Apple executives always describe new hardware and software as the “best” or “biggest” ever, but the delivery doesn’t usually live up to the hype (see the iPads from earlier this year). However, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 might be deserving of a few of those adjectives. The new operating systems, now available, have the usual degree of year-over-year quality-of-life improvements, but Apple Intelligence steals the limelight.

This is Apple’s implementation of artificial-intelligence-powered tasks that have been sweeping through the tech industry over the past year. Even Siri is getting an overdue upgrade—the biggest since the voice assistant’s debut 13 years ago. Here are all the new features in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, how to download both operating systems, and what exactly you’ll experience with Apple Intelligence.

Updated December 2024: We’ve added new info on the rollout of iOS 18.2.

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What Is Apple Intelligence?

Siri is getting an AI boost.

Photograph: Apple

Every major tech company has been integrating artificial intelligence into its hardware and software, from Google to Samsung to Microsoft, and now it’s Apple’s turn. Apple Intelligence is the term you’ll see the company throw around over the next few years, and it powers many of the new AI features in its devices.

It’s powered by Apple’s large language models (partly trained through data from the public web, according to Axios’ Ina Fried) and requires Apple silicon, the company’s bespoke chips which have a hybrid architecture designed to run AI tasks. Even though the devices Apple Intelligence runs on are capable of the on-device processing needed to complete AI tasks, sometimes the task is too big and needs to be sent off to the cloud. When a task requires more processing, it’ll be sent to a secure data center stacked with computers that also run Apple silicon. While this method of computing is typically less private, Apple claims that its Private Cloud Compute platform focuses on ensuring data privacy for each user. Only data relevant to your query is sent to these servers, and the data is only used for your requests and never stored.

Apple Intelligence Compatible Devices

Before you get too excited, Apple Intelligence will not be available for every device that supports iOS 18. It’s only supported on select processors (and languages).

What exactly is Apple Intelligence? Apple breaks down its key capabilities into three buckets: Language, Images, and Action.

Apple Intelligence: Language

The new Apple Intelligence Writing Tools.

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu

Throughout Apple’s hardware and software, you’ll find new writing tools that draw on the power of generative AI to assist your writing. This includes Rewrite, which can help change the tone of your text to sound more friendly or more professional (like in an email), and Proofread, which more or less does what the name suggests. You can also summarize selected text with a tap.

These text-based improvements go past writing. It also powers Priority notifications, which appear at the top of your notification list and summarize it so you get a more digestible summary at a glance. Similarly, the Mail app will see Priority messages, which means important emails will float to the top of your inbox. You can also get summaries of long emails, and a Smart Reply function lets you quickly respond to emails (even answers to multiple questions posed in an email), not unlike what’s available in Gmail.

Apple Intelligence can read your notifications and offer quick summaries of what’s inside.

Photograph: Apple

In the Notes, Voice Memos, and Phone app, you can hit the record button (yes, even on a call) to get an audio recording with a transcript, and Apple Intelligence can create a summary of that transcript. Apple says that in states that require two-party consent for recordings, the person on the other end of the line will be made aware that the call is being recorded.

Finally, there’s a new Focus mode called Reduce Interruptions that can understand your personal context, so while it hides incoming stuff that could distract you, it knows enough about what you’ve got going on to allow a text from your babysitter to come through.

Apple Intelligence: Images

The Apple Intelligence image features largely revolve around generating new images through artificial intelligence. Much of this happens in Image Playground, an experience baked into other apps (though it also exists as a stand-alone app). You can generate images based on a description, suggested concepts, and even from people in your Photos library. You have control over the style, and it can be tweaked to match whatever’s happening in the app you’re using it in.

Welcome to Genmoji.

Photograph: Apple

Genmoji just might be the most anticipated feature out of everything Apple has announced. It lets you generate emojis directly from the keyboard with text prompts. You can also pull a person’s photo from your Photos library to make an emoji based on their looks. You’ll have to provide a description first, but then you can adjust the description until it suits what you are going for.

Image Wand is another image generation system that works specifically in the Notes app. With your finger or Apple Pencil, you can circle a sketch to have Apple Intelligence create something that looks more refined, but you can also circle empty space, and it will generate an image based on the surrounding text. It’s an easy way to add more visual variety to your notes.

Beach clean-up.

Video: Apple

The Photos app is getting a few AI features. You can make a Memory Movie by entering a description like “All the desserts I ate during the summer last year, set to a pop song,” and Apple’s AI will find the right images and video, put it to a song, and craft a shareable movie out of it. It’ll also be easier to search for specific photos—just describe what you want and it’ll find it, even moments in video clips (similar to Google’s recently announced Ask Photos feature). Lastly, you can erase unwanted objects in the background of your photos with the new Clean Up tool in the photo editor—exactly like Magic Eraser on Pixel phones and Samsung’s Object Eraser.

Apple Intelligence: Action

The final part of Apple Intelligence is arguably one that might be used the most often, and it involves Siri. The assistant has a new look—when activated, the edges of the screen will glow—and you can now type your requests to Siri instead of using your voice (something you’ve been able to do with Google Assistant for several years).

Photograph: Julian Chokkattu