Now that Apple Intelligence is here, these are the 4 functions that you will actually use every day

After months of hype, the first sets of Apple Intelligence the features are there – but which ones will you actually use? I’ve had the technology since it first appeared in iOS betas, and these are the four features I find myself using every day.

You need one iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16 o iPhone 16 Pro (or its Plus and Max variants) with iOS 18.2 and, crucially, you should request access to Apple Intelligence to take advantage of these new technologies.

Once you’re in, here’s what you can realistically expect. More features will be added over time — and keep in mind that Apple Intelligence is still officially beta software — but this is where Apple begins its AI age.

Summaries bear TL; DR to your correspondence

In an era when there are so many demands on our attention and apparently less time to dig into longer topics… Sorry, what was I saying?

Oh, right: How many times have you wanted a “too long; he didn’t read” version of not only long emails, but the fire hose of communication that is hurling your way? The ability to summarize notifications, Mail messages and web pages is perhaps the most pervasive and least intrusive feature of Apple Intelligence so far.

When a notification arrives, such as a text from a friend or group in Messages, iPhone creates a short, one-sentence summary.

Sometimes the summaries are vague, and sometimes they are unintentionally funnybut so far I’ve found them to be more helpful than not. Summaries can also be generated by alerts from third-party apps like news or social media apps – although I suspect my outdoor security camera is picking up many passers-by over time and not telling me that 10 people are stack by the door.

That said, Apple Intelligence definitely doesn’t understand sarcasm or colloquialisms — you can turn off summaries if you prefer.

You can also generate a longer email summary in the Mail app: Tap the Sum up button at the top of a message to see a summary of the content in a few dozen words.

In Safari, when you see a page where the Reader feature is available, tap the button Page menu button in the address bar, tap Show Reader and then touch the Summary button at the top of the page.

Siri gets a glow and better interaction

I was amused during the iOS 18 and iPhone 16 releases that the main visual indicator of Apple Intelligence — the full-screen, color-to-the-edges Siri animation — was noticeably missing. Apple even lit up the edges of the massive glass cube of its Apple Fifth Avenue Store in New York City as a Siri search.

In contrast, iOS 18 used the same old Siri sphere.

Now, the modern look of Siri has arrived since iOS 18.1, but only on devices that support Apple Intelligence. If you are still touching your fingers in the Apple Intelligence waiting list row, you will also see the Siri sphere for now.

With the new look, there are a few improvements to the Siri interaction: it’s more forgiving if you stumble on a question, like saying the wrong word or interrupting yourself mid-thought. It’s even better to listen after you’ve provided results, so you can ask related follow-up questions.

However, the ability to customize responses based on what Apple Intelligence knows about you is still on the way. What appeared in iOS 18.2 was the integration of ChatGPTwhich you can now use as an alternative source of information. For some questions, if Siri doesn’t have the answer right away, you’ll be asked if you want to use ChatGPT instead. You don’t need a ChatGPT account to take advantage of this (but if you do, you can sign up).

Remove distractions from your photos with Clean Up in the Photos app

Until iOS 18.1, the Photos app on the iPhone and iPad lacked a simple retouch feature. Dust on the camera lens? Litter on the ground? Sorry, you need to deal with those and other distractions in the Photos app on MacOS or using a third-party app.

Now Apple Intelligence includes Clean Up, an AI-enhanced removal tool, in the Photos app. When you edit an image and touch the button Clean up button, the iPhone will analyze the photo and suggest potential items to delete by highlighting them. Tap one or draw a circle around an area – the app erases those spaces and uses generative AI to fill in plausible pixels.

In this first incarnation, Clean Up is not perfect, and you often get better results in other dedicated image editors. But to quickly remove annoyances from photos, it’s good.

Stay on task with AI-powered Interruption Reduction Focus Mode

Focus modes on the iPhone can be very useful, such as activating Do Not Disturb to isolate yourself from external distractions. You can also create custom Focus modes. For example, my Podcast Recording mode blocks notifications except for a handful of people during scheduled recording times.

With Apple Intelligence enabled, a new Reduce Interruptions Focus mode is available. When active, it becomes a smarter filter for what passes through the wall by holding back superfluous notifications. Even things that aren’t specified in your criteria for allowed notifications, like specific people, might pop up. On my iPhone, for example, that can include weather alerts or texts from my bank when a big purchase or fund transfer has happened.

To activate, open the Control Center, touch the button Focus button and choose Reduce interruptions.

For more on Apple Intelligence features, check out How to Create Genmojihow to use Image Wand and, if you want to escalate things, how disable select Apple Intelligence features.

Look at this: Apple Intelligence Impressions: Don’t expect a radical change

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