Queue up Now to Try Apple’s AI Image Generator Early
The latest iOS 18.1 update finally brings with it some of the Apple Intelligence features that were promised back in June. But the new Siri and Photos features are just a small part of what Apple has planned. The next release, sometime in December, will finally add ChatGPT, Visual Intelligence integration, as well as the long-awaited Genmoji and Image Playground to the mix. While the final release is still a long way off, you can install the developer beta to try out the features right away.
How to Enable AI Features in iOS 18.2 Developer Beta
The name of the game is “Waiting List.” Apple Intelligence itself is already on the waiting list, even for iOS 18.1 users. And the iOS 18.2 beta already has another waitlist for Image Playground, Genmoji, and Image Wand.
But let’s do it step by step. First, update to the iOS 18.2 developer beta. To do this, go to Settings > Software Update > Beta Updates and select iOS 18.2 Developer Beta . Then press the back button and wait a moment until the iOS 18.2 beta pop-up appears. Click “Update Now” to get started.
If you don’t see it, first make sure your iPhone is running the latest available software. You may also be asked to sign in to the Apple developer website using the Apple ID associated with your iPhone.
After updating to iOS 18.2, you’ll first need to sign up for the Apple Intelligence waitlist (if it’s not already on). Go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and tap the switch next to Apple Intelligence to get started ( read more here ).
We’re not done yet. You’ll then need to sign up for the Image Playground waitlist to enable image generation features in Image Playground, Genmoji, and Image Wand. Open the Image Playground app, click “Request Early Access” and wait. Unlike the Apple Intelligence beta, which usually only takes a couple of hours to be approved , you may have to wait a few weeks to access the Image Playground beta. Apple is quite slow in letting users in here .
Chat with ChatGPT
Before we get into the waitlist features, let’s talk about some features you can use right now. 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 just start your request with “Ask ChatGPT” to jump straight to it, and any responses generated by ChatGPT will still be clearly marked). You can also log in with a ChatGPT account to keep track of your queries (paid models will be available later). From here you can also easily disable the entire ChatGPT feature.
Search for anything using visual intelligence
The new beta also includes Visual Intelligence, a feature exclusive to the iPhone 16 series. Long press the camera control 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 will 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 was very lucky to find similar results.
Create your own Genmoji and AI images
As we mentioned above, Image Playground features have their own waiting list, and Apple is pretty strict with the approval process. I haven’t entered yet myself. If you install the iOS 18.2 beta, wait a couple of weeks before you can demo these features.
It all starts with the new Image Playground app. With the new AI image maker app, Apple says you can create images in two styles using built-in themes and tools. It’s a standalone app, but it’s also part of apps like Messages, Pages, Keynote, and Freeform. There are several ways to use this. In the app, you can start by describing the image you want to create, and then choose whether to use an animated style or a sketch style. Or, if you’re 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 .
Genmoji lets you create emoji-style stickers using prompts or photos of your contacts or friends for more casual use.
Image Playground also extends to the Notes app in the form of the Image Wand feature. Here, you can draw a sketch, select it using the Image Picker, and Apple will give you the option to give it an animated or cartoon style. It should also work in white space , where it will instead generate images based on the text of your notes.
Writing Tools Updates
There’s also a new update to the just-released Writing Tools feature that makes it more dynamic. In iOS 18.1, you have several ready-made text rewrite options, such as “Professional” or “Friendly”. In the iOS 18.2 beta, you can 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. When you go to the Recently added apps section in Settings , you’ll see a new Default apps 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 . At the time of writing, this feature is not working for me, but it should start working as soon as the update becomes available to the general public.