Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference next week promises to be a pivotal moment in the iPhone maker’s history. Although the Vision Pro debuted at last year’s event, don’t expect the hardware to be the main attraction at WWDC 2024, which kicks off Monday at 10 a.m. ET. PT.
WWDC is for developers, and much of the focus will be on iOS 18. The Cupertino tech giant will showcase how it has chosen to incorporate AI technology into its devices and software, including through a historic partnership with OpenAI. As the big event approaches, all sorts of leaks have emerged about what iOS 18 has in store and its rumored AI-powered apps and features.
Among the changes, Apple is said to be powering some of the new AI features with it Ajax LLM, including suggested email responses. Other reports indicate that Apple plans to process data from artificial intelligence in such a way employees will not be able to accesswhich would help Apple continue to keep its promise of data privacy for its users.
Below, we’ll take a look at how Apple is said to be adding AI to its apps and services in the next big iPhone update, along with other improvements and changes coming to iOS 18.
The AI-enabled future of Siri
- Apple’s digital assistant is about to get one AI refresh. The digital assistant will leverage Apple’s extensive language models and allow Siri to control individual functions within apps. This will work without any necessary developer or user setup, such as those currently required by App Intents or Siri Shortcuts. Instead, users will be able to ask Siri to do things like delete an email or edit a photo.
- Some of Siri’s upgraded AI capabilities won’t be ready until next year. For example, Siri’s ability to handle multi-step tasks is likely to lag.
- A more advanced Siri will also come to Apple Watch for use on the go. You could use Siri on your watch to play music on another device, a report said.
- Siri will get more natural voices.
- Siri will be able to sum up notifications that include people, companies, calendar events, locations, dates, and more.
- Could the new look of Siri be mentioned in the animations below?
The new look of Apple Photos
- A new interface is being tested.
- Humans will be able to retouch photos with AI, perhaps challenging Google Photos in this area.
- A “Clean Up” feature, for example, would allow you to remove objects from your photos using genetic artificial intelligence technology, similar to Google’s Magic Eraser.
- A report noted that Apple has created an internal-only app called Generative Playground that uses GenAI to create and edit images. It’s unclear how this feature will roll out to end users, though iMessage integration has been spotted in the form of an app extension.
Safari with more artificial intelligence
- AI recaps of Safari web pages and news articles will be available through a new Smart Search feature. (Caution, Arc?)
AI-injected notes
- Users will be able to request AI-powered Notes recaps.
- GenAI will also help transcribe audio into Notes.
- In-app audio recording will be supported alongside audio transcription and AI summarization.
- Math Notes will help users create graphs and solve equations through AI, recognizing the text of math equations and then helping you solve them.
- Notes Users can also have the option to automatically complete their math equations as they type.
- Project Greymatter is the codename for a set of artificial intelligence tools built into cores like Safari, Photos and Notes, Bloomberg reported.
Voice memo transcriptions
- Real-time transcription for voicemails is also coming.
iMessages is being transformed with artificial intelligence
- AI genetic emojis will be supported, allowing users to create their own emojis with technology.
- AI summaries of lost texts will also be available.
- Overall deeper integration of Siri is expected.
- Tapbacks will get new icons.
- Message effects for individual words will be supported in addition to the effects for the message itself.
- Messages will offer suggested responses generated by Apple’s Ajax LLM on the device to make messaging easier.
- RCS support It’s also expected to arrive this year to bring reading recipes, typing pointers, and high-quality videos and images when messaging Android users via iMessage.
Calendar refresh
- Apple’s LLM will be able to communicate with the Calendar app to check for events when composing replies to messages.
Mail with AI support
- Mail will also receive suggested email responses generated by Ajax.
- Project BlackPearl is the code name for the AI upgrade that improves Apple Mail.
- Apple Mail search will include information from Contacts, locations, and locally stored documents.
- Users may be able to ask Siri to make their emails “sound more professional” among other things.
New settings interface
- Hopefully the settings will be less confusing a refreshed interface and updates that include better organization and improved search.
Control Center updates
- A new Music graphic element will be available — possibly to display larger works of art?
- HomeKit improvements for smart home integrations.
Notifications
- AI recaps of missed alerts will be available.
- Apple is working on something called “Enhanced” notifications.
Center of attention
- Spotlight is expected to get faster and more reliable search.
Home screen updates
- iOS 18 will bring the ability to place app icons wherever you want, instead of having to line them up on the grid with no gaps between them.
- Users will be able to too change the color of app iconsperhaps as Apple’s answer to Google’s Material You.
Maps with route creation
Music with artificial intelligence playlists
More improvements
Other apps with scheduled updates include Freeform, Xcode and Apple’s productivity apps, such as Keynote and Pages, which may have GenAI capabilities.
We’re launching an AI newsletter! Sign up here to start receiving it in your inbox on June 5th.
