Apple releases iOS 18.2 public beta with AI emoji app, ChatGPT-Siri integration

Apple has released iOS and iPadOS 18.2 software updates into public beta that include new features like an AI emoji generator app, ChatGPT integration with Siri and visual search using iPhone 16 cameras.

The new Apple Intelligence features, that were earlier available to developers, are now in public beta, like Genmoji and the Image Playground feature that generates pictures. ChatGPT access is free and doesn't require an account to use it.

Now, public beta users can ask Siri to show them information from inside their apps, or take action on something that appears on their screen. You can ask ChatGPT to help you write text, answer questions, create images and more.

The ‘Image Playground' tool allows you to create new images via prompts. Genmoji offers a similar system for creating custom emojis.

In the new software update, iPhone 16 users can press the new Camera Control button to launch Visual Intelligence to search and identify real-world objects and places through the camera lens.

Apple also released the first public betas of iPadOS 18.2, macOS Sequoia 15.2, and tvOS 18.2.

Before the iOS 18.2 release, the tech giant launched AI features including Writing Tools and notification summaries powered by Apple Intelligence in iOS 18.1.

Meanwhile, Apple Intelligence is quickly adding support for more languages and in April next year, English (India) will be supported along with several others.

Apple Intelligence is the personal intelligence system that harnesses the power of Apple silicon to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks while taking an extraordinary step forward for privacy in AI.

Deeply integrated across iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, Writing Tools allow users to refine their language by rewriting, proofreading, and summarising text virtually everywhere they write, including Mail, Messages, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps.

With Rewrite, Apple Intelligence allows users to choose from different versions of what they have written, and adjust the tone — professional, concise, or friendly — to suit the audience and task at hand. Proofread checks grammar, word choice, and sentence structure while also suggesting edits — along with explanations of the edits — that users can review or quickly accept.

Users can also select text and have it summarised in the form of a digestible paragraph, bulleted key points, a table, or a list.