Here’s How Long It Takes to Get Off the Apple Intelligence Waitlist
After months of beta testing and a ton of advertising, Apple Intelligence is officially unveiled. If you have a compatible iPhone, iPad, or Mac , you can install Apple’s latest update and try out the first wave of new generative AI features on your devices. You’ll just have to wait in line first.
The truth is, you can’t just turn on your compatible Apple device and expect Apple Intelligence to work. Once you install iOS 18.1 on your iPhone 15 Pro or later, iPadOS 18.1 on your A17 Pro or iPad M series, or macOS 15.1 on your M series Mac, you’ll actually need to join the Apple Intelligence waitlist if you want there is an opportunity to test these new artificial intelligence features today.
We’ve covered how to actually enable (or disable) Apple Intelligence on your iPhone, iPad or Mac, so if you’re interested, check out our guide. But you may have just come from this guide, having joined Apple’s waitlist, and wondering, “Dude… how long will this take?”
Expect a wait of up to several hours (I had to wait 90 minutes).
Answer? It depends. Officially, Apple states that Apple Intelligence is “usually available for activation within a few hours of joining the waitlist , although wait times may vary.” The company doesn’t want all eligible users to sign up for Apple Intelligence at once and is trying to spread out the activation by introducing a delay on that waitlist.
However, the wait time will definitely vary. When the beta first started rolling out, I remember users reporting that the waitlist took anywhere from 30 minutes to a few seconds to get approved. Now it looks like the wait will be longer as more users jump on the bandwagon. Personally, it took me about an hour and a half for my own access to be approved.
Once you’re approved, iOS, iPadOS, or macOS will send you a notification in the Settings app that says, “Apple Intelligence Ready: Time to try out the new personal intelligence system.”