new Focus mode, Reduce Interruptions, adapts to what you’re doing and incoming notifications. As a big Focus user, I’m eager to see if this can replace my less aggressive Focus modes.
Emails
Emails are getting productivity enhancements, including prioritizing mail and categorizing newsletters. It reminds me of Sanebox but with an LLM behind it. Features like a summary button and smart replies will make handling emails more efficient.
In the Notes and Phone apps, you’ll be able to record and transcribe audio, which can then be summarized by Apple Intelligence. This is perfect for lectures or long meetings.
Image Generation
Image generation is another feature of Apple Intelligence, integrated into apps like Notes, Messages, and Freeform, with a dedicated app for generating images. While I’m not a fan of AI-generated art in professional settings, it can be fun for casual use, like sending quick images to friends or creating custom emojis.
Siri 2.0
Siri is getting a major overhaul, with the ability to search your messages and emails for recommendations, handle specific requests, and take action across different apps. You can correct yourself mid-command and ask follow-up questions. Siri will also be aware of what’s on your screen, making it easier to create contacts or calendar events.
Text to Siri is now enabled by default, with new keyboard shortcuts for triggering Siri on iPad and Mac. Siri can access the web, but Apple ensures privacy by not linking your user profile to requests and masking your IP address.
For tasks Apple Intelligence can’t handle, it can reach out to ChatGPT, with clear indications when this happens. Apple has taken steps to protect user privacy in these interactions.
Compatible Devices
All these features are free for compatible devices, specifically M series or newer iPads and Macs, and the iPhone 15 Pro. There are no exclusive features for specific devices—all features are available across all supported devices.
