iOS 18.4, Apple's artificial intelligence offering, arrives

BarcelonaApple Intelligence finally arrives in Europe and Spain with the new update, available from March 31 if the phone is configured in Spanish. The new technology can be used on iPhones, iPads, and Macs that can be updated to iOS 18.4 (iPadOS 18.4) and macOS Sequoia 15.4, respectively. The new software's features have been released in new languages such as Spanish, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Japanese, Korean, Chinese (Simplified), and English (India, Singapore), but they are not yet available in Catalan.

Apple's artificial intelligence can compose texts and create versions, as well as change their register and adapt them to different situations. It can be used in email, the Telegram app, and Word, but for now, everything indicates that it has not reached WhatsApp, where Meta has its own AI. The new update also offers smart replies to generate quick drafts, for example by analyzing a message, detecting the sender's questions, and suggesting several response options. One of the major new features promised by the update is managing notifications and prioritizing them by displaying the most important ones before the others and in a summary format. Additionally, Mail will be able to filter and display priority messages, which will appear at the top of the inbox when the app is opened, as well as summarize the content of an email the user has received. Apple Intelligence also helps reduce interruptions in the new Focus Mode, which analyzes the content of notifications to display only the urgent ones.

With the new update come new features. genmojis, AI-generated emoticons. By tapping the icon and typing a short description, the phone will create the genmojiA new standalone app, Image Playground, is also coming, allowing you to create images using artificial intelligence. You can ask it to generate images with a specific style or concepts to create illustrations, animations, or sketches, and you can also take references. For example, you can take a person from a photograph and turn it into a drawing.

New features in Photos

The Photos app adds a new way to create videos. Based on a description, the app will edit the video, selecting the photos and videos that best fit the description and arranging the images for consistency. One of the new features Apple is promising is the option to clean up photos by detecting elements in the background of an image and allowing you to remove them with a single tap. Also arriving is the visual intelligence, which will allow you to use your mobile camera to obtain information about your surroundings: it allows you to translate, identify plants, animals, or products, similar to Google Lens.

Siri is also improving. Apple's voice assistant debuts a new design and now understands language better, and even knows how to handle a mid-sentence correction when asked for something. This stewardship system will be able to consult the OpenAI chatbot ChatGPT, although Apple assures that it will only use it if we request it, always asking permission before sharing information.

Following in the footsteps of Apple, which has long positioned privacy as a pillar of the company, Apple Intelligence seeks to process most of the data directly on the device. According to the company, user data is not collected or stored, and is accessible only to the user.

Which iPhones does Apple Intelligence work with?

To install it, simply obtain the latest version of the operating system. For iPhones and iPads, you need to go to Configuration, press General and select Software updateNot all devices are supported; only the iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, and all iPhone 16 models are supported. For iPads, only the iPad Pro and iPad Air with an M1 processor or later are supported. The iPad mini with an A17 Pro processor is also supported. Computers will need an M1 processor or later. Devices with older models will be able to install the system update, but Apple Intelligence will not be enabled.