Apple's first iOS 18.2 beta is here with ChatGPT, Genmoji, and more
The company is finally shipping more Apple Intelligence features it's been promising for months
📱 Apple just dropped the first iOS 18.2 beta
🤖 It includes a ton of new Apple Intelligence features including Genmoji and Visual Intelligence
🦾 The new Siri is also here with ChatGPT integration
📅 It’s unclear when the update will roll out to all users
Your iPhone 16 and iPhone 15 Pro are about to get a lot smarter. Ahead of the release of iOS 18.1 next week, Apple has released the first beta of iOS 18.2 with lots of new Apple Intelligence features onboard, including ChatGPT integration and Genmoji.
It’s a much larger upgrade compared to iOS 18.1 which includes writing tools, notification summaries, smart replies, Clean Up for photos, and the new Siri animation. With iOS 18.2, Apple is adding more of the flashy Apple Intelligence features that were demoed during WWDC in June, at least in this first beta.
📱 iOS 18.2 features
While the list could change over time as iOS 18.2 is tested, the first beta of Apple’s next big iOS update includes several Apple Intelligence features that we’ve been waiting for.
🤖 ChatGPT is now built into the iPhone. ChatGPT integration is one of the biggest standouts. You can now talk to Siri and use it to generate paragraphs, look up information, and more all while relying on the power of OpenAI’s ChatGPT. You’ll need to set it up manually with your account (or opt not to sign in entirely), then once it’s ready, you can talk it like you can in the dedicated ChatGPT app.
🔎 Visual Intelligence is finally here. iOS 18.2 also includes Visual Intelligence, which is a feature I’ve been excited about since I started testing the iPhone 16 Plus and 16 Pro Max. It’s essentially Google Lens but on the iPhone. You tap and hold the Camera Control button on an iPhone 16 from the lock screen, then a viewfinder pops up that lets you point your camera at whatever you’re looking at to learn more about it. I ran a quick test on my Morgan Wallen hat and it was able to accurately show the hat in question on Wallen’s website and detail where it came from in Nashville, TN.
🌠 AI-generated images and emojis. Apple is also beginning to test Genmoji and Image Playground in iOS 18.2, which allow you to generate custom emojis and images using text prompts. I had to request early access to test these features so once I’m approved, I’ll be playing with them a lot.
🖌️ Upgrades for artists and writers. The beta also includes Image Wand which lets you create rough sketches with an Apple Pencil on iPadOS and generate full-fledged paintings and cartoons with ease. Writing Tools are also getting an upgrade in iOS 18.2, allowing you to use text prompts to rephrase certain paragraphs to match the style you’re going for.
✉️ A brand-new Mail app with intelligence. The Mail app in iOS 18.2 has been given its Apple Intelligence revamp. In addition to a refreshed interface, the app now learns what emails are most important using on-device AI processing, then surfaces them in a new Priority tab. The rest of your messages will fall into Transactions, Updates, and Promotions tabs. You also get new smart replies, a better interface for spotting the most recent message in threads, and more.
🦾 Siri gets the update it desperately needs. Siri is also massively better in iOS 18.2. Not only does it come with ChatGPT integration, it also seems a bit snappier and looks as good as it did in Apple’s early demos of iOS 18. We’re planning to review the new Siri along with the rest of Apple Intelligence in the future, so stay tuned.
📆 More to come. This is only the first iOS 18.2 beta, so expect to hear about more features popping up over time, as well as some features being scaled back if Apple runs into too many bugs ahead of release day.
📅 iOS 18.2 release date
Speaking of which, it’s unclear when iOS 18.2 will be released to the public. If Apple sticks to a weekly or bi-weekly release schedule for betas, we’ll likely see it roll out to everyone by mid-December.
If you want to test iOS 18.2, you’ll need to opt into receiving developer betas on your iPhone. Notably, the beta is only available for iPhones that support Apple Intelligence (at least for the time being), which includes the iPhone 16 series, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max.