In September, Apple introduced a range of new features with iOS 18. Now, Apple is rolling out iOS 18.1, along with iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1, which includes Apple Intelligence, Apple’s suite of AI tools. This update brings additional new features and bug fixes to many iPhones, along with select Apple Intelligence capabilities for users outside the EU and China who have an iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 model.
The latest iOS update introduces various Apple Intelligence tools to certain iPhones, such as email writing assistance, the Clean Up photo tool, and an enhanced Siri. Now, your iPhone can help proofread and edit emails before sending, remove unwanted objects from photos, and more.
To access these features, users need to join the Apple Intelligence waiting list by going to ‘Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Join the Apple Intelligence Waitlist’ and tapping ‘Join Waitlist.’ Once approved, users gain access to the above Apple Intelligence tools.
These features are available only to users outside the EU and China with an iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max, or any iPhone 16 model. Those with the base model iPhone 15 or earlier won’t have access at this time.
Beyond the AI features, iOS 18.1 also offers new Camera Control improvements, allowing quick switching to the front camera on all 2024 iPhone models, and adds a Spatial camera mode for capturing spatial photos and videos on the iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max.
Additionally, this update includes a new AirPods Hearing Test feature, along with a Hearing Aid function (offering clinical-grade hearing assistance) and a Hearing Protection mode (to reduce exposure to loud sounds), both compatible with AirPods 2.
Here is the complete list of changes in this update:
- Apple Intelligence (All iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)
- Writing Tools
- Writing Tools are available nearly everywhere you type, allowing you to rewrite, proofread, and summarize text right in the app you’re working in
- Rewrite suggests different versions of your text so you can choose which combination of flow and wording you like best
- Proofread lets you view suggested improvements to what you’re writing, like grammar fixes and language refinements
- Summarize allows you to select text wherever you’re writing and generate a high-quality summary
- Siri
- A new look and feel includes a glowing light that wraps around the edge of your screen, animates responsively to the sound of your voice, and lets you keep scrolling or typing while you talk to Siri
- Type to Siri when you don’t want to speak a request out loud by double tapping at the bottom of the screen
- Richer language understanding enables Siri to follow along if you stumble over your words or change your mind mid-sentence
- Conversational context is maintained over the course of a session, so you can refer more naturally to something you said in a recent request or something Siri mentioned in a recent response
- Product knowledge helps you get answers to thousands of questions about the features and settings on your Apple products
- Voice enhancements make Siri sound more natural, expressive, and clear
- Photos
- Photos search lets you find photos and videos simply by describing what you’re looking for
- Clean Up removes distractions in your photos
- Memory movies can be created by describing the story you want to see
- Notifications
- Notification summaries make it easy to catch up on your notifications with a glanceable summary of the most important information
- Reduce Interruptions is a new Focus that ensures the most urgent notifications get through to you while silencing potential distractions
- Smart Reply in Mail and Messages help you quickly respond to messages with suggested responses
- Priority messages in Mail understands the content of your messages and prioritizes those that require your attention, displaying them at the top of your inbox
- Transcription summaries in Notes give you an intelligently created summary of the transcript from your audio recording or call recording
- Writing Tools
- Phone
- Call recordings and transcriptions let you record live calls and transcribe them in the Notes app, with an automatic announcement that the call is being recorded
- Camera
- Camera Control can quickly switch to the front TrueDepth Camera (iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max)
- Spatial photo capture, along with spatial video capture, is available in a new Spatial camera mode (iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)
- AirPods
- Hearing Test feature provides scientifically-validated hearing test results from the comfort of home (intended for users 18 years or older)
- Hearing Aid feature provides personalized, clinical-grade assistance that is automatically applied to sounds in your environment as well as music, videos, and calls (intended for users 18 years or older with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss)
- Hearing Protection feature helps users minimize exposure to loud environmental noise across listening modes (available in the United States and Canada)
- Features require AirPods Pro 2 with firmware version 7B19 or later. All features may not be available for all countries or regions, for more information visit: https://apple.com/airpods-pro/feature-availability/
- This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:
- Control Center has new options to add connectivity controls individually and reset your configuration
- RCS Business Messaging lets you connect with businesses over RCS (requires carrier support)
- App Store search lets you use natural language to find what you’re looking for more easily
- Game Center friend invites can be sent directly from the Contacts app and Friend Suggestions, and receivers can see the invites in the inbox in Settings
- Fixes an issue in Podcasts where unplayed episodes are marked as played
- Fixes an issue where videos recorded at 4K 60 while the device is warm could experience stutter while scrubbing the video playback in Photos
- Fixes an issue where digital car keys may not unlock or start a vehicle with passive entry after restoring from a backup or transferring directly from another iPhone
- Fixes an issue where iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro models may unexpectedly restart
