Apple Intelligence is out, here's how to use it in India

Apple has officially joined the AI fray with the launch of Apple Intelligence outside of beta with the iOS 18.1 release. Announced late Monday in India, Apple’s new AI features will help users write creatively in different styles, get notification summaries, edit photos, and talk to a redesigned Siri similarly to AI chatbots like ChatGPT or Gemini Live. Apple Intelligence will work on entire iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Pro lineups, as well as last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.

The first instance of Apple Intelligence works only when the iPhone language is set to US English, irrespective of the user’s region. That means the company’s AI features work in India, as well. (Apple will roll out support for Indian English later this year.)

How to start using Apple Intelligence in India

Eligible iPhone users first need to head to device settings and download iOS 18.1. After the update has been installed, users will see a new Apple Intelligence & Siri option in the Settings. The new AI features, however, will not be turned on by default and users will have to get on a waitlist to try Apple Intelligence. But they first must change the iPhone language to US English to be eligible for Apple Intelligence in India. To do that, choose ‘English (United States) as the language within the Apple Intelligence & Siri settings. Now, tap ‘Join the Apple Intelligence Waitlist’ and wait for Apple to accept the request.

Apple says a user gets approval for Apple Intelligence features within minutes of applying. The iPhone will start downloading additional files for Apple Intelligence moments after the waitlist is over, given the device is connected to Wi-Fi and has enough battery. Once the files are downloaded and installed, the iPhone will notify that Apple Intelligence is ready to use.

Apple Intelligence features

Writing Tools are a set of tools focused on enhancing the language and style of anything users write. According to Apple, these tools “help you find just the right words virtually everywhere you write.” This includes summarisation, proofreading, rewriting, tabulation, and breaking down a write-up into key points.

Clean Up in Photos allows users to remove distractions from a photo, such as people in the background or unnecessary objects. The Photos app also has ‘Create a Memory’ feature that uses photos and videos to create a video on a theme, like your family’s last vacation. Apple has equipped the Photos app with Natural language search for better search capabilities.

iPhone users have gripped against iOS notifications for a long time. With the new update, Apple has listened to them, sort of. The new Notification Summaries feature reads notifications of allowed apps and provides summaries based on the context. The new Reduce Interruptions Focus helps users concentrate on their work as the iPhone filters notifications based on the Focus profile, in addition to offering exceptions for important alerts through the Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing in Focus.

The Mail and Messages now have Smart Reply and Summaries features, allowing users to send auto-suggested replies and fetch summaries of an email’s content to save time.