Apple Intelligence arrives with macOS Sequoia update

Apple has released macOS Sequoia 15.1 with the promised first set of Apple Intelligence features, including Writing Tools and an improved Siri.

Following its initial release in mid-September 2024, macOS Sequoia has now been updated to include Apple Intelligence. The update contains the bulk of Apple Intelligence features, but not all of them.

Specifically, macOS Sequoia 15.1 still lacks the promised integration with ChatGPT, plus Genmoji and the generative Image Playground. What it does bring are:

Writing Tools
Mail and notifications summaries
Priority messages in Mail
An improved Siri
The Clean Up tool for Photos
Improved search in Photos

The improvements to Siri see Apple's voice assistant being better able work out context. If a user changes their mind about a query, it recognizes which parts to abandon, for instance.

Now in Photos users can type a description of what they are looking for, and Apple Intelligence will search their photo library for matches. Then if the right image isn't quite perfect, the user can apply the new Clean Up tool to remove unwanted elements.

Apple has released an updated list of Macs that will support Apple Intelligence. As expected, it is a subset of the Macs that can run macOS Sequoia at all, and is confined to devices based on Apple Silicon:

MacBook Air M1 and later
MacBook Pro M1 and later
iMac M1 and later
Mac mini M1 and later
Mac Studio M1 Max and later
Mac Pro M2 Ultra

Initially, macOS Sequoia 15.1 brings Apple Intelligence solely in US English. Releases with these features for other countries will begin rolling out in December 2024.

This first round of Apple Intelligence features is also now available for the iPhone and iPad. On the iPhone, Apple Intelligence requires an A17 Pro processor or later, meaning it works with the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, plus the whole of the iPhone 16 range.