iPhone expert tests Apple Intelligence features on iOS

Apple launched its 'new chapter of innovation' in the latest iOS 18 update, providing millions with the new AI feature that aims to make iPhones more useful and helpful.

I have been a loyal iPhone owner since the first device in 2007 and have recently envied my friends with Android phones who had abilities to edit photos, summarize text and other AI-powered options.

The release of Apple Intelligence last week gave me a glimpse into their world, but iOS 18.1 only had a few of the features - Apple is set to release more in December.

The turbo-charged AI Siri isn’t here yet, and the functions aren’t enormously well integrated into the phone (by contrast, Google’s Gemini AI on Pixel phones can find information from apps such as email and YouTube).

I found 'Focus Mode' hidden in the update that let me customize what notifications I wanted to see and block the ones I did not, which was ideal for work hours during the day.

The Clean Up for photos was a very welcomed tool, letting me remove children from an image to only focus on my son in an image at a birthday party. 

However, text summaries may not be up to par - the AI gets confused by the messages and creates a non-existing scenario. 

Use the boosted Focus Mode

This feature is easy to miss because it is hidden in the Focus menu, which Apple says helps users reduce distractions and concentrate on real-world tasks.

This feature was made for anyone who feels  bombarded with notifications  (and who hasn’t?),  and the 'Reduce Interruptions' function feels a very welcome addition.

It’s easily one of the best features of iOS 18.1.

Reduce Interruptions cuts the usual flood of notifications to a trickle, and does so by deciding which ones to let through and which ones to block, and works extremely well.

Thankfully, you can manually adjust it, so you always allow notifications from certain people and don't miss a message from your spouse or boss.

I found it a useful 'halfway house' between switching off notifications entirely and being bombarded with them - and a clever use of AI.  

To enable the function, go to the Control Center, pick Focus, then select Reduce Interruptions.

Clean up photos

Another ‘blink and you’ll miss it’ feature buried away in the menus once you’ve added Apple Intelligence is the option to ‘clean up’ photos to remove unwanted or distracting elements, filling in the blanks with AI.

It's a useful tool, although it's markedly less good than the editing tools built into Google's Pixel phones, which allow you to do anything from inserting yourself into photos to putting giant toadstools in the background. 

But Apple is just at the beginning of its AI journey, and Clean Up works effectively, even if it isn't the most dazzling function out there

It’s easy to use and pretty effective - it removed a bunch of other people’s children from an image of a party with my son in the foreground.

You’ll see glowing areas on screen as a suggestion to delete (sometimes these are a bit strange) and can manually highlight areas to remove by circling or rubbing over them.

Create 'Memory Movies' in Photos

The standout most charming feature of Apple Intelligence (at least in the relatively low-key version available at launch) is Memory Movies.

It’s not the most spectacular tech on the block (Google auto-creates not dissimilar videos on Android) but, as ever with Apple, it’s well-implemented here.

Just enter a prompt (I used 'Christmas Day', and you get pleasingly sparkly collage effects, then it strings together a bunch of videos).

It picked some vaguely festive marimba music (weirdly, the sound still plays on the videos, but there are some nice cutaway effects that made for a genuinely heartwarming video).

To use it, go to Photos, scroll down to Memories.

Then select ‘Create’ - you’re guided through the rest with suggestions as to what might work.

Record and summarize chats and calls

The new supercharged voice recording in Notes and Phone could be a game-changer for my career as a journalist.

In both apps, transcripts instantly appear on screen while people talk (it’s like the Recorder app on Pixel phones, and it’s a great way to reassure yourself that the recording is clean, and the phone is getting everything). 

It worked extremely well, displaying text in real time, and actually getting a 'cleaner' transcript than many rival transcription apps. 

The one downer here is that Notes does not (like rivals Recorder and Otter) store both the audio and transcript together so you can go back and review. 

In calls, a record button appears on screen: when you press it, all participants are warned they are being recorded.

When the call finishes, Apple Intelligence auto-generates a summary as well as the transcript.

Use the smarter email

Apple's Mail got a little smarter with Apple Intelligence, adding functions including Priority Messages and Smart Reply - although in all honesty, it's still not the best email app out there.

Messaging apps and email now have summaries auto-generated from content - although they are often unusual. 

 Many of the summaries seem to bear little relation to what is actually in my Inbox - one simply said, 'Saucy line needs reordering'.

 Another said that Chris who I was emailing had failed his driving test and then got a speeding ticket - which would have been difficult after failing the test - when Chris had not taken any form of driving test.

Priority Messages picks messages you might be interested in and places them at the top of your inbox (they're sorted by, for example, whether they sound time-sensitive).

But - much like Google's equivalent system - Priority Messages isn't that clever about which messages it puts at the top, frequently putting automated messages that you can safely ignore up there while ignoring genuinely important messages.

Many users say the feature sometimes fails in hilarious or concerning ways.

A notable example surfaced on TikTok, where user Bhdben (@bhdben) revealed he was startled by a misleading summary of text messages he received.

'So, I was super excited for the new Apple Intelligence features on iOS 18.1. But this is how it's going so far,' he remarked.

The TikToker showcased a screenshot of a notification that provided a summary of messages he'd received overnight in a family group chat.

The summary read, 'House flooded, the water stopped draining, prevented further damage,' which alarmed him.

Upon reviewing the actual text messages from his father and brother, Bhdben discovered that the summary was inaccurate.

His father had successfully averted a disaster, and the house had not flooded at all. 'So, the house didn't flood,' he clarified. 'It just almost did.'