Apple is now rolling out iOS 18.1, which, along with iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1, brings with it Apple Intelligence, Apple’s suite of AI features.
Apple Intelligence brings with it a raft of new features, which include Writing Tools that are available nearly everywhere you can type, and let you rewrite, proofread, and summarize text, new Siri changes, where Siri is smarter and better looking than before while also being able to leverage ChatGPT for certain queries, Photos improvements with the ability to remove distractions with the new Clean Up feature and searching by describing what you are looking for, notification summaries, a new Focus mode called Reduce Interruptions that uses AI to only let the most important notifications bother you, as well as improvements to Mail.
Aside from all the AI stuff, iOS 18.1 also brings new Camera Control improvements, letting you quickly switch to the front camera on all the 2024 iPhone models, and Spatial photo and video capture on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max in a new Spatial camera mode.
This update also brings the new AirPods Hearing Test feature to test your hearing along with Hearing Aid (acts as a clinical-grade hearing aid) and Hearing Protection mode (minimizes exposure to loud environmental noise), which are compatible with AirPods 2.
Here is the complete list of changes in this update:
- Apple Intelligence (All iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)
- Writing Tools
- Writing Tools are available nearly everywhere you type, allowing you to rewrite, proofread, and summarize text right in the app you’re working in
- Rewrite suggests different versions of your text so you can choose which combination of flow and wording you like best
- Proofread lets you view suggested improvements to what you’re writing, like grammar fixes and language refinements
- Summarize allows you to select text wherever you’re writing and generate a high-quality summary
- Siri
- A new look and feel includes a glowing light that wraps around the edge of your screen, animates responsively to the sound of your voice, and lets you keep scrolling or typing while you talk to Siri
- Type to Siri when you don’t want to speak a request out loud by double tapping at the bottom of the screen
- Richer language understanding enables Siri to follow along if you stumble over your words or change your mind mid-sentence
- Conversational context is maintained over the course of a session, so you can refer more naturally to something you said in a recent request or something Siri mentioned in a recent response
- Product knowledge helps you get answers to thousands of questions about the features and settings on your Apple products
- Voice enhancements make Siri sound more natural, expressive, and clear
- Photos
- Photos search lets you find photos and videos simply by describing what you’re looking for
- Clean Up removes distractions in your photos
- Memory movies can be created by describing the story you want to see
- Notifications
- Notification summaries make it easy to catch up on your notifications with a glanceable summary of the most important information
- Reduce Interruptions is a new Focus that ensures the most urgent notifications get through to you while silencing potential distractions
- Smart Reply in Mail and Messages help you quickly respond to messages with suggested responses
- Priority messages in Mail understands the content of your messages and prioritizes those that require your attention, displaying them at the top of your inbox
- Transcription summaries in Notes give you an intelligently created summary of the transcript from your audio recording or call recording
- Phone
- Call recordings and transcriptions let you record live calls and transcribe them in the Notes app, with an automatic announcement that the call is being recorded
- Camera
- Camera Control can quickly switch to the front TrueDepth Camera (iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max)
- Spatial photo capture, along with spatial video capture, is available in a new Spatial camera mode (iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)
- AirPods
- Hearing Test feature provides scientifically-validated hearing test results from the comfort of home (intended for users 18 years or older)
- Hearing Aid feature provides personalized, clinical-grade assistance that is automatically applied to sounds in your environment as well as music, videos, and calls (intended for users 18 years or older with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss)
- Hearing Protection feature helps users minimize exposure to loud environmental noise across listening modes (available in the United States and Canada)
- Features require AirPods Pro 2 with firmware version 7B19 or later. All features may not be available for all countries or regions, for more information visit: https://apple.com/airpods-pro/feature-availability/
- This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:
- Control Center has new options to add connectivity controls individually and reset your configuration
- RCS Business Messaging lets you connect with businesses over RCS (requires carrier support)
- App Store search lets you use natural language to find what you’re looking for more easily
- Game Center friend invites can be sent directly from the Contacts app and Friend Suggestions, and receivers can see the invites in the inbox in Settings
- Fixes an issue in Podcasts where unplayed episodes are marked as played
- Fixes an issue where videos recorded at 4K 60 while the device is warm could experience stutter while scrubbing the video playback in Photos
- Fixes an issue where digital car keys may not unlock or start a vehicle with passive entry after restoring from a backup or transferring directly from another iPhone
- Fixes an issue where iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro models may unexpectedly restart
iOS 18.1 and the other updates are now available for all compatible devices. Apple Intelligence is currently available in US English only and may require you to be in a virtual queue for a while before being enabled.
