Apple recently announced that it was finally rolling out several OS updates for different platforms, including iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2. While Apple’s OS upgrades are nothing new, the big highlight this time around is that the company continues to build on its Apple Intelligence software features, adding onto the first set released a while back.
CHECK OUT: Apple’s AI Features Finally Go Live
Apple Intelligence likewise expands to more regions and languages with localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. Additionally, support for more languages including Chinese, English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese will gradually arrive for more users throughout the year. What else do the new updates feature though? Let’s take a quick look.
Users finally get access to Image Playground, which essentially generates images via text prompts. Users can create AI photos using different descriptions of objects, places, and even use existing photos of family or friends to create images rendered in various styles, with 3D-animated looks or simpler “illustrated” image styles. In addition to being a separate app, it’s also directly integrated into Apple Messages, as well as other apps including Freeform and Keynote, to name a few.
Also present is Genmoji, a generative take on otherwise “standard” emojis. The Genmoji feature lets users type descriptions into their emoji keyboard to generate a Genmoji, and they can also use pre-existing photos to base a Genmoji on, similar to what you’re able to do with Image Playground. Genmojis can also be used as stickers and even tapback reactions.
The new update also features Image Wand, which is baked into the Notes app. This lets users create images for their notes based on written or visual context written within, transforming basic sketches into more polished images by simply circling it. Image Wand can also fill out empty spaces with generated images based on what’s written into a user’s notes, available in different styles including Animation, Illustration, and Sketch styles.
Meanwhile, Writing Tools integrates functionality found in Rewrite, Proofread, and Summarize, letting users specify any edits they want added via the Describe Your Change option. This allows for more flexibility and control when writing content – for example, users can change the tone of whatever they’re writing, be it a formal letter, invite, literature, and even resumes.
Apple is also bringing over Visual intelligence, which can summarize and copy text, translate text between languages, and identify callers or email addresses, to name a few examples. The feature also works with the iPhone 16 series’ Camera Control function and gives users instant access to resources such as Google and ChatGPT to address queries, get through some tricky problem-solving scenarios, and more. Apple is also adding ChatGPT access for Siri and Writing Tools across all of its platforms, although users can choose to disable ChatGPT integration if they choose to.
Apple adds that users can expect more AI features in the coming months.
