Genmoji and Image Playground are finally here in the first developer beta of iOS 18.2
- iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS 15.2 developer betas have landed
- They include new Apple Intelligence such as Genmoji and Image Playground
- Apple has also rolled out a major upgrade to Writing Tools across platforms
Shortly after confirming that Apple Intelligence will debut next week for all people with eligible devices running iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, Apple is now giving developers a look at the next set of features. Genmoji, Image Playground, Visual Intelligence, and ChatGPT integration for Siri will first appear in the iOS 18.2 developer beta, releasing today (October 23, 2024).
iOS 18.2 developer beta 1, iPadOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia 15.2 are now available to registered developers as part of the Apple Beta Software Program. Crucially, these are still developer betas and aren’t close to final yet, meaning bugs, delays and speed bumps are to be expected.
In addition to four major new additions to Apple Intelligence, they are also introducing support for English (Australia), English (Canada), English (New Zealand), English (South Africa) and English (UK).
Leading the charge beyond new language support is the first glimpse of Genmoji, Apple’s generative AI emoji tool that lets you combine emojis to create custom emojis. This lands alongside Image Playground, Apple’s answer to the best AI image generators. We haven’t had a chance to test these features yet, but Genmoji and Image Playground can be accessed directly from the Messages app, Notes, and Freeform.
Image Playground will also be a standalone app for the Mac, iPad and iPhone. Thanks to dedicated Genmoji and Image Playground APIs for developers, more apps will have access to these AI image tools.
Elsewhere, Siri now has ChatGPT integration, allowing you to ask OpenAI’s chatbot questions directly from Apple’s voice assistant. It’s worth noting that this will be completely opt-in, and Siri will flag when ChatGPT answers a request.
Siri is also smarter; While not as smart as the latest Apple Intelligence-powered version we expect to see next year, it will still be able to respond if you stumble over your words. Plus, Siri now has access to all of Apple’s guides to help you with important device information.
Even more Apple intelligence
There’s also an extra surprise for iPhone 16 owners, as Camera Control now works with Visual Intelligence, allowing you to take a photo of anything you see and let Apple Intelligence do the searching for you.
In Apple’s demo of this feature during the iPhone 16 keynote, Visual Intelligence could give you the opening hours of a restaurant based on just a photo of the building or even determine the breed of a dog – pretty cool indeed. It’s one we can’t wait to try.
Writing Tools, one of the first Apple Intelligence tools launching next week, has also received a major upgrade in 18.2 with new options to shape text generation. You can ask Apple Intelligence to write in specific tones, giving users much more control over the generated text.
iOS 18.2 looks like an excellent upgrade for the iPhone, and we can’t wait to try out all the new Apple Intelligence additions. While you can try the iOS 18.2 developer beta today alongside iPadOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia 15.2, these are all still in development. There is always a chance that you may encounter major bugs, and it is not recommended to install it on your primary device.
The developer betas of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 will be available later today. iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 will officially launch next week.