Apple

Apple didn’t have a lot to say about Apple Intelligence at last week’s Worldwide Developers Conference, focusing instead on iOS 26 and the new Liquid Display interface that will extend to the iPhone and all of its devices. But even if it had, we’d still be waiting for the new operating systems to be released in the fall to take advantage of them (unless you want to live on the edge and install the first developer betas now).

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I sat down to figure out just which of the current Apple Intelligence features I actually use. They aren’t necessarily the showy ones, like Image Playground, but ones that help in small, significant ways. Admittedly, Apple Intelligence has gotten off to a rocky start, from misleading message summaries to delayed Siri improvements, but the AI tech is far from being a bust. 

If you have a compatible iPhone — an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16E, iPhone 16 or iPhone 16 Pro (or their Plus and Max variants) — I want to share six features that I’m turning to nearly every day.

More features will be added as time goes on — and keep in mind that Apple Intelligence is still officially beta software — but this is where Apple is starting its AI age.

On the other hand, maybe you’re not impressed with Apple Intelligence, or want to wait until the tools evolve more before using them? You can easily turn off Apple Intelligence entirely or use a smaller subset of features.

Get alerted to priority notifications

This feature arrived only recently, but it’s become one of my favorites. When a notification arrives that seems like it could be more important than others, Prioritize Notifications pops it to the top of the notification list on the lock screen (with a colorful Apple Intelligence shimmer, of course). In my experience so far, those include weather alerts, texts from people I regularly communicate with and email messages that contain calls to action or impending deadlines.

To enable it, go to Settings > Notifications > Prioritize Notifications and then turn the option on. You can also enable or disable priority alerts from individual apps from the same screen. You’re relying on the AI algorithms to decide what gets elevated to a priority — but it seems to be off to a good start.

Apple Intelligence can prioritize notifications to grab your attention.

Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET

Summaries bring TL;DR to your correspondence

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

Oh, right: How often have you wanted a “too long; didn’t read” version of not just long emails but the fire hose of communication that blasts 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, the iPhone creates a short, single-sentence summary.

Apple Intelligence summarized two text messages.

Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET

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

Nobody told me there’s a party at my house.

Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET

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

You can also generate a longer summary of emails in the Mail app: Tap the Summarize button at the top of a message to view a rundown of the contents in a few dozen words.

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

Summarize long articles in Safari in the Reader interface.

Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET

Siri gets a glow-up and better interaction

I was amused during the iOS 18 and the iPhone 16 releases that the main visual indicator of Apple Intelligence — the full-screen, color-at-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 like a Siri search.

Instead, iOS 18 used the same-old Siri sphere. Now, the modern Siri look has arrived as of iOS 18.1, but only on devices that support Apple Intelligence. If you’re wondering why you’re still seeing the old interface, I can recommend some steps to turn on the new experience.

Siri under Apple Intelligence looks like a multicolor halo around the edges.

James Martin/CNET

With the new look are a few Siri interaction improvements: It’s more forgiving if you stumble through a query, like saying the wrong word or interrupting yourself mid-thought. It’s also better about listening after delivering results, so you can ask related followup questions.

However, the ability to personalize answers based on what Apple Intelligence knows about you is still down the road. What did appear, as of iOS 18.2, was integration of ChatGPT, which you can now use as an alternate source of information. For some queries, if Siri doesn’t have the answer right away, you’re asked if you’d like to use ChatGPT instead. You don’t need a ChatGPT account to take advantage of this (but if you do have one, you can sign in).

Invoke Siri silently without triggering everyone else’s devices

Perhaps my favorite new Siri feature is the ability to bring up the assistant without saying the words “Hey Siri” out loud. In my house, where I have HomePods and my family members use their own iPhones and iPads, I never know which device is going to answer my call (even though they’re supposed to be smart enough to work it out).

Plus, honestly, even after all this time I’m not always comfortable talking to my phone — especially in public. It’s annoying enough when people carry on phone conversations on speaker, I don’t want to add to the hubbub by making Siri requests.

Instead, I turn to a new feature called Tap to Siri. Double-tap the bottom edge of the screen on the iPhone or iPad to bring up the Siri search bar and the onscreen keyboard. 

Double-tap the bar at the bottom of the screen to bring up a voice-free Siri search.

Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET

On a Mac, go to System Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and choose a key combination under Keyboard shortcut, such as Press Either Command Key Twice.

Yes, this involves more typing work than just speaking conversationally, but I can enter more specific queries and not wonder if my robot friend is understanding what I’m saying.

Remove distractions from your pictures using 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 tap the Clean Up button, the iPhone analyzes the photo and suggests potential items to remove by highlighting them. Tap one or draw a circle around an area — the app erases those areas and uses generative AI to fill in plausible pixels.

Remove distractions in the Photos app using Clean Up.

Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET

In this first incarnation, Clean Up isn’t perfect and you’ll often get better results in other dedicated image editors. But for quickly removing annoyances from photos, it’s fine.

Stay on task with the AI-boosted Reduce Interruptions Focus mode

Focus modes on the iPhone can be enormously helpful, such as turning on Do Not Disturb to insulate yourself from outside distractions. You can also create personalized Focus modes. For example, my Podcast Recording mode blocks outside notifications except from 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 gets past the wall holding back superfluous notifications. Even things that are not specified in your criteria for allowed notifications, such as specific people, might pop up. On my iPhone, for instance, that can include weather alerts or texts from my bank when a large purchase or funds transfer has occurred.

To enable it, open Control Center, tap the Focus button and choose Reduce Interruptions. 

The Reduce Interruptions Focus mode (left) intelligently filters possible distractions. Turn it on in Control Center (middle). When something comes in that might need your attention, it shows up as a notification marked Maybe Important (right).

Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET

For more on Apple Intelligence features, check out how to create Genmoji, how to use Image Wand and, if you want to scale things back, how to disable select Apple Intelligence features.

Watch this: Apple Intelligence Impressions: Don’t Expect Radical Change

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