Rejoice, Apple Intelligence has finally arrived! If you have a compatible device (more on that later), you can upgrade now to iOS 18.1, iPad OS 18.1, or macOS Sequoia 15.1 and get a first taste of the update that Apple says will “introduce a new chapter in Apple innovation.”
That sounds pretty impressive, right? That’s why you might feel a little disappointed when you install Apple Intelligence for the first time. Don’t get me wrong, the potential for Apple Intelligence is still huge, but after such strong billing from the Cupertino company, what you actually get in the most recent update feels more like a good start, but ultimately disappointing. In iOS 18.1, you get writing tools for proofreading, rewriting and summarizing, notification summaries, cleanup in photos, and a redesigned Siri.
Hey Siri, don’t make it bad
Yes, Siri looks different now, but it doesn’t behave any differently. Now lovingly whisper the intimate words “Hey, Siri” to your iPhone and the entire edge of the screen will light up like a multi-colored mating call that reminds me a little of a migraine. It is not subtle, but unfortunately Siri is not smarter than it used to be. Sure, it can still determine the time for your eggs to cook, but if you ask anything more complicated, it immediately descends into eating a bowl of search results: “Here’s what I found on the Internet.” The intention is that we will also get a good ChatGPT integration in Siri, but that is not there yet. Expect to see ChatGPT in Siri with iOS 18.2 by the end of the year, followed by the big Siri upgrade with on-screen personal context and awareness next year.
The feature most people associate with AI is photo editing, and Apple’s update is disappointing compared to what the competition already offers. While Google Gemini, Meta AI and Samsung Galaxy AI can dream up fantasy landscapes and alien worlds on your phone, so far Apple can simply remove objects from photos. Photo Clean Up is fun, magical even, in the way it can use AI to intelligently fill in the background behind elements of the photo you want to remove, but it just feels like an enhanced photo editor to get rid of your ex- take your partner out of your life. Taking holiday snaps without having to embarrass yourself by asking a friendly Photoshop expert to do it for you is not something that lets your imagination run wild with the endless possibilities of AI.
In fact, the AI features Apple has launched so far have all been hidden somewhere in the background. You have to tap the right icon to display them. It’s almost as if Apple is ashamed of it. For example, if you want to summarize an email in Mail, you’ll need to pull down the message to reveal a hidden tab with a Summarize button on it. The proofreading tool is hidden behind an Apple Intelligence icon in the menu bar and can be easily overlooked and so on.
A high bar
Of course, Apple Intelligence will remain just a dream for many iPhone owners anyway. The bar for entry on an iPhone is ridiculously high. You’ll need the highest specs from the previous generation (an iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 15 Pro Max) or a new iPhone 16 to join the AI revolution. There are simpler ways to view Apple Intelligence – any M-series Mac will do the job, as will the new iPad mini (see our iPad mini review) – but the device you want to use it on will always be the device that you always have with you. And that’s your iPhone.
Add to that the geographically dispersed nature of the rollout (Apple Intelligence won’t be available on iPhone in the UK until December and April, and April in the rest of Europe) and Apple’s big bang release starts to look like a whimper . Where I live in the UK, I have to trick Siri into using American English to activate Apple Intelligence. It’s a relatively simple hack, but it’s tricky to perform.
Wake me up when December comes
So when will we get the Apple Intelligence we actually want? December, says Apple. That’s when we get Image Playground for creating AI images, Genmoji for creating custom emoji, and a more capable Siri with ChatGPT integration. There will also be a much improved Mail app that really takes advantage of everything Apple Intelligence has to offer.
So wake me up when December rolls around, Apple, because that’s when we’ll see the proper launch of Apple Intelligence, and I’m waiting for that.