Apple releases iOS 18.1 developer beta with the first ‘Apple Intelligence’ iPhone features

Earlier this month, Apple released its first beta of iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS, for public testers, but unfortunately, the anticipated Apple Intelligence wasn't available in the beta.

Now, Apple is beginning to unveil its Apple Intelligence features with the recent launch of its iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 developer beta released on Monday.

As revealed at Apple's annual Worldwide Developer Conference 2024, this suite of AI-powered features in the developer beta includes a more context-aware Siri, smart email summaries in Mail, and even natural language search in Photos.

Siri is upgrading significantly following this update, maintaining context across multiple requests, and making interactions natural. So, if you ask about the weather in Paris and then follow up with “What’s the humidity?”, Siri will understand you’re still talking about Paris.

Mail isn't left behind; it has a summarize button that allows summarizing any incoming emails, and an email summary appears in your inbox list. Time-sensitive messages surface first in your inbox, and Smart Reply provides quick-tap responses based on email content. Multiple notifications from Mail are summarized on your Lock Screen, showing email content without opening the app.

Message now has advanced smart Reply, suggesting responses based on the text you receive. Multiple Message notifications are also summarized on your Lock Screen. Writing tools are also powered by AI which can proofread for spelling and grammar errors, provide word choices, and suggest better sentence structures. You can also select any text to summarize it into a paragraph, list, or table.

On Photos, you can easily create a Memory Movie in Photos by simply describing it. The feature will automatically select relevant photos and music, but you can customize it with Memory Mixes or specific moods. You can also add specific scenes and images. Additionally, natural language search lets you find photos and video moments by describing them, and smart suggestions help narrow down your search.

These features are only available to registered developers in the US with either an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or an iPad or Mac with an Apple Silicon chip.

Apple Intelligence will likely not be available to the public until fall 2025, after the launch of iOS 18.

Image credit: macrumors