Apple AI features range from on-device Apple Intelligence to tools like Live Text, Visual Look Up, and Personal Voice that streamline daily tasks.
Apple has quietly packed layers of artificial intelligence into iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and even Apple Vision Pro for years. With Apple Intelligence, those skills now sit front and center as a personal system that helps you write, edit photos, manage notifications, and control apps with natural language.
This guide walks through the most useful Apple AI features already on your devices, what Apple Intelligence adds on top, and how to switch the new tools on without losing control of your data.
What Apple Intelligence Actually Is
Quick Check
Before looking at individual features, it helps to know what Apple means by “Apple Intelligence.” It is a set of generative models that run on iOS 18, iPadOS 18, macOS Sequoia, and later, combined with personal context from your device.
Apple describes Apple Intelligence as a personal intelligence system built into the operating system, not a single app or chatbot. It ties into Messages, Mail, Notes, Photos, Safari, and many other apps so you can rewrite text, summarize content, or act on notifications directly from where you already work.
Instead of sending everything to remote servers by default, Apple Intelligence decides whether a request can stay on device. When it needs more power, it can hand the job to Private Cloud Compute, a set of Apple silicon servers designed to process only the small slice of data needed for that request and then delete it once the answer is ready.
If you want a high-level overview straight from Apple, the official Apple Intelligence overview page explains how it connects across iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Core Apple AI Features On Apple Intelligence Devices
On recent hardware and software, Apple Intelligence adds a group of headline features that sit on top of the older machine learning tools already in iOS and macOS. Here are the standouts you will see most often.
Writing Tools Across Apps
Writing Tools bring generative text help wherever you type. In Mail, Notes, Pages, and many third-party apps, you can select text and ask Apple Intelligence to clean it up, shorten it, or change the tone to match a different audience.
- Rewrite text — Select a message or document section and ask the system to rewrite it for clarity or a different style while keeping your main point.
- Summarize content — Turn long emails, documents, or webpages into short bullet points so you can scan the main ideas quickly.
- Proofread writing — Check grammar, spelling, and basic structure right where you typed, then accept or reject suggested changes one by one.
- Compose drafts — Start from a short prompt and let Apple Intelligence draft a first version of an email, note, or social post that you can then edit.
These tools sit inside the system keyboard and context menus, so you do not need to switch to a separate app or web page when you want help with wording.
Smarter Siri And App Actions
Apple Intelligence gives Siri a new look, better language understanding, and deeper control over apps. You can speak in a more natural way, correct yourself mid-sentence, or type to Siri when speaking is not convenient.
- Follow-up questions — Ask a question, then refine it without repeating every detail, and Siri will treat it as one flowing request.
- Richer app control — Say what you want to do in plain language, like sending a file to a contact or editing a calendar event, and Siri can string several steps together.
- On-screen awareness — Refer to what you see on display, such as “add this address to my contacts,” and Siri can pull the right data from the current app.
Apple is also testing deeper integrations with third-party chat models for complex questions, while still routing personal device actions through its own system.
Image Playground, Genmoji, And Visual Intelligence
Apple Intelligence adds creative image tools that work inside Messages, Notes, Keynote, and other apps so you can create visuals without separate design software.
- Image Playground — Generate playful images in styles such as animation, illustration, or sketch using short text prompts or reference photos.
- Genmoji — Build custom emoji-style characters based on a short description, then drop them into chats or stickers.
- Image Wand — Turn rough hand-drawn sketches on iPad into cleaner graphics in context, such as diagrams in notes.
- Visual Intelligence — Press and hold on an image or object to identify plants, pets, landmarks, or products, then jump straight to more details or search results.
Many of these tools started inside Photos and the Camera app and now extend across the system through Apple Intelligence.
Mail, Messages, And Notification Summaries
Apple AI features also try to cut noise. In Mail and Messages, you will see new inbox views that group urgent messages at the top, plus summaries that show the main point of a long thread without opening every message.
- Priority Messages — Surfaces time-sensitive emails such as travel updates or same-day events so they are hard to miss.
- Smart Reply suggestions — Offers short responses you can send with a tap, based on the content of the message.
- Notification summaries — Condenses long alerts into a short description so your lock screen stays readable even on busy days.
This mix of classification and summarization relies on on-device analysis of your habits and message content rather than simple sender rules.
Photos Clean Up And Memories
Apple’s Photos app has leaned on machine learning for years, and Apple Intelligence strengthens that base.
- Clean Up tool — Remove small distractions such as background objects or strangers from images while keeping the main subject intact.
- Memory movies — Let the system pick related photos and clips around a theme, then generate a short video with music and titles.
- People and pet recognition — Group photos by faces and animals so you can quickly build albums without manual tagging.
These features run primarily on device so your photo library stays private while the system learns the patterns that matter to you.
Apple AI Features You Already Use Every Day
Even without Apple Intelligence, current Apple devices rely on AI techniques across many built-in tools. Many people use them all day without thinking about how they work.
Live Text And Visual Look Up
Live Text turns any photo or camera view into selectable text. You can copy text from a sign, paste a phone number from a picture, or translate a menu with a single tap.
- Copy text from photos — Open a picture, press on text, and drag the selection handles just like in a document.
- Quick actions — Tap detected phone numbers, email addresses, or web links in photos to call, send mail, or open a page.
- On-device translation — Translate detected text in the Camera app or Photos, even when you do not have a strong data signal.
Visual Look Up builds on this by recognising objects, plants, animals, landmarks, and even food dishes in your pictures and then linking to more details from trusted sources.
Face ID, Touch ID, And On-Device Personalisation
Face ID and Touch ID use neural networks tuned on the device to recognise you quickly while keeping raw biometric data locked away inside the Secure Enclave. Each scan refines the matching model locally so it can handle changes such as facial hair, glasses, or hats.
The system keyboard also adapts over time. It learns your typing patterns, preferred words, and common phrases to improve autocorrect and next-word predictions without building a central profile on a server.
Accessibility Features Powered By AI
Apple uses on-device machine learning to assist people who rely on accessibility tools. Features like Voice Control, Live Speech, and Personal Voice help people type, speak, and stay connected in ways that fit their abilities and preferences.
Apple has described how Personal Voice recordings stay on device and are processed with on-device machine learning so people can generate a synthetic voice that still sounds like them while keeping raw training data under their control. The company outlined these features in a 2023 accessibility update for iOS and iPadOS.
Privacy, On-Device Models, And Private Cloud Compute
People often worry that AI features mean sending every word, photo, or tap to remote data centers. Apple takes a different route by starting with on-device processing and then expanding outward only when needed.
Apple states that Apple Intelligence first attempts to handle a request on the device using models tuned for iPhone, iPad, or Mac. Only when a task needs more power, such as image generation or long-form summarisation, does the system send a narrow slice of data to Private Cloud Compute.
Private Cloud Compute runs on Apple silicon inside data centers with a locked-down operating system, code transparency measures, and strict logging limits. Apple’s security team has published details in a Private Cloud Compute technical overview, explaining how requests are verified before they run and deleted when processing ends.
Apple also allows people to inspect which Apple Intelligence features are active, see what data types they rely on, and switch off features they do not want. That mix of settings, on-device defaults, and verifiable server designs is a core part of Apple’s AI story.
How To Turn Apple Intelligence Features On
Deeper Fix
If you have not seen these new Apple AI features yet, your device may need an update or may not meet the hardware requirements. Follow these steps to check.
Check Device And Software Compatibility
- Confirm device model — On iPhone or iPad, open Settings > General > About and note the model name and year.
- Check Apple compatibility lists — Compare your model and region against Apple’s published Apple Intelligence compatibility lists, which require recent Apple silicon chips.
- Update software — Go to Settings > General > Software Update and install iOS 18.1 or later, iPadOS 18.1 or later, or macOS Sequoia 15.1 or later.
Enable Apple Intelligence In Settings
- Open Siri & Search — On iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Siri & Search to ensure Siri is turned on and allowed to respond by voice or text.
- Review Apple Intelligence options — On compatible software, look for new Apple Intelligence panels, then choose whether to share limited data with Private Cloud Compute for tasks like image generation.
- Turn on Writing Tools — Check that the system keyboard and text selection menus show options such as Rewrite, Summarise, and Proofread in apps like Mail and Notes.
- Test image features — In Messages or Notes, open the Image Playground interface and try creating a simple image or Genmoji to confirm the feature is active.
Control Notifications And Mail AI Features
- Adjust notification styles — In Settings > Notifications, look for summary and priority options that group alerts by relevance rather than arrival time.
- Enable inbox categories — In Mail, turn on new inbox views that separate transactions, updates, and newsletters so Apple Intelligence can classify new messages.
- Try Smart Reply — Open an email on a compatible device and check for one-tap reply suggestions generated from the message text.
Once these toggles are in place, most Apple AI features work in the background. You will notice them when the right buttons appear at the edge of a text field, next to a notification, or inside an app toolbar.
Quick Reference Table Of Apple AI Features
If you are still getting used to Apple AI features, this table gives a fast map of where the main tools live and what they help you do.
| Feature | Where You See It | What It Helps With |
|---|---|---|
| Writing Tools | Mail, Notes, Pages, system keyboard | Rewriting, summarising, proofreading, and drafting text |
| Apple Intelligence Siri | Siri overlay, keyboard shortcut, long press on power button | Natural language commands, app actions, and follow-up questions |
| Image Playground & Genmoji | Messages, Notes, Keynote, standalone Image Playground app | Creating playful images and custom emoji-style graphics |
| Notification And Mail Summaries | Lock screen, Notification Center, Mail inbox | Reducing alert noise and surfacing urgent information first |
| Photos Clean Up | Photos editing tools | Removing small visual distractions from images |
| Live Text & Visual Look Up | Camera, Photos, Safari, Quick Look | Copying text from images and recognising objects or places |
| Personal Voice & Live Speech | Accessibility settings, system keyboard | Creating a personal synthetic voice and speaking typed text aloud |
When Apple AI Features Help The Most
Apple AI features shine when you let them chip away at small tasks that normally pile up through the week. Here are a few patterns where people feel the difference quickly.
- Busy inbox days — Priority Messages and notification summaries keep time-sensitive mail near the top so tickets, deliveries, and meeting links stay in view.
- Travel planning — Live Text and Visual Look Up help with street signs, menus, and landmarks, while Photos memories and clean-up tools make trip albums look more polished.
- Work and school writing — Writing Tools give gentle help with tone, structure, and length without taking away your voice, which can ease the friction of email and report writing.
- Accessibility needs — Personal Voice, Voice Control, and Live Speech allow many people to communicate in ways that match their abilities, backed by on-device processing.
If you start by switching on a few Apple Intelligence features and letting them run for a week, you will quickly see which ones fit your habits and which ones you prefer to leave off.
Limitations And Things To Watch
No AI system is perfect, and Apple AI features are still evolving. Before you rely on them for every task, it helps to know where the edges are.
- Device requirements — Many Apple Intelligence tools require recent Apple silicon chips, so older iPhones, iPads, and Macs may never get them.
- Regional availability — At launch, Apple Intelligence features roll out in selected languages and regions, with new markets added over time.
- Accuracy limits — Generative text and image tools can misread context, so always skim outputs before sending or sharing.
- Cloud requests — Private Cloud Compute is designed to minimise data use and log retention, but some people may still prefer to disable cloud-based features entirely.
- Third-party apps — Apple Intelligence hooks inside many third-party apps, yet each developer decides how deep that integration goes.
Used with those limits in mind, Apple AI features can take over a lot of dull work while still leaving you in charge of what is sent, shared, or stored on your devices.