iPhone 16 just launched globally. Even though Apple is heavily promoting Apple Intelligence features, they won’t be available once you take your phone out of the box as they are part of a future iOS 18.1 update, which is currently in beta.
Cupertino expects to release iOS 18.1 to all users by October. However, if you’re one of the early birds to get the iPhone 16, you won’t be able to take advantage of Apple Intelligence, and even more enticing features won’t arrive until later this year. But there’s an easy way to take full advantage of your new iPhone 16 and start using Apple Intelligence as soon as you get your phone. You only need to follow the steps below.
Join the Apple Beta Software Program for instant access to Apple Intelligence
Even if you’re not a developer, you can join Apple’s Beta Software Program. You need to enroll your Apple ID on the website, and then you can take advantage of Apple’s public beta releases. After you follow the Apple Beta Software Program steps, do that on your iPhone 16:
- On your iPhone, open the Settings app
- Tap on General and Software Update
- Tap on Beta Updates and enable iOS 18.1 Public Beta
Apple Intelligence features coming to iPhone 16
Image source: José Adorno for BGR
Once the beta version is downloaded, you can take advantage of the following features:
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- Writing Tools: Proofread your text, rewrite different versions until the tone and wording are right, and summarize the selected text with a tap.
- Improved Siri: With a new design, Siri can maintain context between requests. Even if you stumble over words or shift what you’re saying mid-sentence, Siri can understand what you actually want.
- Priority notifications appear at the top of the stack, letting you know what to pay attention to at a glance. Notifications are summarized so you can scan them faster.
- Priority messages in Mail: Elevate time-sensitive messages to the top of your inbox, like an invitation that has a deadline today or a check-in reminder for your flight this afternoon.
- Record and transcribe calls in the Notes app: Just hit record in the Notes or Phone apps to capture audio recordings and transcripts. Apple Intelligence generates summaries of your transcripts so you can get to the most important information at a glance.
- Reduce interruptions: With iOS 18.1 beta 1, an all-new Focus Mode understands the content of your notifications and shows you the ones that might need immediate attention, like a text about picking up your child from daycare later today.
- Smart Reply in Mail: Quickly draft an email response with all the right details. Apple Intelligence can identify the question you were asked in an email and offer relevant selections to include in your response.
- Clean Up: This Photos app feature can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo without accidentally altering the subject.
- Summarization: Apple Intelligence can now summarize more than just Messages and Mail notifications.
Use the Camera Control button to find out information about a restaurant with Visual Intelligence. Image source: Apple Inc.
With iOS 18.2, Apple is expected to add the following features to iPhone 16 users:
- Image Playground: Users can create playful images in seconds, choosing from Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. This app is built right into apps like Messages and is also available in a dedicated app;
- Genmoji: Create custom emojis by writing a prompt to Apple Intelligence, such as a frog with a hat, and so on
- Visual Intelligence: It helps users learn about objects and places faster than ever before. Users can click and hold Camera Control to pull up the hours or ratings for a restaurant they pass, add an event from a flyer to their calendar, quickly identify a dog by breed, and more.
Wrap up
With this article, you’re now ready to take advantage of Apple Intelligence on your iPhone 16 from day one.
