Apple today announced the release of iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2, bringing several new Apple Intelligence features to the iPhone and iPad.
Apple Intelligence is the easy-to-use personal intelligence system that delivers helpful and relevant intelligence while taking an extraordinary step forward for privacy in AI. Now users can explore creative new ways to express themselves visually with Image Playground, create the perfect emoji for any situation with Genmoji, and make their writing even more dynamic with new enhancements to Writing Tools. Building on Apple Intelligence, users with an iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro can instantly learn more about their surroundings with visual intelligence with Camera Control. And now with ChatGPT integrated into Writing Tools and Siri, users can tap into ChatGPT’s expertise without having to switch between apps, helping them get things done faster and easier than ever before.
iOS 18.2 also brings Apple Intelligence language expansion with localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. Additional languages, including Chinese, English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese will be coming throughout the year, with an initial set arriving in a software update in April.
Image Playground
Image Playground allows users to easily create fun and unique images, using concepts like themes, costumes, accessories, and places. Users can add their own text descriptions, and can even create images in the likeness of a family member or friend using photos from their photo library. The app generates images in distinct styles, including Animation — a modern, 3D-animated look — and Illustration, which offers images with simple shapes, clear lines, and colorblocking.
While Image Playground is also available as a brand-new dedicated app, the experience is also integrated right into Messages, making it easy to create images for conversations, as well as into apps like Freeform, Keynote, and many others.
Genmoji
Genmoji allow iOS 18.2 users to make conversations from friends and family more fun. Users simply type a description into the emoji keyboard and they will be offered multiple options to choose from. Using photos from their Photo Library, users can even create Genmoji inspired by friends or family members. Gnmoji can be personalized with accessories, such as sunglasses and hats, or reflects themes or activities to make them even more personalized. Genmoji can be added inline to messages, or shared as a sticker or reaction in a Tapback.
Notes: Image Wand
There are new tools in the Notes app, making note-taking more visual and dynamic. Image Wand, which can be found in the tool palette. can be used to quickly create images in their notes using the written or visual context already captured within the note.
Image Wand transforms a rough sketch into a polished image by simply circling it. Users can even circle empty space within a note, and Image Wand will gather context from the surrounding area — using on-device generative models to analyze the handwritten or typed text — to create a relevant image that complements the note and makes it more visual. Users can create images with the Animation, Illustration, and an additional Sketch style in Image Wand.
Describe Changes in Writing Tools
Writing Tools adds a new Describe Your Change option. Describe Your Change gives users even more flexibility and control when they’d like to make their writing sound more expressive, such as to add more dynamic action words to their resume or even rewrite a dinner party invitation in the form of a poem, and more. The new Describe Your Change option is available systemwide across Apple and many third-party apps.
Visual Intelligence
A new visual intelligence experience helps users learn about objects and places instantly, thanks to the new Camera Control on the iPhone 16 lineup. Visual intelligence can summarize and copy text, translate text between languages, detect phone numbers or email addresses with the option to add to contacts, and more. Users can search Google so they can discover where they can buy an item, or benefit from ChatGPT’s problem-solving skills to ask for an explanation about a complex diagram, such as from class notes.
Siri and Writing Tools
With the ChatGPT integration, Siri can suggest a user access ChatGPT for certain requests, and Siri can provide the response directly.
With Compose, users can ask ChatGPT to generate content for anything they are writing about from the systemwide Writing Tools. They can also use ChatGPT’s image-generation capabilities to add images alongside their written content.
By default, a ChatGPT account is not required to use this integration. When using ChatGPT without an account, OpenAI will not store requests, and will not use the data for model training. Users’ IP addresses are hidden to prevent users’ sessions from being linked together.
Availability
Apple Intelligence is available now as a free software update with iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2, and can be accessed in most regions around the world when the device and Siri language are set to localized English for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, the U.K., or the U.S.
Apple Intelligence is available on 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.
