Apple releases public beta of iOS 18.1 update
Apple has released the first public beta of the much-anticipated iOS 18.1 update, along with iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1, allowing non-developers to try out the updates ahead of their final release in October.
Users enrolled in the Apple Beta Program can download updates by opening the Settings app, going to the Software Update section, and then selecting the Public Beta option.
These are the first updates to include Apple’s new AI features known as “Apple Intelligence.” Not all of Apple’s AI features have been added yet, but current betas include writing tools, changes to Siri, text summarization, and smart replies in Messages and Mail.
It is worth noting that using the new Apple Intelligence features requires iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16, iPads, or Mac computers with Apple Silicon M-series processors.
AI-powered writing and text tools provide spelling and grammar correction, rephrasing and summarizing text, and content summarization in Siri, and these features will be available anywhere text can be entered and edited, noting that they will be available first in English in the United States, and Apple will support more languages later .
Apple has redesigned its smart assistant Siri to come with a new interface with the option to type and the ability to interact without having to speak, in addition to Siri's ability to follow the context in conversations.
Other features that Apple will offer in the initial batch of AI features include the Memory Movie feature to create animated slideshows from photos based on text descriptions, a photo editing tool to delete unwanted elements, in addition to recording phone calls and converting them to texts and summarizing them, saving recordings in the Notes app, and other features.
Apple will postpone other features such as image generation, emojis, and ChatGPT integration into Siri to later updates.