One of the biggest hits that caught our attention was when content pressure started in TikToks, Reels, and Snaps lasting 10 seconds. This made watching long content somewhat difficult. I am concerned that Apple will soon kill our few remaining brain cells with the iOS 18.1 update on October 28th.
I was struck by the abundance of summarizing features regarding the first update to Apple Intelligence that will be released at the end of the month. With iOS 18.1, you will have summaries everywhere you do most of your reading on your phone: Safari, mail, and notifications. Look at this tragic example of text that is supposed to be long, which has been summarized in one ruthless line.
Apple Intelligence on iOS 18.1 will summarize articles on Safari. All you have to do is switch to Reader mode so the article is summarized in a few lines in a box at the top of the screen. This of course saves time, but also makes users read a lot less. You can also select a specific paragraph to drag its summary or key points.
It will also update the mail application so you see a one-line summary of your email in your inbox box instead of the few words/lines you usually see. If you display a number of emails in your notifications, you will now also see summaries of them all. The Smart Reply option allows you to reply to emails with one click, similar to what Gmail offers. Your notifications will also appear in a single sentence summarizing the recent activity of a specific application so you can follow it at a glance.
Upcoming writing tools like Grammarly will work on your phone, underlining each word with a spelling or grammatical error. You can also write a poorly written message and request Apple Intelligence to improve it with the tone you choose: friendly, professional, or concise.
The highlight of Apple was the Glowtime event, updated Siri on the new operating system. This will feature a glow at the corners of your screen when you activate and move the assistant synchronously with your voice while speaking to it. I look forward to finally being able to write to Siri in addition to speaking to it. Apple says it will also improve in understanding memory and context so it can handle your follow-up questions better.
Natural language processing also comes in the Photos application. So, instead of manually scrolling to a specific image, you can simply say, “Ali is having breakfast at Catskills,” and let the Photos app smartly search for you. You can use the same method to create movies from memories. Just talk to your directed device about it. The iOS version of Magic Eraser on Pixel, Clean Up in Photos, will allow you to remove unwanted objects in the background simply by putting a circle around it or swiping your finger on it.
Availability
When iOS 18.1 is released on October 28th, you will be asked to join the waiting list. This is not the usual way iOS operating system updates are released, but something Apple is experimenting with this time to ensure a smooth experience for everyone. The waitlist is account-based, meaning joining it on any device will guarantee the waitlist across all your Apple devices. Compatibility standards for iOS 18.1 are any model iPhone 16 or one of the iPhone 15 Pro models. Initially, Apple Intelligence will only be available in the United States and in English.
