iOS 18.2 is available today, and it’s packed to the gills with Apple Intelligence

It’s been a little over a month since Apple introduced the world to its first public beta of iOS 18.2. The wait for a stable build is now finally over, with the update available today for all eligible iPhone users. iOS 18.2 brings with it a healthy smattering of new AI tools and features, while also expanding Apple Intelligence to a number of new regions and languages.

Apple’s suite of AI-powered image tools are arguably the star of the show here. Genmoji allows you to write out a prompt, and have the system churn out any number of imaginative emoji in response. Similarly, a new dedicated Image Playground app serves as an on-device generative image creator. There’s also an Image Wand tool, which lets you circle rough sketches and have them reimagined in various stylistic interpretations.

System level ChatGPT integration is another iOS 18.2 highlight — it’s now possible to ask Siri to tap into OpenAI’s database for more advanced search queries. Apple says that a ChatGPT account isn’t required, and that OpenAI won’t store any requests.

Visual Intelligence, meanwhile, is a Google Lens-esque feature exclusively available on the iPhone 16 series. It relies on the fancy new Camera Control button found on these handsets, and it lets you point your camera at real world objects to quickly search the web for contextual results.

For as big an update as iOS 18.2 is, we’re still expecting some additional AI tools to arrive in January and beyond. These include Personal Context and onscreen awareness improvements for Siri, Priority Notifications, and more.

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Apple Intelligence is starting to take shape

It’s been a long time coming, but iOS is now well and truly infused with AI

With iOS 18.2 and the additional Apple Intelligence features it brings to the table, I feel that the company is finally entering the AI era in earnest. Apple’s line of thinking mirrors CEO Tim Cook’s philosophy of ‘not first, but best.’ Other Silicon Valley tech giants have been hyping up the merits of AI for a couple of years now, to mixed success. Microsoft’s bullish Copilot+ PC push has resulted in an assortment of back peddling and feature delays, while Google has fared a bit better in the PR department.

When it comes to building a full-featured set of AI tools, one of Apple’s biggest strengths happens to also be its Achilles heal. The company has placed emphasis on user privacy in recent years, which puts it at odds with the data-hungry nature of machine learning (ML) and large language models (LLMs). In a sense, Apple has backed itself into a corner. The company describes privacy as a human right; Google et al., meanwhile, are busy scraping as much user data as possible.

Apple says that its AI solution is a cut above the rest, with its focus on providing on-device neural processing and bespoke Private Cloud Compute servers. It’s unclear whether consumers will ultimately resonate with the company’s privacy-first approach, or if they’ll instead gravitate towards AI products which leverage deeper sets of data.

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