Apple has confirmed that iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS 15.2 will be released to the public on Wednesday, bringing with them new imaging-based Apple Intelligence features.
An iPhone running Apple Intelligence
Apple provided beta testers with the second release candidate of iOS 18.2 earlier in the week, to give a final shakedown to inbound Apple Intelligence features ahead of the public release. On Wednesday, Apple said the release will be happening later in the day.
In a post to its newsroom, it confirmed that iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 will be out on Wednesday. It will also bring out a "brand-new set" of Apple Intelligence features to the platforms, that will focus largely on generative AI imaging.
The release brings with it Image Playground, which lets users create images from a variety of prompts. As well as within the Image Playground app, the images can also be generated within Notes and other apps with the Image Wand, and can even draw on key phrases from nearby text in a document for its prompts.
The second major image-based feature is Genmoji, a feature that can generate emoji for the user, again from prompts. This can even use images from a photo library, so emoji can use characters that look like friends and family members.
Writing Tools, a first-wave feature, will get a new option for users to "Describe Your Change." Instead of sticking to the existing tools, users can instead explain how they want their writing to sound like when the app rewrites it.
Siri benefits from ChatGPT integration, with Apple's digital assistant offering to pass queries over to ChatGPT when appropriate. This also extends to image generation and for Writing Tools changes.
Users are able to control when the ChatGPT integration is used, and what information is provided to the third-party LLM service. A ChatGPT account is not required for its use, and OpenAI will not store requests when it is used in this way.
Owners of the iPhone 16 will get a new function for their Camera Control button. Visual Intelligence will use information sourced from the camera, and will handle a variety of tasks, including copying text, translations, and adding visible phone numbers and email addresses to contacts.
Visual Intelligence will also be able to use Google's search facilities.
While Apple Intelligence was available for U.S. English at first, the iOS 18.2 wave will be usable by a much wider audience. Localized English support for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. is also included, with other languages arriving in 2025, starting in April.