Apple Intelligence Finally Gets Image Generation Functionality in IOS 18.2
iOS 18.2 is here, and with it, Apple is finally delivering on Apple Intelligence’s biggest AI promises. New in the update is the integration of ChatGPT, Visual Intelligence, as well as the long-awaited Genmoji and Image Playground. Even better? Now you don’t have to stand in line.
How to Enable AI Features in iOS 18.2
The beta version of iOS 18.2 hid its best features behind waitlists, but with the official release they all disappeared. Now you just need to download the update and enable Apple Intelligence.
Apple’s press release says the update is now available, but it appears to be rolling out slowly—Lifehacker employees haven’t seen it yet. It’ll likely arrive on your device later today, so check Settings > General > Software Update this afternoon to see if it’s ready for you. Alternatively, turn on automatic updates on the same page to let your phone take care of the update for you while it charges overnight.
After updating to iOS 18.2, you’ll first need to sign up for Apple Intelligence to start using the new AI features, if you haven’t already. Apple says supported devices will receive an automatic prompt to turn on AI with the new update, but if you don’t see it, go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and tap the switch next to Apple Intelligence . Previously, this also required a waitlist, but now the only thing you have to do is wait for your device to download the correct generative models (to speed up downloads, Apple says some models may not load until you start using them). ).
So let’s see what your phone can now do.
Chat with ChatGPT
ChatGPT integration will be ready as soon as you get Apple Intelligence and update to iOS 18.2. Ask Siri a slightly complex question, like “plan a three-day trip to Paris,” and Siri might politely ask if she can throw everything into ChatGPT instead. Click Use ChatGPT , and within a second or two you’ll get a long ChatGPT response right where Siri would normally appear. You can swipe to read and also call Siri to ask more questions. You can also click the Copy button in the top right corner to copy your answer. At the time of writing, ChatGPT can only answer questions in text form, so cannot interact with images. Siri features such as taking actions based on what you see on the screen, multi-context app actions, etc. will be available later, early next year.
There are several settings options you can play with. In Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > ChatGPT, you can turn off the pop-up asking you to confirm if you want to use ChatGPT, so Siri will route questions it can’t handle directly to ChatGPT without asking for prior permission ( you can also simply start your request with “Ask ChatGPT” to go directly to the third party AI, and any responses generated by ChatGPT will still be clearly marked). You can also log in with a ChatGPT account to keep a record of your requests and access more powerful models, although you will be subject to OpenAI’s privacy policy. From here you can also easily disable the entire ChatGPT feature.
Search anything with Visual Intelligence
The new update also includes Visual Intelligence, a feature exclusive to the iPhone 16 series. Long press the camera button and you’ll see a new camera interface. Take a photo of something, anything, and Apple will show you relevant information about the subject of the photo. If it is a phone number, you will be able to call it; if it’s a restaurant, you’ll see reviews and photos of the food.
You’ll also see an Ask icon on the left. Here you can ask questions about what you see, and Apple will send the image to ChatGPT for help. It’s similar to using the ChatGPT app, but in the native iPhone interface. You’ll get a response from ChatGPT and can continue asking more questions, just like you would with Siri.
Finally, there is a feature similar to Google Lens, but in the iPhone shell. If you tap the image search icon to the right of the shutter button, Apple will show you web results for images similar to what you’re viewing. Since the data comes from Google, I had great luck finding similar results.
Create your own Genmoji and AI images.
Then comes image creation. It all starts with the new Image Playground app. Here you can create animation or illustration style images using built-in themes and tools. While these features have their own app, they are also part of apps like Messages, Pages, Keynote, and Freeform. There are several ways to use the Image Playground. In the app, start by describing the image you want to create and then choose a style. Alternatively, in Messages, you can create an image based on the context of the Messages thread. Apple is working on building a lot of guardrails around this feature, so we hope it will be protected from offensive images .
There’s also an Image Wand that lets you use the Image Playground in the Notes app more naturally, tracing and adjusting drawings using AI. Image Wand can also create images from scratch by drawing in the context of your note text. Images in notes use the sketch style by default, although you can replace them with an illustration or animation if you wish.
Separate from Image Playground is Genmoji, which lets you create emoji-style images using prompts or photos of your contacts or friends, for more casual use. They can work as stickers, as well as in reply messages and within your messages, although some older phones may only see your Genmoji as stickers instead. Once you create a Genmoji, it will remain on your keyboard for future use.
Writing Tools Updates
There’s also a new update to the Writing Tools feature that makes it more dynamic. In iOS 18.1, you had several out-of-the-box text rewrite options, such as “Professional” or “Friendly.” You can now use the Describe Your Change feature to get detailed information about the rewrite. You can say “write it in a more excited tone” or “write it like a haiku” and Apple will do it for you.
Set your messaging and phone apps as default
In addition to Apple Intelligence, there is a new menu item in Settings. Go to the Apps section in Settings and you’ll see the new default app center at the top. Here you can change the default apps for email, messaging, calling, call filtering, and browsing. The Messages and Calls sections are new, and no, they’re not just available in the EU: users around the world can see this .