Apple Intelligence in macOS 15.2 and iOS 18.2
On Wednesday, Apple rolled out developer betas of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS 15.2, which run Apple Intelligence features previously seen only in Apple’s own marketing materials and product announcements: Three different kinds of image generation, ChatGPT support, Visual Intelligence, expanded English language support, and Writing Tools prompts.
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It’s still English-only for now, but English speakers in Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa will be able to use Apple Intelligence in their versions of English.
Apple introduced an updated version of the Mail app with built-in categorization.
I still don’t see the categories feature in the Mac version of Mail, although there are some invisible menu commands that show up when searching with the Help menu.
From a SpamSieve perspective, I note that Mail’s data store is still at version 10 but that the schema has changed from both macOS 14 and from macOS 15.0 (in seemingly backwards compatible ways).
These developer betas also contain new APIs for third-party apps: the Writing Tools API (which will allow any text app to support the features only Apple’s first-party apps have access to in iOS 18.1 and MacOS 15.1), Genmoji API (so third-party messaging apps can support them like Messages will), and Image Playground API.
Apple reassured us that “if you’re using any of the standard UI frameworks to render text fields, your app will automatically get the ability to use Writing Tools.” But that appears to make the assumption that the text view is already using TextKit 2, and the only documentation that I can find about that states that NSTextViews need to be opted into that with additional code. However, the class documentation for NSTextView doesn’t even mention TextKit 2, although it does now include some information about support for Writing Tools.
See also: Marcin Krzyzanowski.
One more thing: also baked into iOS 18.2 is the ability to set default apps for Mail, Browser, Messages, etc. This isn't just for EU users, but for everyone.
Previously:
Update (2024-10-29): John Gruber:
The image generation features (Image Playground, Genmoji, Image Wand) in the next round of Apple Intelligence, in the beta releases of iOS 18.2 and MacOS 15.2 that dropped last week, require a separate waiting list. I signed up for that a few hours after the betas were released last Wednesday, October 23, and I’m still waiting as I type this. The only people I know who have access to the image generation features are those who signed up for it within the first hour — maybe less — of the betas appearing.
Update (2024-11-05): Tyler Fox:
New in iOS 18.2 developer beta 2! Apps can integrate with Siri and Apple Intelligence so users can ask questions about onscreen content, such as photos and documents. You can adopt the API from SwiftUI, UIKit, and/or AppKit — see details & sample code.
Update (2024-11-08): Juli Clover:
The version of Image Playground available in the iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 betas only offers animation and illustration as style options, leaving us wondering if sketch might be added a later time.
It looks like the answer might be no, as Apple has removed Sketch from the Image Playground app description.
Update (2024-12-13): Apple:
Apple today announced the release of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2, introducing a brand-new set of Apple Intelligence features that will elevate users’ experience with iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and builds on the first set of capabilities already introduced.
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Additional Apple Intelligence capabilities will be available in the months to come. Siri will be even more capable, with the ability to draw on a user’s personal context to deliver intelligence that’s tailored to them. Siri will also gain onscreen awareness, and will be able to take hundreds of new actions in and across Apple and third-party apps. Priority Notifications will also surface what’s most important. In addition, users will be able to create images in Image Playground in a Sketch style, an academic and highly detailed style that uses a vibrant color palette combined with technical lines to produce realistic drawings.
Layered Recordings is that Voice Memos feature. It’s exclusive to the iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max, and available now in iOS 18.2.
Categories is the default view after updating to the new software. Fortunately, Apple makes it simple to switch back to the traditional list view.
The splashiest feature is Image Playgrounds, which allows users to create images based on photos in their image libraries[…]
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I’m not that impressed with what Apple has done here [with Genmoji], but I think that’s okay.
I am glad Apple is not creating lifelike images with these tools, but of course, many services are doing that. This week, OpenAI launched SORA, its video creation tools.
These features are, on the whole, more ambitious than the initial batch released back in in October, and some of them build on those features: for example, the ability to now generate specific changes to text in Writing Tools. This also marks the first third-party integration of generative AI features into Apple’s own platforms, with the ability to connect to ChatGPT.
Apple Intelligence features are also expanding geographically with these releases, coming to more versions of English[…]
One of my complaints is that you can’t just make generic figures of people—you have to choose actual people in your library.
This is wrong. You can do it—I just completely missed the feature, because it wasn’t positioned or labeled in a way that made me understand what I was looking at.
Apple today updated Pages, Numbers, and Keynote for Mac and iOS with support for Apple Intelligence features like ChatGPT Siri integration, Writing Tools, and Image Playground that were largely introduced in iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2.
Below, we’ve highlighted the Apple Intelligence features we know are still in development and that are slated for iOS 18.3 and iOS 18.4, updates coming in 2025.
Previously:
Update (2024-12-16): Jeff Carlson (Mastodon):
But what if you don’t want Apple Intelligence foisted on you?
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It’s possible to turn off Apple Intelligence entirely, or to disable it for specific apps. And if you decide you want to jump back into the AI stream, you can easily turn it back on. Here’s what you need to know.
The first thing I did after updating my iPhone to iOS 18.2 was of course to turn categorizing off in Mail, which had to be done SEVERAL times, once for each inbox. And then I watched as Mail continued to display “Categorizing…” at the bottom of the screen, AFTER I had turned categorizing off.
The fact that you have to swipe on the four main category buttons to see that a 5th button exists is awful UX.
You shouldn’t rely on users experimenting and trying various gestures to see what and what doesn’t exist in your UI.
A new survey suggests that Apple Intelligence matters to iPhone buyers, but the majority say that the initial features add little to no value. It remains to be seen whether Genmoji and ChatGPT integration will change that view.
Things are even worse for Samsung smartphones, with an even greater majority of owners saying they can’t see much point in the AI features offered …
I came out to see my bestie from college and her husband. We all did Computer Science at Cal Poly.
Anyway, neither of them had updated to iOS 18.1 even and weren’t aware of Apple Intelligence. They both have the iPhone 16 Pro.
They only upgraded while I was here bc they liked the new Siri edge to edge animation/UI.
If you are using macOS 15.2, please be careful with those priority alerts. It listed a fraud email as priority for me. 😕
Update (2024-12-18): Joe Rosensteel:
People have asked for filters/rules for years for Mail on iOS, and Apple didn’t give them to us… until, all of a sudden, we’ve got a few hard-coded invisible rules that users can nudge a little. We can’t be trusted with Smart Mailboxes or labels, but we do have three immutable categories that all email is supposed to fit into.
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Apple skipped the opt-in step, which I suspect will engender far more ire than had they gone the traditional route. There will always be people who are resistant to any change, but this release strategy isn’t helping. What’s worse, there’s no universal “go back” switch people can flip. Some of the feature toggles are in Settings, and some are in hidden menu buttons inside the Mail app.
My macOS Mail.app smart mailboxes sync to other desktop devices. Why can’t I have them sync to iOS as well? That would be FAR more useful to me than this categorization swing and miss.
Previously:
Update (2024-12-19): Adam Chandler:
I’d rate Mobile Mail on iOS as a dumpster fire and I’m quickly considering replacing the Mail icon with Outlook. That’s how bad it’s gotten.
I disabled categories and the AI features but search is continually broken pushing me to “connect to wifi and a charger to search your mail” When I click a new mail notification, it takes 10 seconds for the message to load.
The post on Six Colors is a much more focused, and more relatable, blog post that went right into the problems with Categories. That’s why Jason’s a great editor, folks. I’ll include the less interesting parts here as a “bonus” for people that like to read about my frustrations.
Ok folks, since iOS’s native mail app has gone all sideways with Apple Intelligence, recommendations for an alternative on the iPhone?
Mine randomly decides to not inform me of new mail since I turned AI off. ShIpIt!!!
Update (2024-12-23): Dr. Drang:
I thought that changing from Categories View to List View would be enough to let AI know that I wanted all of my unread messages to be counted in the badge. But no. I still had to open the Settings app and work my way through Apps>Mail>Notifications>Customize Notifications until I reached the screen that let me switch the badge to show the count of all unread messages.
Update (2025-01-07): Jesse Squires:
The Mail.app in iOS 18.2 stopping showing notification badges for me, even though I had them turned on.
I also turned off all the new “category” nonsense.
Turns out, there’s a second (very hidden) notification setting dealing with “categories” that you also have to fix.
Update (2025-01-09): Cabel Sasser:
i’m embarrassed to ask this, but what does this new yellow Mail swipe action do? Is it “Mute”?
I looked in Prefs to try to teach myself, and it’s not even listed as an option!?
The whole Mail categorization feature confused me completely. And it was hard to figure out how to disable it.
Amazing that this was enabled by default for millions of folks.
Update (2025-01-10): Craig Hockenberry:
Why is “Writing Tools” the first thing shown in Safari’s context menu? It’s pointless and makes it harder to get at the things I actually use: “Lookup” and “Translate”.
Some manager at Apple decided that showing off a new feature was more important than usability.
I’m also seeing issues where the orange writing tools icon shows up, unwanted, next to some text and the only way to get rid of it is to quit and relaunch the app.
