Now that Apple Intelligence is here, these are the four features you’ll actually use every day

After months of hype, the first collections of Apple intelligence The features are here – but which ones will you actually use? I’ve been running this technology since it first appeared in iOS betas, and these are the four features I find myself using daily.

You need to iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro (or Plus and Max variants) running iOS 18.2, and most importantly, you should Request access to Apple Intelligence To take advantage of these new technologies.

Once you’re in, here’s what you can realistically expect. More features will be added over time — and remember, Apple Intelligence is still an official beta program — but this is where Apple begins the AI ​​era.

Summaries bring TL;DR to your correspondence

In an age where more and more demands are placed on our attention and there seems to be less time to research longer topics… Excuse me, what was I saying?

Oh, right: How many times have you wanted to get the “too long; unread” version of not only long emails but also the communication hose that blows your way? The ability to summarize notifications, mail messages, and web pages is perhaps Apple Intelligence’s most widespread and least intrusive feature yet.

When a notification arrives, such as a text message from a friend or group in Messages, your iPhone creates a short, one-sentence summary.

Sometimes the summaries are vague, sometimes they are Unintentionally funnyBut so far I’ve found it more useful than not. Summaries can also be generated from alerts from third-party apps like news or social media apps — though I suspect my outdoor security camera picks up multiple pedestrians over time and doesn’t tell me there are 10 people piled up next to the door.

However, Apple Intelligence certainly doesn’t understand sarcasm or slang — You can turn off summaries if you prefer.

You can also create a longer summary of emails in the Mail app: Tap summary The button at the top of the message displays a summary of the contents in a few dozen words.

In Safari, when viewing a page that has Reader available, tap Page menu In the address bar, click View reader Then press summary The button at the top of the page.

Siri gets a better glow and interaction

I enjoyed that during iOS 18 and iPhone 16 the main visual indicator of Apple’s intelligence — the full-screen, colorful Siri animations at the edges — was noticeably missing. Apple even lit up the edges of the massive glass cube of the Apple Fifth Avenue store in New York City as a Siri search.

instead of, iOS 18 used the same old Siri ball.

Now, Siri’s modern look has arrived as of iOS 18.1, but only on devices that support Apple Intelligence. If you’re still tapping your fingers in… Apple Intelligence Queue Queue, you’ll also see the Siri ball at the moment.

With the new look, there are some improvements to Siri’s interaction: It’ll be more forgiving if you stumble over a query, like saying the wrong word or interrupting yourself mid-thought. It’s also best to listen after you’ve achieved results, so you can ask relevant follow-up questions.

However, the ability to customize answers based on what Apple Intelligence knows about you is still on the way. What’s featured in iOS 18.2 is integration ChatGPTwhich you can now use as an alternative source of information. For some queries, if Siri doesn’t have an answer right away, you’ll be asked if you’d like to use ChatGPT instead. You don’t need a ChatGPT account to take advantage of this (but if you do, you can log in).

Remove distractions from your photos with the Cleanup feature in the Photos app

Until iOS 18.1, the Photos app on iPhone and iPad lacked a simple retouch feature. Dust on camera lens? Trash on the floor? Sorry, you need to deal with these and other distractions in the Photos app on macOS or using a third-party app.

Apple Intelligence now includes Clean Up, an AI-powered removal tool, in the Photos app. When you are editing an image and press cleaning The iPhone analyzes the image and suggests possible items to remove by highlighting them. Tap one or draw a circle around an area – the app scans those areas and uses generative AI to fill in sensible pixels.

In this first release, Clean Up wasn’t perfect, and you’ll often get better results in other dedicated photo editing software. But to quickly remove disturbances from photos, it’s okay.

Stay on task with AI-powered interruption-minimizing focus mode

Focus modes on your iPhone can be very useful, such as turning on Do Not Disturb to isolate yourself from external distractions. You can also create custom focus modes. For example, my podcast recording mode blocks external notifications except from a small group of people during scheduled recording times.

With Apple Intelligence enabled, a new mode is available to focus on reducing interruptions. When active, it becomes a smarter filter for what bypasses the wall and blocks unnecessary notifications. Even things that aren’t specified in your criteria for allowed notifications, such as specific people, may appear. On my iPhone, for example, this could include weather alerts or text messages from my bank when a large purchase or money transfer occurs.

To enable it, open Control Center, then tap Focus button And choose Minimize interruptions.

To learn more about Apple Intelligence features, see How to build JinmojiHow to use Photo stick And if you want to downsize, how do you do it? Disable specific Apple Intelligence features.