At the WWDC 2024 event, Apple showcased its groundbreaking Apple Intelligence system which seems pretty remarkable. There are a multitude of AI features and experiences, powered by Apple Intelligence, which are truly meaningful and would help users in many use cases.
The best part is that most of the AI tasks are processed locally, on the device. And for complex tasks, Apple has built a Private Cloud Compute, with its own Apple Silicon and server stack, to offer private AI computing. Apple says that it doesn’t store your data and its privacy safeguards can be verified. With that said, here are all the AI features coming to iPhone, iPad and Mac.
Writing Tools is an AI feature, powered by Apple Intelligence, and you can use this feature in any text field, on any app. It allows you to rewrite texts, change the tone, summarize texts, proofread paragraphs and more. In addition, you can also add your prompt to rewrite the text according to your preference. This feature is available in Messages, Notes, Mail, and other apps as well.
Priority Notifications
Apple Intelligence is also being used to prioritize notifications on iOS 18. It intelligently puts your important notifications on top of the stack and also summarizes them so that you can quickly take a glance. And if a message is important, it shows a ‘maybe important’ label on top of the notification stack, even when Focus mode is on.
AI in Mail App
In the Mail app, Apple Intelligence puts time-sensitive messages on top of your inbox so that you don’t miss any deadline. You can also read summaries of long emails in just one tap. And if you want to quickly reply, you can use Smart Reply to send a tailor-made response.
Call Recording Summaries
Believe it or not, Apple has brought call recording to iPhones with iOS 18. When you tap the recording button, it will relay an audio message that call recording has been enabled. The objective of this feature is to generate call summaries so that you can quickly find important information later on. You can also transcribe audio files in the Notes app.
Generate Images, Genmoji, and Memory Movies
With the dedicated Image Playground app, you can generate AI images on your Apple device and it’s powered by Apple Intelligence. The feature is also available in many first-party apps. You just have to add your description and choose a style such as animation, illustration, or sketch, and that’s it.
Besides that, you can create something called a Genmoji, which is actually a custom emoji to match your feelings. You can either enter a description or pick an image to create a Genmoji. There is a new AI feature called Image Wand that allows you to circle a sketch and it will produce a new visual.
Finally, you can find photos with descriptive queries and create memory movies as well. Apple Intelligence understands the user intent and creates a beautiful movie. In addition, you can remove distractions from images using the Clean Up tool, similar to Google’s Magic Eraser.
A New Siri, Powered by Apple Intelligence
Of all the new AI features coming to Apple devices, the most exciting is the new Siri which is deeply integrated within the system and it’s very personal. It has a new design and shows a glowing light around the corners when activated. You can ask questions about your iPhone, in case you are unable to find a setting or a feature.
If it doesn’t know the answer to your question, it can seek your permission and send your query to ChatGPT. Apple has integrated ChatGPT into Siri and many other apps. Apart from that, for on-device tasks, it’s pretty fast and can perform many tasks. It has “on-screen awareness” and can see your screen to understand context and perform suitable actions.
Not just that, the Cupertino giant mentioned that Apple Intelligence creates an on-device semantic index that stores all the relevant information. Whenever there is a user intent for an action, the relevant information is used to further process the user request.
For example, if you ask the new Siri to check your flight schedule, it can automatically pull all your flight details from the Mail app and show you the current status. It can also set a schedule based on that information. It can perform many such on-device tasks which seems to be a gamechanger.
ChatGPT Integration
Apple has integrated ChatGPT into iOS, iPadOS, and macOS and it can be accessed via Siri, and many other first-party apps. It’s separate from Apple Intelligence as your queries go to OpenAI’s cloud servers. However, Apple mentions that user queries won’t be logged by OpenAI.
In addition, Siri and other apps seek your permission before sending your requests to ChatGPT. Apple also says that support for more AI models is coming to Apple devices.
So these are the new AI features, powered by Apple Intelligence, coming to iPhone, iPad, and Mac. If you are looking for a list of devices that support Apple Intelligence, go through our list. That said, Apple mentions that Apple Intelligence features and experiences will initially roll out in US English, later this fall in beta.
