It has been over two months since Apple introduced its intelligence features for the iPhone 16 series and the iPhone 15 Pro. I’ve been using them since launch, with iOS 18.1 on my iPhone 16 Pro. Initially, the feature set was limited, but now that iOS 18.2 has rolled out, several new additions have joined the Apple Intelligence suite, including Image Playground, Visual Intelligence, and more. Over the past few months, I’ve gained a solid understanding of how these features perform and whether they are truly useful. Here’s a rundown of what I love and what I don’t.
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Things I Love
Firstly, the implementation has been done system-wide. Features like the Writing Tools work even when you are conversing in apps like Messages. You can simply highlight the text, and the Writing Tools AI feature pops up, which you can press to proofread your text, rewrite it, and even change the tone. This comes in really handy, and I truly appreciate it because it is accessible in various apps where it’s actually useful. You don’t have to copy the text, head into another app, rewrite it, and then paste it again. It saves so much time. That said, the feature isn’t perfect; more on it later.
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The same goes for the Genmoji implementation because it’s available right inside the iOS keyboard. You can simply create a custom emoji right from the emoji tray itself, saving you multiple steps. You don’t really see this implementation in Android.
Another thing I appreciate is the fact that you can generate high-quality images in the Image Playground app. Yes, they are not as photorealistic or high-quality as something like what you can get from MidJourney, but whatever you can generate is quite impressive and turns out high-quality. You can also generate your own characters or the likenesses of your friends and family. The ease with which you can do this is what I really appreciate. All you have to do is head to the Image Playground app, choose an image, and the Apple Intelligence does the work for you—it all adds up to a premium experience.
Another thing worth appreciating is the fact that most of the intelligence work happens on-device, thanks to the powerful hardware. Unlike some Android phones, like the Pixel 9 Pro, which rely on online servers for processing, this isn’t the case on iPhones. This holds true for features like the Apple Clean Up tool in the Photos app, which easily lets you remove unwanted objects and people from the background. To do the same on a Pixel phone using the Magic Eraser feature, the phone has to upload the image first, and it also needs the internet to process it. This isn’t the case on the iPhone.
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Things I Don’t Like
Now, coming to the things I don’t like. Siri got a facelift with iOS 18.1 and subsequently became smarter with iOS 18.2. But so far, I haven’t really seen any major changes with Siri. Yes, it has certainly gotten a visual overhaul and is certainly smarter, but we have often noticed that Siri can still sometimes struggle with even basic tasks. I remember once asking Siri a follow-up question about the weather in my city, and it just goofed it up. This is where Gemini on Google Pixels and Samsung Galaxy phones is certainly much better and more useful with answers.
One feature that could improve over time is the Apple Writing Tools. While useful, they are no match for tools like ChatGPT or Google Gemini. I’ve tried using them to rewrite messages and text passages, but the results are often inconsistent.
Notification summary readers are also a feature that could be very useful, but with the current implementation, the summaries can be quite funny sometimes. I have found them mostly not useful, so much so that I have completely disabled the feature altogether.
And finally, coming to the elephant in the room: most of the Apple Intelligence features are not available yet. They will be coming through a staggered release format until March, according to reports, when Apple will gradually make Siri smarter and more capable. It will be interesting to see what new Apple brings to the table, because while the current implementation is refreshing, it is certainly not a one-to-one match to what the likes of Google have to offer.
