Apple Intelligence features will start rolling out to users starting from iOS 18.1 and continue until at least iOS 18.4, as per a new report. Any associated iPadOS and macOS releases will also introduce the features accordingly.

Apple Intelligence has been anything but Apple-like in terms of its announcement and roll-out. The company usually announces products once they are ready but it has taken a very unusual approach with its AI features for iPhone, iPad and Mac. Not only is there going to be a huge gap between the announcement and actual availability for the general public, but all the new features will be released over multiple software updates.

Apple Intelligence

iOS 18.1

It was already known, thanks to the developer and public beta cycle of iOS 18, that Apple will delay Genmoji, ChatGPT and Image Playground features. AI features like notifications summaries, minor Siri improvements, writing tools and content summarization, suggested responses in Mail and Messages, Photos “Clean Up” and “Memories”, and “Reduce Interruptions” Focus mode, will release with iOS 18.1, which is currently in developer and public beta testing.

Apple Intelligence

Thanks to Mark Gurman’s latest newsletter, we finally have more insights on when we can expect rest of the features to release.

iOS 18.2

iOS 18.2 will ship with the following major features:

  • Genmoji, a feature that lets users generate unique emojis using AI.
  • ChatGPT integration with Siri.
  • Image Playground which will allow users to create images using AI to use in Apple’s own as well as third-party apps.
  • Notification prioritization on lock screen.
  • New email app interface which will show contact icons, and feature AI-powered categorization.
  • Availability of Apple Intelligence in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K.

This software update is expected to launch by December.

iOS 18.3

It is unclear as to what exactly would be part of this release, but Apple is planning to ship this by January. It is expected to be a minor release, but Apple could include some of the new Siri features such as personal context or on-screen awareness in this update.

iOS 18.4

This is the major release, expected to launch in March, where the Apple Intelligence roll-out will complete. Siri should have full new capabilities including personal context, on-screen awareness, actions in and across apps, and more.

During these releases, it may be possible that Apple could announce support for other LLMs like Gemini and Claude. Apple’s senior VP of software engineering Craig Federighi had announced after WWDC that they are open to allowing users to use alternative models, and not only ChatGPT.

Take all of this with a grain of salt as Apple’s internal plans could change. We will keep you updated on the latest news related to iOS 18.

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