Apple Intelligence has finally made its official launch via the release of iOS 18.1, iPad OS 18.1, and MacOS Sequoia 15.1, and is now available in Malaysia too. Here’s how to activate it.
Set your language setting to US English
At the moment of launch, Apple Intelligence is only available in US English. However, Apple does promise to roll out more language support for its AI suite in the near future, but more on that later.
So in order to use Apple Intelligence, you will have to set your Siri request language to US English first, via the Apple Intelligence & Siri setting within your Settings app. However, that still isn’t enough as you will need to head to your Language & Region settings and set English (US) as your primary preferred language. After doing all that, you can now head back to the Apple Intelligence & Siri settings to activate it. Interestingly, Apple Intelligence is still labelled as being in Beta form.
Just prior to the time of writing, users had to join a waiting list first, before Apple Intelligence was officially ready for activation. However, it appeared that the waiting period wasn’t as long as we initially imagined, which is definitely good news.
Write better with Apple Intelligence’s Writing Tools
Based on the announcement event held by Apple, its AI suite comes with a systemwide Writing Tool that’s said to be deeply integrated across iOS, iPadOS, and Mac OS.
Writing Tools can help you with refining your language by rewriting it, and allow users to change the tone of their text to sound more professional, concise, or friendly. This feature will also suggest edits, along with explanations of the edits.
It can also help proofread your texts and help check your grammar, word choice, and sentence structure. Is your work a little too wordy? Writing Tools can help summarise it into a more digestible paragraph, table, list, or bulleted key points.
Siri got a facelift and is now smarter too
What caught most people’s attention with the previous announcements of Apple Intelligence has to be the redesigned Siri, featuring its Samsung Edge Lighting-like glowing light.
Aside from its facelift, Siri now packs richer language understanding capabilities and is said to be able to follow along even when users stumble over their words and maintain context from one request to the next.
Siri can answer questions about features and settings related to Apple products too, which will make it especially useful for those who are less familiar with their devices. For instance, you can ask Siri to guide you on how to take a screen record or share your Wi-Fi password with your guests.
Smarter Photos app with natural language search and Clean Up
Apple has also injected its AI brilliance into its Photos app, including natural language search. This enables users to search for just about anything by simply describing what they’re looking for, such as “Daniel tying his white Vans on a stool”. This feature works across videos too, where users to search for something that happened in a specific segment of the video and go right to it.
Always have annoying friends who photobomb your selfies? Apple now allows you to remove them via Clean Up. But of course, you can remove other objects too. This feature is also commonly found in many recent AI-enabled Android phones.
You can also create a movie using the Memories feature by simply typing a description. Apple will then pick out the best photos and videos based on a user’s description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie.
Reduce distractions while staying in the know
Sometimes we wish to be able to silence our notifications but are still worried that we might end up missing out on the important ones. Apple Intelligence can help with that by summarising long or stacked notifications, leaving just the key details on the lock screen.
This is especially useful when a group chat is particularly active. It helps reduce distraction but still keeps the user informed about important things. Users can activate the new Focus mode to reduce interruptions while having their devices show notifications that might need immediate attention.
Apple Intelligence has also made its way into Apple’s Mail app, via the Priority Messages feature. Presented in a form new section at the top of the inbox in the app, the Priority Messages only show the most urgent emails, such as a same-day invitation to lunch or a boarding pass.
Users can see summaries without needing to open the message. For long threads, users can tap or click on the Sumamrise feature to view pertinent details. There is also the Smart Reply feature that provides users with suggestions for quick responses. It even can identify questions within an email to ensure everything is answered.
Apple’s Notes and Phone apps now come with the ability to record, transcribe, and summarise audio too. When a recording is initiated during a call, participants will be immediately informed of the recording. Once the call ends, Apple Intelligence will generate a summary of the key points mentioned in the call.
More AI features and language support to come starting December 2024
Apple says that the features included with the initial rollout of Apple Intelligence are just the start, as it will be pushing out more features starting December this year (2024). These features include the ability to create an original Genmoji by simply typing a description. The Genmoji can also be personalised using a photo of a friend or a family member.
Also to be rolled out later this year are Image Playground, and Image Wand, as well as more features for Writing Tools. This includes allowing users to describe a specific change they want to apply to their text, such as making a dinner party invite that reads like a poem or adding more dynamic option words to a résumé. Users will also be able to learn more about things and places by using their iPhone 16’s camera and its Camera Control button.
As mentioned above, Apple Intelligence is only available in US English at the time of writing. However, the Cupertino-based company says that it will be introducing other localised English support, such as Australia, Canada, Ireland, the UK, and more by the end of 2024.
Other languages such as Chinese English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and other languages will be supported starting in April 2025.
Devices that support Apple Intelligence include the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later, and Mac with M1 and later.
