Image Playground

Apple Intelligence is an artificial intelligence system developed by Apple Inc. Relying on a combination of on-device and server processing, it was announced on June 10, 2024, at WWDC 2024, as a built-in feature of Apple's iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, which were announced alongside Apple Intelligence. Apple Intelligence is free for all users with supported devices. It launched for developers and testers on July 29, 2024, in U.S. English, with the iOS 18.1, macOS 15.1, and iPadOS 18.1 developer betas, released partially in October 28, 2024, and will fully launch by 2025. United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and South African localized versions of English gained support on December 11, 2024. On March 31, 2025, Chinese (simplified), English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese localized versions were added as part of the release of iOS 18.4, macOS 15.4, and iPadOS 18.4. It also rolled out in the European Union, and brought support to Apple Vision Pro. Apple Intelligence support for Vision Pro is only available in U.S. English.

Models

Apple Intelligence consists of an on-device model as well as a cloud model running on servers primarily using Apple silicon. Both models consist of a generic foundation model, as well as multiple adapter models that are more specialized to particular tasks like text summarization and tone adjustment.

According to a human evaluation done by Apple's machine learning division, the on-device foundation model beat or tied equivalent small models by Mistral AI, Microsoft, and Google, while the server foundation models beat the performance of OpenAI's GPT-3, while roughly matching the performance of GPT-4.

Apple's cloud models are built on a Private Cloud Compute platform which is designed heavily with user privacy and end-to-end encryption in mind. Unlike other generative AI services like ChatGPT which use servers from third-parties, Apple Intelligence's cloud models are run entirely on Apple servers with custom Apple silicon hardware built for end-to-end encryption. It was also designed to make sure that the software running on said servers matches the independently verifiable software accessible to researchers. In case of a software mismatch, Apple devices will refuse to connect to the servers.

On June 10, 2025, during WWDC 2025, Apple announced that Apple's on-device foundation models will be available to third-party applications as part of the Foundation Models API, with support for structured data response and tool calling.

Functionality and features

Writing Tools

Apple Intelligence features writing tools that are powered by LLMs. Selected text can be proofread, rewritten, made more friendly, concise or professional, similar to Grammarly's AI writing features. It can also be used to generate summaries, key points, tables, and lists from an article or piece of writing. In iOS 18.2 and macOS 15.2, a ChatGPT integration was added to Writing Tools through "Compose" and "Describe your change" features. Writing Tools has been replicated by Xiaomi, and an open-source PC program brings similar functionality to Windows, Linux, and older Macs.

Image Playground

Apple Intelligence can be used to generate images on-device with the Image Playground app. Similarly to OpenAI's DALL-E, it can be used to generate images using AI, using phrases and descriptions to create an image with customizable styles such as Animation and Sketch. In Notes, users can access Image Playground on iPad, MacOS and iPhone through the Image Wand tool in the Apple Pencil palette without having to open the Image Playground app. Rough sketches made with Apple Pencil can be transformed into images.

As part of iOS, iPadOS, and macOS 26, Image Playground now integrates with the image generation models built into ChatGPT.

Genmoji

Using Apple Intelligence text-to-image models, users can create original "Genmoji" images by typing descriptions. Users can pick people in photos and create Genmoji images that resemble them. Similarly to emoji, Genmoji can be added inline to text messages, tapbacks, stickers and can be shared in Messages as well in third-party applications as inline messages or as stickers.

Siri overhaul

Siri, Apple's virtual assistant, has been updated with enhanced capabilities made possible by Apple Intelligence. The latest iteration features an updated user interface, improved natural language processing, and the option to interact via text by double tapping the home bar without enabling the feature in the Accessibility menu, or double-clicking the command key on macOS. In a later update, Apple Intelligence will add the ability for Siri to use personal context from device activities to answer queries.

Mail

Apple Intelligence adds a feature called Priority Messages to the Mail app, which shows urgent emails such as same-day invitations or boarding passes, with AI generated summaries of the email. The Mail app also gains the ability to categorize incoming mail into Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions based on what the email contains, which Apple claims is done all on-device.

Photos

Apple's Photos app includes a feature to create custom memory movies and enhanced search capabilities. Users can describe a story, and using Apple Intelligence, Photos selects matching photos, videos, and music. Users can also remove distractions in images with the Clean Up tool in the Photos app. Apple Intelligence identifies background objects and removes them with a tap, brush, or circle. It organizes these into a movie with a narrative arc based on identified themes. Additionally, users can search for specific photos or videos by description and/or keyword, and Apple Intelligence can pinpoint particular moments within video clips.

Notifications

Using the Notification Summary feature, Apple Intelligence can summarize notifications from messaging apps and groups of notifications from apps so that users don't have to examine large amounts of notifications. A new Reduce Interruptions focus mode silences notifications deemed unimportant while letting important notifications go through.

Visual Intelligence

On the iPhone 16 and 16 Pro or later, users are able to hold down the Camera Control button and take a picture of an item to then either send to ChatGPT or search with Google. The image taken is not stored on-device, and Apple claims they do not have access to the image either. This is meant to allow people to learn more about items faster. This feature was also made available on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 16e starting with iOS 18.4 via the action button or in the Control Center.

ChatGPT integration

As a result of the company's partnership with OpenAI, Apple Intelligence also includes a system-wide integration with ChatGPT, allowing Siri to determine when to send certain complex user requests to ChatGPT. This system-wide integration is powered by GPT-4o. ChatGPT integration is opt-in by default, with users being prompted before any data or photos are sent to ChatGPT servers and IP addresses being obscured when requests are sent to OpenAI's servers. Using ChatGPT features is free for all users without needing to sign in, however, they will only get a limited number of GPT-4o requests until switching to a less powerful GPT. Paid subscribers can sign in to gain access to paid features systemwide including more requests using GPT-4o. Apple plans to integrate other models such as Google's Gemini into the system in the future.

Development

Background

Apple first implemented artificial intelligence features in its products with the release of Siri in the iPhone 4S in 2011. In the years after its release, Apple engaged in efforts to ensure its artificial intelligence operations remained covert; according to University of California, Berkeley professor Trevor Darrell, the company's secrecy deterred graduate students. The company started expanding its artificial intelligence team in 2015, opening up its operations by publishing more scientific papers and joining AI industry research groups. Apple reportedly acquired more AI companies from 2016 to 2020. In 2017, Apple released the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X with the A11 Bionic processor, which featured its first dedicated Neural Engine for accelerating common machine learning tasks. Despite its investments in artificial intelligence, Siri was criticized both by reviewers and internally at Apple for lagging behind other AI assistants.

The rapid development of generative artificial intelligence and the release of ChatGPT in late 2022 reportedly blindsided Apple executives and forced the company to refocus its efforts on AI. In an interview with ''Good Morning America'', Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that generative AI had "great promise" but had some potential dangers, and that it was "looking closely" at ChatGPT. It was first reported in July 2023 that Apple was creating its own internal large language model, codenamed "Ajax". In October 2023, Apple was reportedly on track to release new generative AI features into its operating systems by 2024, including a significantly redeveloped Siri. In an earnings call in February 2024, Cook stated that the company was spending a "tremendous amount of time and effort" into AI features that would be shared "later that year".

Release timeline

Supported devices

All Macs and iPads with an M-series Apple silicon chip support Apple Intelligence with macOS 15.1 and iPadOS 18.1 and later, respectively. iPhones and iPads with the A17 Pro chip or later are also supported with iOS 18.1 and later Apple claims the less capable Neural Engine of older chips, which is used for AI tasks, are not powerful enough for Apple Intelligence features. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo speculates that the RAM requirements of the on-device model prohibits Apple Intelligence from running on older iPhone models. On March 31, 2025, Apple Intelligence was introduced to the Apple Vision Pro with the release of visionOS 2.4.

Apple Intelligence cannot be used on Macs if the operating system is booted off of an external drive, but workarounds exist to circumvent the limitation.

Macs

* MacBook Air (M1, 2020) or later
* MacBook Pro (M1, 2020) or later
* Mac Mini (M1, 2020) or later
* Mac Pro (M2 Ultra, 2023)
* Mac Studio (M1 Max/Ultra, 2022) or later
* iMac (M1, 2021) or later

iPads

* iPad Pro (M1, 5th generation, 2021) or later
* iPad Air (M1, 5th generation, 2022) or later
* iPad mini (A17 Pro, 7th generation, 2024) or later

iPhones

* iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max
* iPhone 16e, 16 and 16 Plus or later

Apple Vision Pros

* Apple Vision Pro

Reception

Critical response

Apple Intelligence received mixed reviews upon its release. Allison Johnson of ''The Verge'' found the release "underwhelming", but noted that features like notification summarization was "a little more promising".

News summary controversy

In December 2024, the BBC sent a complaint to Apple over its notification summary feature falsely stating the BBC News app to have reported that Luigi Mangione, then recently arrested following the shooting of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, had killed himself. In January 2025, the BBC followed up its complaint highlighting further incorrect summaries of its stories, such as announcing that Luke Littler had won the PDC World Darts Championship hours before the final had even taken place (though he did win), and that "Brazilian tennis player" Rafael Nadal (who is actually Spanish) had come out as gay, a story that was in reality about Brazilian player João Lucas Reis da Silva.

In a response to the BBC, an Apple spokesperson clarified that all Apple Intelligence features were still in beta and were being continuously improved, and encouraged users to send feedback for unexpected summaries. Notification summaries for all news applications were later disabled in the iOS 18.3 beta, and a disclaimer was added to the Settings app warning that summaries "may contain errors".

Lawsuit over delayed launch of Apple Intelligence

On March 19, 2025, a federal lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court in San Jose over allegations of false advertising and unfair competition regarding the delayed launch of some of its Apple Intelligence features.
The suit said that Apple’s ads for Apple Intelligence “saturated the internet, television, and other airwaves to cultivate a clear and reasonable consumer expectation that these transformative features would be available upon the iPhone’s release.”

The suit continued: “This drove unprecedented excitement in the market, even for Apple, as the company knew it would, and as part of Apple’s ongoing effort to convince consumers to upgrade at a premium price and to distinguish itself from competitors deemed to be winning the AI arms race.”
“Apple deceived millions of consumers into purchasing new phones they did not need based on features that do not exist, in violation of multiple false advertising and consumer protection laws,” claimed the lawsuit filing, adding that Apple’s “pervasive marketing campaign” was “built on a lie.”

See also

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References

External links

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Apple Developer page

{{Apple software

Apple Intelligence
2024 software
Products introduced in 2024
Applications of artificial intelligence
AI software
Apple Inc. software
OpenAI
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