Apple's new iOS 18.2 brings more AI features

Zoom in: The new features in iOS 18.2 are due for final release in December, Apple has said.

• Image Playground: Apple's image generator allows people to create pictures in one of several cartoonish styles based on text prompts or friends and family from their photo library, among other options.
• Genmoji: Genmoji lets people create custom emoji based on a text description. Genmoji can also be customized to resemble a person in one's photo library.
• Visual intelligence: This feature, somewhat akin to Google Lens, lets people get more information about details within a photo, such as reviews for a location, a summary of text or the ability to add an e-mail address or phone number to one's contacts.
• ChatGPT integration: Starting with this release, Apple Intelligence gives Siri the ability — with one's permission — to summon ChatGPT to answer certain queries. ChatGPT is also an added option for more in-depth modifications in writing tools. People can choose to use ChatGPT for free, with privacy protections and without creating an account. Alternatively, people can also log into their paid ChatGPT Plus account, in which case OpenAI's standard privacy policies apply.

Between the lines: The software is available for the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max and the iPhone 16 family, as well as iPads that have either an A17 Pro or an M1 or later processor.

Catch up quick: Apple is releasing its Apple Intelligence features in stages.

• It released the first Apple Intelligence features with iOS 18.1. Those included writing help, notification summaries and a clean-up feature to remove unwanted objects in photos. (You can read our Prompt review of these features here.)

What's next: Apple has promised a third wave of features in the first half of 2025, including:

• Broader Siri improvements, such as the ability to ask the assistant to surface information from various Apple and third-party applications and to make use of information on the device screen.
• Siri will also be able to take hundreds of actions within various apps for developers who use the new App Intents feature.
• Additional language support, including Chinese, French, Japanese and Spanish.

Yes, but: Apple has said it won't be bringing the features to iPhones and iPads in the European Union due to what it says is regulatory uncertainty over the region's new Digital Markets Act, including a slew of interoperability requirements.

• The company is bringing Apple Intelligence to Macs in the EU — they're a product segment in which Apple doesn't have the same obligation under the DMA.
• The iPhone maker also wants to bring the features to China as soon as it can, though it faces a series of regulatory hurdles it will have to first overcome there.