Apple Intelligence makes its way to iPhone, iPad, and Mac
What's the story
Apple has officially launched its much-anticipated feature, Apple Intelligence, with the public release of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.
The debut of Apple Intelligence brings a whole bunch of advanced AI features for users. These include writing tools for proofreading, rewriting, and summarizing text.
The new update also provides live transcriptions for phone calls and audio in the Notes app, with the added convenience of generating summaries from these transcriptions.
Overhaul
Siri gets a makeover
The launch of Apple Intelligence also marks the start of a major overhaul for Siri.
Now, you can type requests and questions for the once voice-only assistant.
If you prefer speaking, Siri has been enhanced to understand requests even if you stutter or interrupt yourself.
The UI of Siri has also been refreshed, with a glowing border around the screen when activated.
Device compatibility
Apple Intelligence is currently available on select devices
Currently, Apple Intelligence is available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and the iPhone 16 lineup.
The M-series iPads and Macs also support the feature, along with the new A17 Pro-backed iPad mini.
However, access is limited to those who have set their device and Siri language to US English.
Apple plans to expand availability to more countries/languages in December, but won't immediately offer the AI tools in the EU or Chinese mainland due to regulatory issues.
Additional enhancements
iOS 18.1 introduces additional features
Along with Apple Intelligence, iOS 18.1 brings other capabilities like the ability to use AirPods Pro as over-the-counter hearing aids.
The update also makes it easier to change the main email address associated with an Apple account.
However, you'll have to wait for other promised capabilities from Apple Intelligence, previewed in the recently released developer betas of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2.
Upcoming updates
Future updates and language support
Apple plans to add support for localized English in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK in December.
An update in April 2025 will broaden language support beyond English.
Chinese, English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Spain), and Vietnamese will be among the new languages supported.
Apple also says that unspecified "other languages" will be added too.