iOS 18.1 iPhone Update: Release Date Confirmed, iOS 18.2 Beta Live

Updated October 24 with details of the iOS 18.1 waitlist.

Apple Intelligence is almost here and Apple has just confirmed exactly when. We already knew it was some time in October and now Apple has said it will be next week. And on Wednesday, Oct. 23, Apple has just put the first developer beta of iOS 18.2 live.

And now there are new details of a key element of Apple Intelligence: there’s a waitlist. When you update to iOS 18.1, the Settings app includes a new extra called Apple Intelligence & Siri. It’s here that you can sign up to Apple Intelligence. When you do, you’ll be asked to join a waitlist, exactly as those using the developer or public betas have had to do.

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During that time, the waitlist moved fast: I waited for all of 10 minutes. That may change when the software hits the critical mass that the general release brings with it. However, if you’ve already used Apple Intelligence in beta, Apple has said you don’t need to wait again.

So, as Ryan Christoffel points out at 9to5Mac, this is a cunning way to beat the waitlist. “You can join the Apple Intelligence waitlist today. How? By installing the iOS 18.1 public beta. Apple just released the iOS 18.1 RC beta today. RC stands for release candidate, meaning the software will likely be identical to what’s released to all users next week… once you install the iOS 18.1 RC, you’ll be able to join the Apple Intelligence waitlist without waiting another day.” Which means that you can then switch to the general release software next week but you won’t have to join a waitlist again.

iOS 18.1 Release Date

Next week means Monday, Oct. 28, Tuesday, Oct. 29 or Wednesday, Oct. 30. My belief is that the exact release details will be 10 a.m. Pacific on Oct. 28.

iOS 18.1: The First Taste Of Apple Intelligence

The first features of Apple’s personal intelligence system are almost here. There’s more to come over the next few months but initial features include writing tools to let you improve what you’ve written. You can proofread your text, and the iPhone can rewrite or summarize what you’ve said. These tools are available across the iPhone, including in Mail, Notes, Pages and in some third-party apps.

Photos has a new clean-up tool which can remove people and things spoiling your shot, and uses multiple machine learning tools to leave the background pristine, like they were never there.

You can already record and transcribe audio, but with iOS 18.1, the capability to record phone calls is added, complete with automatic notifications to participants. A summary is also generated after the call ends.

Siri gains a new design that looks somehow more central to the iPhone experience and will offer a more intuitive interaction.

At first, Apple Intelligence on iPhone will only work with devices with language and Siri set to U.S. English. But Apple has now released a developer beta which will extend this to other versions of English.

iOS 18.2 Developer Beta Now Live

The new dev beta of iOS 18.2 has just gone live and it allows more English speakers to use Apple Intelligence, specifically English for Australia, New Zealand, Canada, South Africa and the U.K.

It also introduces a lot more features, plus refinements to the existing writing tools—you can specify what you’re looking for with a “Describe your change” element.

New features include Image Playground, which lets you create images from a picture in your photo library. You can save these to a new standalone app which will update automatically across devices on the same Apple account.

And iOS 18.2 sees the arrival of the much-anticipated Genmoji to create all-new emoji with just a text prompt. There’s also the first sight of integration with ChatGPT. If Siri thinks ChatGPT could help, it’ll ask if you’d like to be connected to it. Apple has stressed the security protections it has put in place for each request and no ChatGPT account is needed. Visual Intelligence, which integrates with the iPhone’s Camera Control is also in the new beta.

Apple iOS 18.2 will go on general release in December, Apple has confirmed.

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