iOS 18 Is Jam Packed With the New Apple Intelligence

Everyone has been speculating that Apple was about to jump into AI with both feet, and they weren't wrong.

At today's WWDC 2024 keynote, the company announced the addition of what it calls "Apple Intelligence" to all its operating systems, but that's not all the updates coming to iOS 18. There will also be new ChatGP capabilities, improvements to the Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Control Center, updates to the Photos app, more features (and more useful features) in Messages, and Mail and Safari updates, too. Even Siri is getting some new tricks.

Starting with Apple Intelligence, which is Apple's take on AI, Apple promised it's built with security in mind. According to the presentation, most of the AI processing that goes into the apps will be performed on-device, but it will include information for all aspects of your device, including email, messages, and even photos. There will be instances where the on-device AI can't complete an action, and in that case, Apple says the processing will be done in iCloud on private servers, and data will never be stored there.

That's not going to be the only source for AI on the device, however. In a surprise to no one after the announcement of the deal between OpenAI and Apple, Siri will also gain access to ChatGPT in addition to being powered by Apple Intelligence. You'll be prompted to use ChatGPT before it's launched, according to the demo that was provided at WWDC, but the option will be there. And if you choose to stick with Apple Intelligence, Siri will still be able to help in a very customized way thanks to machine learning.

Beyond general AI, you'll find that many of the apps and capabilities of iOS 18 are updated. For example, new Home Screen, Lock Screen, and Control Center customizations will let you give your iPhone an aesthetic that suits you personally. You'll be able to change the tint of icons, arrange them around whatever photo you've chosen for your wallpaper, and you can even change the controls on your lock screen to give you access to apps other than the flashlight or camera without having to unlock your phone.

The Control Center is growing by leaps and bounds, too. Now, you'll have categories of controls that are easily accessible by swiping between pages or sliding your finger up and down the screen to navigate the categories.

Photos is getting what Apple calls "its biggest-ever redesign." This includes new displays and new ways to sort and find your pictures. You'll have options for collections that you can keep pinned to the screen or not, you can autoplay collections and videos if you like, or you can use Apple Intelligence to help you find photos and create custom collections. Apple Photos is even getting some enhanced photo editing features that include being able to remove unwanted clutter in images so you have the image you wanted to take, no matter who photobombed the background.

Messages finally supports RCS and is getting more tapbacks—You'll be able to choose from any emoji now, and with the addition of Apple Intelligence, you can even create your own emoji, which Apple is affectionately calling Genmoji, based on a text description. If you choose to use this AI feature, it'll pull context from the messages in the conversation to further enhance the customization of the Genmoji.

As an added bonus, you'll also be able to send and receive iMessages and SMS, tapbacks, and emoji via satellite, and your Dynamic Island will let you know if you're connected to a satellite. Of course, those messages will be end-to-end encrypted to ensure your privacy.

The Mail app is also getting a major redesign to look a little more like a Gmail box, including the categorization of messages, a new digest view that collects relevant messages to give you a single view of them, and suggestions for creating messages that are powered by AI.

Finally, Safari is getting a sizeable update, as well. Of course, machine learning (or AI) is at the center of it and includes changes like a redesigned reader experience and a feature that can pull relevant highlights from a website to help you find information faster.

The ability to lock or hide apps so no one else can access them, a new password app, and other controls have also been included, in addition to numerous other app updates for things like accessibility, the Notes app, the Health App, the Calendar app, and many more. And of course, there are the accessibility features that Apple unveiled in May.

While the developer version of iOS 18 is available starting today, if you're not a developer, you'll have to wait until this fall to get the update. The app will be available at that time for all supported iPhones, however, Apple Intelligence and the features it enables will only be available in beta on iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max and later.