iOS 18.2 is here, and with it, Apple is finally making good on Apple Intelligence’s biggest AI promises. New with the update is ChatGPT integration, Visual Intelligence, and the much awaited Genmoji and Image Playground. Even better? Now you don’t have to sit through a waitlist.
How to enable AI features in iOS 18.2
iOS 18.2’s beta hid its best features behind waitlists, but with the official release, those are all gone. Now, you just need to download the update and enable Apple Intelligence.
Apple’s press release says the update is available now, but it seems to be rolling out slowly—the Lifehacker staff isn’t seeing it yet. It’ll probably hit your device later today, so check Settings > General > Software Update later this afternoon to see if it’s ready for you. Alternatively, turn on Automatic Updates on the same page to have your phone take care of the update for you while it’s charging overnight.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
After updating to iOS 18.2, you’ll first need to sign up for Apple Intelligence to start using the new AI features, assuming you haven’t already. Apple says supported devices will get an automatic prompt to turn on the AI with the new update, but if you don’t see it, go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and tap the toggle next to Apple Intelligence. This also used to require a waitlist, but now, the only waiting you’ll need to do is for your device to download the proper generative models (to speed up the download, Apple says some models may not be downloaded until you start using them).
With that, let’s get into what your phone can now do.
Chat with ChatGPT
ChatGPT integration is ready to go as soon as you get Apple Intelligence and update to iOS 18.2. Ask Siri a slightly complicated question, like “plan a three-day trip to Paris” and Siri may politely ask if it can throw things off to ChatGPT instead. Tap Use ChatGPT, and in a second or two, you’ll get a long ChatGPT response right where Siri would normally pop up. You can scroll through to read, and you can bring up Siri to ask follow-up questions, too. You can also tap the Copy button in the top-right corner to copy the response. As of writing, ChatGPT can only answer questions in text, so it can’t interact with images. Siri features like taking action based on what you see on screen, multi-context app actions, and so on will be shipping later on, early next year.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
There are some Settings options to play with. In Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > ChatGPT, you can disable the popup that asks you to confirm if you want to use ChatGPT, so Siri will direct questions it can’t handle straight to ChatGPT without asking for permission first (you can also just start your query with “Ask ChatGPT” to go straight to the third party AI, and any ChatGPT generated responses will still be clearly marked). You can also sign in with a ChatGPT account to keep a record of your requests and access its more powerful models, although doing so will subject you to OpenAI’s privacy policy. From here, you can also easily disable the whole ChatGPT feature.
Look up anything with Visual Intelligence
The new update also enables the Visual Intelligence feature that’s exclusive to the iPhone 16 series. Press and hold the Camera Control and you’ll see a new camera interface. Take a photo of something, anything, and Apple will show you relevant info about the photo subject. If it’s a phone number, you will get an option to call it; if it’s a restaurant, you’ll see reviews and photos of dishes.
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
You’ll also see an “Ask” icon to the left. Here, you can ask questions about what you’re seeing and Apple will send the image to ChatGPT for help. It’s like using the ChatGPT app, but in a native iPhone interface. You’ll get a response from ChatGPT, and you can continue to ask follow-up questions, like with Siri.
Finally, there’s a feature similar to Google Lens, but in an iPhone wrapper. If you tap the Image Search icon to the right of the shutter button, Apple will show you web results for images similar to what you’re looking at. Because the data is coming from Google, I’ve had a lot of luck finding similar results.
Create your own Genmoji and AI images
Then there’s image creation. It all starts with the new Image Playground app. Here, you can create images in either an “animation” or “illustration” style using built-in themes and tools. While the features do have a standalone app, it’s also part of apps like Messages, Pages, Keynote and Freeform. There are a couple of ways to use Image Playground. In the app, start by describing an image that you want to create, then choosing the style. Alternatively, in Messages, you can create an image based on context from the Messages thread. Apple is working to put up plenty of guardrails around this feature, so hopefully it will be safe from abusive imagery.
Credit: Apple
There’s also the Image Wand, which allows you to more naturally use Image Playground in the Notes app by circling doodles and adjusting them with AI. Image Wand can also create images from scratch by drawing in context from your note’s text. Images in notes use a “sketch” style by default, although you can swap them to illustration or animation if you prefer.
Separate from Image Playground is Genmoji, which lets you create emoji-style images using a prompt or photos of your contacts or friends, for more casual use. These can work as stickers as well as in tapbacks and inline with your messages, although some older phones may instead see your Genmoji only as stickers. Once a Genmoji is generated, it’ll stay in your keyboard for future use.
Credit: Apple
Credit: Apple
There’s also a new update to the Writing Tools feature that makes it more dynamic. In iOS 18.1, you were stuck with a couple of pre-baked options for rewriting text, like “Professional” or “Friendly.” Now, you can use the Describe Your Change feature to get specific about the rewrite. You can say “write this in a more excited tone” or “write it like a haiku,” and Apple will do it for you.
Set your default messaging and phone apps
Credit: Khamosh Pathak
Outside of Apple Intelligence, there’s a new menu option in Settings. Go to the Apps section under Settings and you’ll see a brand new Default Apps hub at the top. Here, you can change the default apps for email, messaging, calling, call filtering, and browsing. The Messaging and Calling sections are new, and no, it’s not just limited to the EU: Users worldwide can see this.
