The Best Apple Intelligence Features You Should Try Right Now on Your New iPhone, iPad, or Mac
The holiday season might have gifted you a shiny new Apple device, such as the latest iPhone 16, iPad Mini with the A17 Pro chip, or the M4 Mac mini. With so many devices to choose from, one thing that unites them all is the integration of Apple’s AI-powered features. Apple’s AI suite, often referred to as “Apple Intelligence,” offers a wide range of tools to enhance your productivity, creativity, and everyday experience with their products. If you’re looking to explore the full potential of your new device, here’s a roundup of the top Apple Intelligence features to try right now.
These features not only leverage advanced AI but also integrate seamlessly into Apple’s ecosystem, making them incredibly easy and fun to use. Below are the 5 best Apple Intelligence features that are revolutionizing how you interact with your new iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Let’s dive in!
1. Genmoji: Create AI-Generated Emojis (iPhone and iPad)
Genmoji is one of the most fun and innovative Apple Intelligence features available today. It allows you to create custom, AI-generated emojis that are unlike anything you’ve seen before. Whether you want an emoji of a lion on a skateboard, Santa riding a sleigh, or even a personalized version based on your photos, Genmoji offers endless possibilities.
How to Use Genmoji
To get started, you’ll need an iPhone or iPad running iOS 18.2 or iPadOS 18.2. Once the update is installed, simply open the emoji keyboard, tap on the Genmoji option, and let the AI work its magic. You can create emojis based on people, pets, objects, and various other themes.
What sets Genmoji apart is its ability to use the Photos app to create emojis from actual people in your photo library. Imagine having a cartoon version of your best friend in your group chat, or creating a personalized emoji for your pet dog. It’s fun, quirky, and a fantastic way to add a little personality to your conversations.
This feature is currently available on iPhones and iPads, but Mac users will have to wait until macOS Sequoia 15.3 is released in early 2025.
Why You Should Try It
- Personalized emojis: Make emojis based on real-life photos.
- Endless creativity: The AI can generate a variety of fun, creative emojis.
- Family-friendly: Great for all ages, making it a hit in group chats.
2. Apple Writing Tools: AI-Powered Text Enhancement (iPhone, iPad, Mac)
Apple’s Writing Tools is a powerful AI feature designed to help you improve your writing with ease. It works on the iPhone, iPad, and Mac, but it really shines on Apple’s Mac computers due to their larger screen size and more robust processing power. Writing Tools can be a game-changer, especially for students, professionals, or anyone who needs to perfect their text.
How It Works
The Writing Tools feature helps you with proofreading, rewriting, and even enhancing your sentences to make your text sound clearer, more professional, or more concise. It is Apple’s answer to tools like Grammarly, and it’s built right into the iOS, iPadOS, and macOS ecosystem.
To use it, simply highlight a section of text in any app that allows text editing, and you’ll notice the option to access Apple’s Writing Tools. From there, you can choose to improve spelling, grammar, punctuation, and even rephrase entire sentences to sound more polished.
Why You Should Try It
- Smart rewriting: It rephrases sentences to improve clarity.
- Contextual corrections: Detects grammar and punctuation mistakes.
- User-friendly: It’s seamlessly integrated into Apple’s native apps, including Mail, Notes, and Safari.
For users who frequently write emails, reports, essays, or blog posts, this AI-powered writing tool will become a valuable companion. It’s a supercharged version of autocorrect that you don’t even have to think about. Simply type, and let Apple Intelligence handle the rest!
3. Clean Up: Effortlessly Remove Unwanted Elements from Photos (iPhone, iPad, Mac)
Clean Up is an AI-powered feature that helps you remove distracting elements from your photos with just a few taps. Whether it’s a photo of a family gathering and someone walked into the frame, or a scenic shot with an unwanted object in the background, Clean Up allows you to quickly erase distractions to make your photos more visually appealing.
This tool works similarly to Google’s Magic Eraser, but it’s native to Apple’s Photos app and seamlessly integrates into the photo editing suite.
How to Use Clean Up
To use Clean Up, open the Photos app, select the photo you want to edit, and then access the editing suite. Within the suite, you’ll find the option to clean up elements in the image. Tap on the part of the photo you’d like to remove, and the AI will intelligently fill in the space based on the surrounding pixels. This is especially helpful when you want to remove things like trash, unwanted people, or other unsightly elements that can spoil an otherwise perfect photo.
Why You Should Try It
- Easy to use: Just select the unwanted item, and Apple Intelligence will do the rest.
- Quick edits: It takes just a few seconds to clean up photos.
- Great for photographers: A fantastic tool for improving the aesthetics of casual snaps.
If you’re someone who takes a lot of photos with your iPhone or iPad, Clean Up is a must-try feature. It simplifies photo editing, allowing you to produce professional-looking results with minimal effort.
4. ChatGPT Integration in Siri: A New Way to Ask Questions (iPhone, iPad, Mac)
One of the most exciting updates in the world of AI-powered assistants is the integration of ChatGPT into Apple’s Siri. This new feature, available in iOS 18.2 and beyond, allows you to ask Siri complex questions that would have previously stumped the voice assistant. Instead of relying solely on Siri’s in-house algorithms, Siri can now tap into OpenAI’s powerful ChatGPT model to provide more nuanced and detailed answers.
How It Works
When you ask Siri a question, you can opt to send your query to ChatGPT instead of getting a standard response from Apple’s traditional search engine. You simply ask Siri to “ask ChatGPT” and get a response that feels much more human-like and intelligent. This integration allows Siri to handle a wider range of queries, from deep philosophical questions to very specific technical problems.
Why You Should Try It
- Enhanced answers: Get more accurate and thoughtful responses.
- Handle complex queries: Ask Siri about specialized topics, and ChatGPT will provide more nuanced responses.
- AI-powered conversation: ChatGPT delivers a more conversational experience with Siri.
Siri is evolving, and with the addition of ChatGPT, it’s poised to become much more useful for users who need help with complex tasks or who are looking for more interactive responses.
5. Notification Summaries: AI-Driven Notifications at a Glance (iPhone, iPad, Mac)
Notification Summaries is one of the most noticeable features of Apple Intelligence. This AI tool groups your notifications and presents them in a more digestible format, allowing you to catch up on your alerts without being overwhelmed.
Instead of being bombarded with a constant stream of individual notifications, Notification Summaries consolidate your notifications into a neat, organized summary. This summary is presented at scheduled intervals, ensuring you’re not overwhelmed by the chaos of constant alerts.
How It Works
You can find this feature in the Settings app under Notifications. Once enabled, Notification Summaries will appear in your Notification Center, grouped by app, and summarized so you can quickly scan through them. Whether it’s updates from social media, email notifications, or system alerts, Apple’s AI determines the most relevant information to show you.
Why You Should Try It
- Improved focus: Reduces distraction by grouping notifications together.
- Customizable: You can choose how and when summaries appear.
- Quick access: Scan through notifications without opening each app individually.
This feature can take a while to get used to, especially if you’re used to seeing all your notifications in real time. But over time, it can help streamline your daily routine and keep your digital life organized.
Bonus: Visual Intelligence on the iPhone 16 (Exclusive to iPhone 16)
If you received the iPhone 16, you have an exciting bonus feature to explore: Visual Intelligence. This powerful tool lets you capture an image using the iPhone’s Camera Control button and then query either Google or ChatGPT for information about the object or scene in the photo. Whether you’re out in nature, exploring a museum, or looking at an object with unknown text, Visual Intelligence can provide immediate context or descriptions.
How It Works
Simply point your iPhone 16 at the subject, use Camera Control to take a photo, and then ask the integrated AI to identify the object or provide more details. It’s a handy tool that integrates perfectly with the iPhone 16’s hardware and camera system, making it incredibly easy to get instant information about what you’re photographing.
Why You Should Try It
- Instant information: Get immediate feedback about the objects in your photos.
- Easy access: Use the Camera Control for quick interactions.
- Perfect for curious minds: Ideal for people who enjoy learning about the world around them.
Visual Intelligence is an excellent example of how Apple continues to push the boundaries of AI, offering truly useful and accessible features.
Conclusion
The Apple Intelligence suite offers some truly groundbreaking AI-powered features that can significantly enhance the way you interact with your new Apple device. Whether you’re interested in creating personalized emojis, improving your writing, cleaning up your photos, or leveling up your experience with Siri, Apple’s AI tools are designed to make life easier and more enjoyable. And with even more innovations coming in 2025, the journey is just getting started.
So, if you’ve unwrapped a new iPhone, iPad, or Mac, dive into these features and explore the endless possibilities Apple Intelligence offers!