Apple’s iOS 18.2 update is just around the corner, and as of December 9, the company made the somewhat surprising move of distributing a second Release Candidate version to its developer and beta tester communities.
There is also a secondary waiting list to access certain features. If you were on the original waiting list for Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.1 you will get access to ChatGPT integration, Visual Intelligence, and the new Writing Tools features. But you’ll have to hop onto a second waiting list for the image generation features such as Genmoji, Image Playground, and the Image Wand tool.
Here’s what’s available in the iOS 18.2 beta as of the latest version:
Writing Tools updates: Instead of just choosing to make a selection of text more professional, causal, or concise, you will have a freeform field to describe how you want to transform text. Examples: make this a poem, include a lot of dad jokes, or use a lot of sarcasm.
Genmoji: Create a new emoji right on the system keyboard.
Image Playground: Generate new images based on text prompts. Apple will suggest new costumes, items, or locations, and will make suggestions based on the context of a Messages thread or note in the Notes app. Images can be based on people you know by using identified images in Photos. Images are limited to cartoon or illustrative styles rather than realistic.
Visual Intelligence: For iPhone 16 owners with the Camera Control button. Press and hold Camera Control to get additional information about a location, translate a sign or poster, detect phone numbers and addresses to quickly add to Contacts, and more. You can also tap a button to ask ChatGPT about what’s on screen, or another to perform a Google image search.
A.I. Search
Image Wand: An offshoot of Image Playground, this uses Apple’s image generation tools to create an image in an open area on a note in the Notes app, using the context from the surrounding area and the rest of the note. Start with a blank area or a rough sketch you make yourself.
ChatGPT integration: If Siri can’t answer a question, it now has the option to ask ChatGPT. You need to give permission for each request and only limited data is shared. You don’t need to log into ChatGPT, but you are able to if you want to, or have a premium ChatGPT account you wish to use. You can ask Siri to have ChatGPT generate images., and use ChatGPT in the Writing Tools to generate text, too.
In addition to the new user-facing features, there are new developer tools for integrating image generation and writing tools into third-party apps. Apple Intelligence is localized into English for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the UK in this release.
Default Apps: Users worldwide have a new “Default Apps” section at the top Settings > Apps, where you can choose your default email, messaging, calling, call filtering, browser, password app, and keyboard. The messaging and calling options are new, and the other options have all been brought under a single menu.
EU-specific features: In the EU, third-party browser that use their own custom web engines can now add web apps. EU users will also be able to delete the App Store.
AE/AF Lock: In Settings > Camera, you’ll find a new toggle for a light press on the Camera Control button to lock exposure and focus.
Find My share item location: Find My will let you share the location of an AirTag (or other Find My compatible item) with a trusted person. The link can be opened on a non-Apple device and expires after a week.
Mail app categories: The Mail app gets its AI-powered auto-category feature, splitting your inbox into Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions.
Volume limits and lock screen slider: You’ll be able to set volume limits for media playing from the iPhone’s speaker and can restore the volume bar to the media card on the lock screen.
The official iOS 18.2 release notes are as follows:
Apple Intelligence (All iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)
Image Playground:
- A new app that lets you use concepts, descriptions, and people from your photo library to create fun, playful images in multiple styles
- Swipe through previews and choose from as you add concepts to your playground
- Choose from animation and illustration styles when creating your image
- Create images in Messages and Freeform, as well as third party apps
- Images are synced in your Image Playground library across all your devices with iCloud
Genmoji:
- Genmoji allows you to create a custom emoji right from the keyboard
- Genmoji are synced in your sticker drawer across all your devices with iCloud
ChatGPT support:
- ChatGPT from OpenAI can be accessed right from Siri or Writing Tools
- Compose in Writing Tools allows you to create something from scratch with ChatGPT
- Siri can tap into ChatGPT when relevant to provide you with an answer
- A ChatGPT account is not required and your requests will be anonymous and won’t be used to train OpenAI’s models
- Sign in with ChatGPT to access your account benefits, and requests will be covered by OpenAI’s data policies
- Image Wand turns sketches and handwritten or typed notes into images in Notes
- Describe your change in Writing Tools allows you to suggest how you’d like something rewritten, for example as a poem
Camera Control (iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max):
- Visual Intelligence with Camera Control helps you instantly learn about places or interact with information simply by pointing your iPhone at the object, with the option to tap into Google Search or ChatGPT
- Camera Control two-stage shutter lets you lock focus and exposure in Camera when light pressing the Camera Control
Mail:
- Mail Categorization sorts your messages to help you prioritize the most important messages
- Digest view groups all of the messages from one sender into a single bundle for easy browsing
Photos:
- Video viewing improvements, including the ability to scrub frame-by-frame and a setting to turn off auto-looping video playback
- Improvements when navigating Collections views, including the ability to swipe right to go back to the previous view
- Recently Viewed and Recently Shared album history can be cleared
- Favorites album appears in the Utilities collection in addition to Pinned Collections
Safari:
- New background images to customize your Safari Start Page
- Import and Export enables you to export your browsing data from Safari and import browsing data from another app into Safari
- HTTPS Priority upgrades URLs to HTTPS whenever possible
- File Download Live Activity shows the progress of a file download in the Dynamic Island and on your home screen
This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:
- Voice Memos supports layered recording, letting you add vocals over an existing song idea without the need for headphones — then import your two-track projects directly into Logic Pro (iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max)
- Share Item Location in Find My helps you locate and recover misplaced items by easily and securely sharing the location of an AirTag or Find My network accessory with trusted third parties, such as airlines
- Natural language search in Apple Music and Apple TV app lets you describe what you’re looking for using any combination of categories like genres, moods, actors, decades, and more
- Favorite Categories in Podcasts allows you to choose your favorite categories and get relevant show recommendations that you can easily access in your Library
- Personalized Search page in Podcasts highlights the most relevant categories and editorially curated collections tailored to you
- Sudoku for News+ Puzzles provided in three difficulty levels and available for News+ subscribers
- Support for the Hearing Test feature on AirPods Pro 2 in Cyprus, Czechia, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Spain, United Arab Emirates, and United Kingdom
- Support for the Hearing Aid feature on AirPods Pro 2 in United Arab Emirates
- Pre-market price quotes in Stocks lets you track NASDAQ and NYSE tickers prior to market open
- Fixes an issue where recently captured photos do not appear immediately in the All Photos grid
- Fixes an issue where Night mode photos in Camera could appear degraded when capturing long exposures (iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max)
iOS 18.2 Security updates:
As with all updates, iOS 18.2 will include numerous security patches and fixes that are crucial to compatible iPhones. More information can be found on Apple’s security releases support page once the update arrives.
If you’ve had a chance to test the new iOS 18.2 Release Candidate 2 beta, please let us know about your experience in the comments.
Via Macworld and beta.apple.com