iOS 18.1 Beta Takes Baby Steps into Apple Intelligence
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From the moment Apple first announced its new Apple Intelligence features at its 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), it seemed clear that we were in for a gently sloping path toward Apple’s ultimate AI goals.
As impressive and exciting as the Apple Intelligence presentation was, there were plenty of subtle indicators of the baby steps that Apple would be taking into the new realm of more intelligent Siri and generative AI features.
For one thing, Apple Intelligence was destined to initially roll out only in the United States — and even there, it would be labeled as a “beta.” Not a beta in the sense of Apple’s beta operating systems, but rather in the same way that other features like iCloud Photos, iCloud Private Relay, and Stolen Device Protection began as betas to indicate that Apple didn’t feel they were fully ready for prime time at launch.
Apple also said that its ChatGPT integration would be coming “later this year,” and then other reliable sources revealed that the best Siri features weren’t slated to even go into developer betas until sometime around iOS 18.4 in early 2025.
Still, despite all this, there was every indication that the generative AI features like Image Playground, Genmoji, and Writing Tools would be ready to go for the fall. The most optimistic view was that they’d all be coming in iOS 18.0, and although Apple has now confirmed with an unusual new parallel beta cycle that they won’t arrive until iOS 18.1, that will still be a “fall” release — just a bit later, likely coming in October or early November.
Nevertheless, the jury is still out on which Apple Intelligence features we’ll see when iOS 18.1 arrives. Developers are getting the first taste of Apple Intelligence in a new series of iOS/iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1 betas that arrived today — but what we’re seeing so far isn’t promising.
Apple Intelligence Features in the iOS 18.1 Beta
To put it bluntly, there’s a lot of Apple Intelligence missing from today’s betas. While the most likely explanation is that it’s simply the first beta, and Apple will add more as the iOS 18.1 cycle continues, we won’t know for sure until that happens.
Most of the really cool stuff isn’t here yet. Today’s Apple Intelligence betas are mainly confined to the writing, transcription, and summarization tools. Hopefully, the graphical stuff will come later.
For instance, Image Playground and Genmoji are nowhere to be found. These are generative AI tools that will create cartoon-like images and custom emojis. Image Playground is expected to be a standalone app that will also be integrated into Messages and Notes, while Genmoji will likely just be part of the emoji panel in Messages.
There are also no Priority Notifications as of yet. Although notification summaries are in place, the ability to automatically call out the most important notifications is yet to come.
ChatGPT integration is also missing, but that’s less surprising. From the start, Apple said it would come “later this year,” which could have meant iOS 18.1 or iOS 18.2. Now that everything is being pushed off to iOS 18.1, it’s unclear if ChatGPT integration will get rolled in for that release or be pushed off even further.
It should also come as no surprise that context-aware Siri isn’t here, as reliable sources like Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman have already said that’s not going to happen until early 2025, likely as part of iOS 18.4. This affects things like Siri being able to respond based on what’s on your screen and dig deep into apps like Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Messages, and Notes to tie together relevant pieces of information so it can get enough context to respond to straightforward queries like a human assistant would, without the need for you to spell everything out. For example, Siri will eventually be able to respond to a simple request like when your partner’s flight lands by knowing who your partner is, finding emails and messages about their flight, and looking up flight tracking information in the background.
That’s not to say that Siri doesn’t already have a few improvements in iOS 18.1. The new design is here, so Siri now shows up in a glowing frame around your screen rather than a circular icon. It’s also gotten better at understanding you and handling multiple requests sequentially.
Other Apple Intelligence features that should be available now include AI writing tools, smart replies and email summaries in Apple Mail, automatic transcripts in Apple Notes, and natural language search in Photos. However, not all of these will necessarily be active right away. For example, your Photo library will need to be reindexed before the more powerful search features become fully available.
Get on the Waitlist
The other catch is that even if you dive into the new Apple Intelligence betas, you may have to wait before you can try out all the new features as Apple is gating the new features through a waitlist, perhaps to prevent placing too much load on its Private Cloud Compute servers, which it’s almost certainly still ramping up at this point.
Here’s how to get on the waitlist:
- First, install the iOS 18.1 or iPadOS 18.1 beta on an eligible device — an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or an iPad with an M1 chip or newer.
- Once you’ve done that, open the Settings app.
- The Siri section should now show Apple Intelligence & Siri. Select it.
- If you see a message that Apple Intelligence isn’t available in your region, you’ll need to set the Language to “English (United States)” and go to Settings > General > Language & Region and set your Region to “United States.”
- Under Apple Intelligence & Siri, choose Join the Apple Intelligence Waitlist at the top.
- Tap Join Waitlist.
- Wait.
How long it takes to be admitted to Apple Intelligence will likely vary depending on how many people end up on the waitlist and how many Apple intends to admit. In my case, it took about five minutes, so like any lineup, you’ll likely have a greater chance of getting in early if you sign up as soon as possible.
