iOS 18.2 is here, and this time around it merits the five exclamation marks a bit more because of all the new Apple Intelligence features which released in the update! This article tells you not just about the Apple Intelligence features but also about the other nice updates and the Voice Memos game changer!
First things first, Apple Intelligence. iOS 18.2 is packed with Apple Intelligence features, including several image generation additions. First, Image Playground (integrated into Messages but also accessible as a standalone app) lets you create Apple Intelligence-generated images, and Image Wand helps turn a sketch into an AI image in Notes. If you simply want an emoji and not as much as an AI-generated image to send in Messages, there's Genmoji, and on the identifying side of things, Visual Intelligence (similar to Live Text and Visual Look Up rolled into one, but without the need to take a picture), specific to iPhone 16 (why? the way to unlock it is by long-pressing the Camera Control button, a button specific to the iPhone 16 lineup), is a new feature that can not just identify all types of things (animals, plants, food, landmarks) but also business information, the ability to have text read aloud and copied, and even search and ask ChatGPT questions about objects. Speaking of ChatGPT, if Siri isn't enough for your request (and as of now it won't be for any questions that need artificial intelligence or on-screen knowledge: Apple Intelligence in Siri still isn't here yet and likely won't come until next year), ChatGPT can replace it with your permission.
Some more Apple Intelligence updates include the lack of a three-style limit when it comes to rewriting using Writing Tools (you can describe the style you want too!), categorization for Mail (so mail from different Apple Intelligence-created categories or people/businesses is categorized, something which you can easily turn off right in the Mail app), natural language search in the Apple Music and Apple TV apps (so you can search things like "energetic songs" and "songs about love"), and last but not (are you kidding me? Certainly not! Stop messing with me!) least, Voice Memos can be turned into two layers, a feature that Michael Bublé (the so-called King of Christmas, 9to5Mac notes) loved (according to him, "I honestly think this is going to change the way that we make music forever"). All these features are still available in English only, but they are available for more dialects of English, including Australian, South African, Canadian, British, and New Zealand English.
Onto other features, for EU users (here we go again), more Apple apps can be deleted (including such "core" ones as Safari, Photos, Messages, and even the App Store (a change prompted by the support of third-party app stores in the EU, but dangerous for the clumsy)), web apps can be created by third-party browsers, and you can set a default browser at the first opening of Safari on not just the iPhone, but the iPad too. Default apps can be adjusted not just in the EU, but everywhere else too, a surprising decision by Apple maybe made as a sign of Apple starting to like, not hate, this not being a control freak (although the EU still has more toggles in Default Apps). The novel Hearing Test/Aid features for AirPods Pro 2 are now in new countries: the UAE for the Hearing Aid feature, and not just the UAE but France, Cyprus, Italy, Romania, Luxembourg, the UK, and Spain too for the Hearing Test. Camera Control for the iPhone 16 lineup has lots of new settings as well to toggle in the Settings app, including new settings for double-click speed, AE/AF lock, and to require the screen to be on for Camera Control to work, plus a second location on Accessibility > Camera Button. On the subject of Settings, you can adjust the maximum volume for music, movies, and voice memos (other things are not affected), and the section icons in Settings have a new Dark Mode look (icons on black background instead of on white). iPhone Mirroring and Personal Hotspot sharing with a Mac can now be done at the same time, and if connected with a Mac (or even a PC), you can use Face ID on an iPhone/iPad to unlock it. Control Center is updated too in a couple minor ways and a bigger way (Type to Siri is now a control, the Music Recognition control has direct access to the new Musical Memories feature to show where and when you identified a song with the feature, the Adaptive Audio icon has changed, and finally the Satellite control isn't in Connectivity anymore). Onto more safety-leaning features, people under 17 in Utah will now have adult content on the web restricted (per state law), and Australian kids can now report nudity in Messages.
Onto app updates, Photos is also updated, with Favorites in the Utilities album collection, a better video player (you don't have to tap on videos for full screen, and frame-by-frame scrubbing is here), a swipe-right gesture for going back in iOS 18's new Collections feature, and finally a setting (again!) to stop videos from automatically looping, and Safari is also updated, with a long-overdue Not Secure Connection Warning, new already-made start page background images, settings for "history and website data", and finally Safari download progress tracking for both the Dynamic Island and Lock Screen. Speaking of the Dynamic Island, Vehicle Motion Cues (a feature helping reduce motion sickness in a vehicle) is now in the Island too, and the Lock Screen now can be configured in Settings (go to Accessibility > Audio and Visual > Always Show Volume Control) to always show the volume slider. In Find My, you can share the location of a lost item with a "trusted person" or (this is it) an airline (i.e, for lost baggage). The reciever doesn't have to have Apple kit, either, and you can also share to everyone on earth who visits a website; a good solution for those who need people searching for more than the week that the location link remains unexpired. In Apple TV, along with the previously mentioned natural language search, you can add different Library categories and third-party apps like Disney+ and Hulu, Podcasts users can enjoy an updated Apple Music-esque search page and the ability to see categories in your Library and favorite them. The Arcade section of the App Store has been updated too with a drop-down filter menu including a game previews toggle. For Apple News+, daily sudokus are here, and Stocks has pre-market stock tracking for NYSE and NASDAQ stocks.
Finally, the security/bug fixes. iOS 18.2 fixes a total of 20 security holes, including four for WebKit, three for the kernel, two to fix personal information protection holes, and two for app privileges, and it also fixes two bugs (one for long-exposure Night mode photos, and one for a delay between photo capture and appearance in All Photos).
By Leo
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