Apple Intelligence, Cupertino’s promised suite of generative AI services, has debuted in beta versions of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1.
iOS 18.1 is available to download for users with a developer account, as is iPadOS 18.1. The iOS release will only run on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max, and the iPadOS release works on any Pro and Air model with an M1 or more recent processor. macOS Sequoia 15.1 is offered as an update on compatible Macs. The MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, iMac, and Mac Studio can run the beta if equipped with an M1 or more recent processor. The Mac Pro needs an M2 Ultra processor.
That’s a long way of saying: Please buy our latest shiny hardware. Please!
We understand the version of Apple Intelligence in the beta doesn’t include all of the service’s promised features. At launch, Apple detailed ML-based capabilities such as generating, proofreading, rewriting, and summarizing text, text-to-image and text-to-emoji services, and an upgrade for the Siri digital assistant.
While Cupertino promises much with Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker hasn’t committed to a release date for a complete service, telling users: “Some features, additional languages, and platforms will be coming over the course of the next year.” That implies new Apple Intelligence features might only come out in 2025.
And it appears the European Union can forget about these features for the while due to the bloc’s strong privacy protections: There’s going to be no Apple Intelligence there until further notice, unless you want to try changing your region settings and VPN to the United States.
In fact, according to the release notes, the device language and Siri language must be set to US English, and device region must be set to United States, to be able to use Apple Intelligence on iOS 18.1, for example. At least initially. YMMV.
A regular, non-developer version of iOS 18.1 with the beta version of Apple Intelligence is slated to appear in the northern-hemisphere autumn. Apple Intelligence also isn’t coming to China for now. ®
Security updates
As well as the above teasing of half-ready features, Apple has patched a load of security holes in its products. We’re not aware of them being exploited in the wild yet. Here’s the list: