Apple released iOS 18.2 public beta 1 update for iPhone on Tuesday. This comes about two weeks after the developer beta was released. The latest update expands the range of features powered by Apple Intelligence – the company’s artificial intelligence (AI) suite. It includes Image Playground, Genmoji, ChatGPT integration into Siri, and other extras. It also bundles several camera control-related features exclusive to Apple’s latest iPhone 16 series.
iOS 18.2 Public Beta 1 Update: What’s New
Apple previewed several AI additions at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2024 in June, but only a few of them were released. Image Playground and ChatGPT integration into Siri were announced as the most anticipated features, but both of them remained missing from Apple’s public beta updates until now.
iOS 18.2 Public Beta 1 adds Image Playground – a standalone app that lets users create AI images based on descriptive signals, leveraging generative AI. They can select a reference person from their Photos app for inspiration and choose from different art styles. The app also bundles the Genmoji feature that does everything from Image Playground to creating custom emojis. Apple says the images created can be shared across apps like Messages, Notes, and Keynote.
Another notable addition is the Image Wand feature that can transform a rough sketch into a corresponding image in the Notes app using Apple Intelligence.
Apart from features related to image and emoji creation, another notable highlight of iOS 18.2 Public Beta 1 is the integration of ChatGPIT into Siri. iPhone users can now leverage OpenAI’s large language models (LLM) to get more in-depth responses to questions and insights about photos and documents from Siri – Apple’s voice assistant. ChatGPT has also become part of the authoring tools in the Apple Intelligence suite. It can now change text even further based on textual cues or create new text by analyzing what the user has previously written.
Apple says using ChatGPT as part of Siri on iPhone requires an alternative sign-in. iPhone users with a paid ChatGPT account can use their account to gain access to more powerful OpenAI models without any daily limits.
For iPhone 16 users, the camera control button gets additional capabilities courtesy of visual intelligence. It is said to be Apple’s own version of Google Lens, which allows users to point the camera viewfinder to search for an object on the web or ask ChatGPT for more information.
Other features of the update include a new email app with an on-device classification system and expanded availability of Apple Intelligence in more English-speaking locations such as English (Australia), English (Canada) and English (New Zealand).
