When Is Apple Intelligence Coming to the iPhone 16? | Here’s What We Know
Toggle Dark Mode
The iPhone 16 lineup has been officially announced. While the new iPhones pack in some exciting new hardware updates, there’s some mixed news for those hoping they can take advantage of Apple’s latest AI features right away.
Although Apple was quick to point out that all four iPhone 16 models are “built for Apple Intelligence from the ground up,” these powerful new AI features won’t be available right out of the gate. The first set of Apple Intelligence features won’t arrive until sometime next month, but many of the more exciting features are even farther away on the horizon.
That’s because Apple Intelligence isn’t available in iOS 18.0, the version of iOS that the new iPhone 16 models will undoubtedly ship with when they begin arriving in stores and customers’ eager hands on September 20. Instead, as we’ve already seen from a parallel iOS 18.1 developer beta cycle that kicked off in late July, Apple Intelligence is earmarked for that later point release, and it’s likely still going to be a slow rollout from there.
So far, iOS 18.1 is only available to developers, and it’s only available for devices that are compatible with Apple Intelligence. Once the final release of iOS 18.0 ships to the public, we should see a wider release of the iOS 18.1 beta for other devices and likely even a public beta. That means early iPhone 16 adopters can likely jump on board early, but they’ll still be running beta software until sometime in October.
More significantly, the current iOS 18.1 developer betas are missing several Apple Intelligence features that Apple promised would arrive this fall, such as the generative AI Image Playground and Genmoji features. While there’s still a possibility Apple can roll those into a later iOS 18.1 beta, the latest insider reports suggest that they’re being pushed off to iOS 18.2. Ditto for ChatGPT integration, which has only been promised to arrive by the end of the year, which likely puts it closer to December than October.
Meanwhile, reliable sources expect the smarter and more personalized Siri to be months away. The prediction is that it will appear in an iOS 18.4 beta in early 2025 and likely not see a public release until February or March.
So, while there are plenty of great reasons to preorder an iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro this Friday, if your priority is Apple Intelligence, there’s no need to rush to be first in line. You’ve got plenty of time before these features start showing up.
Putting all the pieces together, this is the likely timeline for Apple Intelligence. Of course, plans may change, and Apple may be able to move a few things ahead or delay others, but it sounds like this is how the chips are most likely to fall.
It’s also worth mentioning that the coming iOS 18 point releases won’t be solely about Apple Intelligence. Apple has pushed off a few other features, including Mail Categorization (which isn’t specifically an Apple Intelligence feature, even though it sounds like one), support for Robot Vacuum Cleaners, and drag-and-drop in iPhone Mirroring. The timing for when these will be ready could also affect Apple’s release schedule for iOS 18.2 and iOS 18.3.
October: Writing Tools, Summarization, and Photos (iOS 18.1)
With iOS 18.1 already midway through a developer beta cycle, what we see there now is likely what we’ll get when it launches next month.
During its Glowtime event, Apple software chief Craig Federighi said the “first features” would be coming next month in beta in US English. That lines up with what’s there now in iOS 18.1, and Apple’s “point-one” iOS releases typically arrive in October.
That means we can expect the first Apple Intelligence features to include Writing Tools, which will help proofread and rewrite blocks of text to change their tone and respond to emails and text messages. Mail and Notes can also provide summaries of longer blocks of text and more useful previews of messages in your inbox.
The summarization feature will also apply to notifications, both from Apple’s first-party apps like Mail and Messages and third-party apps like WhatsApp, Messenger, and more. This will let you see what someone wants at a glance without needing to open the notification. Mail will also prioritize time-sensitive messages at the top of your inbox.
A few Siri improvements are coming right away, such as maintaining context between requests so you can ask follow-up questions and understanding when you stumble over your words so you won’t have to give up and start a new request. Apple is also adding its support knowledge base so Siri can help answer questions about how to do things on your iPhone.
The Photos app is also getting smarter search features to let you perform natural language searches for photos and specific moments in videos and build Memory Movies. The new Clean Up tool is also here, which is Apple’s on-device take on Google’s Magic Eraser, letting you quickly remove distracting background objects from photos.
Lastly, the Phone app is expected to gain the ability to record phone calls. This should be coming to all iPhones that support iOS 18.1, but the Apple Intelligence part will summarize those longer transcripts, just like it can do with audio recordings in Apple Notes.
November / December: Genmoji, Image Playground, ChatGPT, and More English (iOS 18.2 / iOS 18.3)
The two most conspicuously absent features in iOS 18.1 are Apple’s image generation tools, Genmoji and Image Playground. Since they still haven’t arrived, it wasn’t a big surprise when Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman predicted that these would be delayed until iOS 18.2.
Gurman notes that it’s scheduled for release in December, which would align with recent trends for Apple’s “point-two” releases. These have arrived in early to mid-December since iOS 15. However, iOS 14.2 showed up in November, and with iOS 13 — the last time a “point-one” release went into early beta — we saw iOS 13.2 in late October since iOS 13.1 showed up at the end of September that year.
The fact that iOS 18.1 is already humming along in beta leaves us hopeful that it could be released in early October. This would, in turn, allow iOS 18.2 to be out by the end of November and possibly even let us see iOS 18.3 by the end of the year.
However, if Apple takes that approach, we’ll likely see ChatGPT integration and support for more English languages pushed off to iOS 18.3. In August, Apple CEO Tim Cook said ChatGPT was coming by the end of 2024. During yesterday’s Glowtime event, Federighi noted that Apple Intelligence would add support for localized English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United Kingdom in December.
January: Siri and Personalized Context (iOS 18.3 or iOS 18.4)
If Apple pushes iOS 18.2 into December and rolls everything into that, the early 2025 release will become iOS 18.3; otherwise, it would be iOS 18.4. Either way, this is when the new and improved Siri is expected to arrive.
This is arguably the coolest stuff that Apple showed off when it unveiled Apple Intelligence during its June Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) presentation. Its deeper integration lets Siri act like a true virtual assistant, piecing together bits of information from apps on your iPhone such as Mail, Messages, Notes, and more so that it can answer questions without you spelling everything out.
For example, if you ask Siri if you have time to make it to your kid’s concert after a work meeting, it can automatically find information about that concert from your son, daughter, or spouse in Mail or Messages — including reading a PDF of the poster if necessary — and then check your emails and calendar to see when your last meeting for that day is scheduled, and check Apple Maps to determine the travel time between the meeting’s location and the event venue.
Siri will also gain on-screen awareness as part of this, so you won’t have to spell out your request when you’re already looking at something. If someone sends you a recommendation for a restaurant, you can simply ask, “What time does it open?” while looking at the message, and Siri will know what you’re talking about and gather the necessary information to provide a helpful response.
Early 2025: More Languages
Lastly, Apple has promised that Apple Intelligence will gain support for non-English languages “starting next year.” While there’s no word on precisely when that will happen, Federighi said it plans to begin with Chinese, French, Japanese, and Spanish. These may arrive simultaneously or be staggered across several iOS 18 point releases.
