How to try out Apple Intelligence on your iPhone now

Apple’s iPhone 16 is launching without Apple Intelligence, but there’s still a pretty simple way for iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, and iPhone 16 Pro owners to try it out — all you have to do is install the latest public iOS beta.

That’s right, Apple’s iOS 18.1 beta is here, and it brings — for the first time in a non-developer beta — a number of Apple Intelligence features.

So how do you get the AI goods? First, it’s important to know that Apple Intelligence still isn’t available to all users. Merely updating to the latest version of iOS, even if you’re one of the lucky few who already received their iPhone 16, will not get you any of the new AI features.

Instead, you have to sign up for Apple’s Beta Software Program, over at beta.apple.com. Then, you’ll have to enroll your iOS device into the beta program by going to Settings – General – Software Update – Beta Updates. From there, you’ll be able to choose the latest beta, which is iOS 18.1. Don’t forget to back up your device before you install the beta software, which is by definition less stable and tested than public releases.

If you want to take it a step further and try the latest developer beta, check out Mashable’s piece with the instructions on how to get that, but beware — developer betas aren’t meant for wide public consumption and will almost certainly be buggy.

I’m running the developer beta, but you don’t need it; iOS 18.1 public beta is very similar to the latest developer beta.
Credit: Stan Schroeder/Mashable

If you want to try Apple Intelligence on your Mac or iPad, the iPadOS 18.1 beta and macOS Sequoia 15.1 beta are available as well; the onboarding process is the same as above.

There’s a caveat to all this. If you’re in Europe or China, Apple Intelligence features will not be available to you, no matter which iOS version you have installed. That’s because of AI regulations, which are different in the European Union and China than they are in the U.S. I wrote a short primer on how you can try to overcome this limitation, but the short version is that it is not worth the trouble. And if you want to know more about EU laws that caused this gap, you can read about that on Mashable too

As far as what kind of AI features can you expect in this beta, the list isn’t complete (some features are coming later this year) but it does include several key features seen in Apple’s “It’s Glowtime” event held earlier this month. For example, you’ll get the glowy, around-the-display Siri effect when you invoke her, and Siri will be a little smarter when it comes to understanding your mumbly requests.

You’ll also get AI-powered spell and grammar checks when writing, as well as AI summaries of your text. Photos will be able to create slide shows based on your text input, Clean Up can be used to remove unwanted objects in photos, and Messages and Mail are getting smart replies.