Apple Intelligence Explained: How It Works on iPhone

Apple Intelligence is Apple's name for the artificial intelligence features built into iPhone, iPad and Mac. It launched with iOS 18.1 in October 2024 and has grown with each update. With iOS 27 it also powers a completely new Siri.

Which iPhones support it?

• iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max
• All iPhone 16 models, including iPhone 16e
• All iPhone 17 models, iPhone Air, iPhone 18 Pro and later

Apple Intelligence needs a recent chip and at least 8 GB of memory, which is why the regular iPhone 15 and older models do not support it. Some advanced on-device models in iOS 27 require an iPhone 17 Pro, iPhone Air or iPhone 18 Pro.

Languages

Apple Intelligence started in US English, and since iOS 18.4 (March 2025) it also works in French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese, among others. The new Siri of iOS 27 is English-only at first; French, Spanish, Portuguese, Japanese and Korean arrive with iOS 27.2 (details).

Main features

Writing Tools

Select text in almost any app to proofread it, rewrite it in a friendlier or more professional tone, or summarize it.

Photos

Clean Up removes unwanted objects or people from photos. Natural-language search finds photos ("Marie dancing in a red dress"). iOS 27 adds Extend and Spatial Reframe.

Image Playground and Genmoji

Create illustrations and custom emoji from a description.

Notification summaries and Priority Notifications

Long group chats and emails are summarized on the Lock Screen, and urgent notifications appear first.

Visual Intelligence

Point the camera at something to learn about it, translate text, or add an event to your calendar.

Live Translation

Since iOS 26, calls, FaceTime and Messages can be translated in real time.

The new Siri (iOS 27)

Siri understands natural conversation, remembers context, acts on what is on screen and keeps a history across devices.

How privacy works

• Most requests are processed on the iPhone itself.
• Heavier requests go to Private Cloud Compute, Apple servers built so that your data is not stored and is not accessible to Apple. Independent researchers can inspect the software running on these servers.
• Optional integration with ChatGPT asks for permission before sending anything.

How to turn it on

1. Update to the latest iOS (iOS 27.0.1).
2. Set your iPhone and Siri language to a supported language.
3. Go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and turn on Apple Intelligence. Models download in the background over Wi-Fi; several gigabytes of free storage are required.