Apple Announces iOS 18.2 Today With These New Features

Joe Rossignol

Apple announced that iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 will be released today after more than six weeks of beta testing.

For iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16, the update introduces additional Apple Intelligence features, including Genmoji for creating custom emoji, Image Playground and Image Wand for generating images, and ChatGPT integration for Siri. All iPhone 16 models also get a new Visual Intelligence feature that lets you quickly identify things in the real world using the device’s camera button.

On all compatible iPhones, the update adds a new Defaults section in the Settings app, a location-sharing feature in the Find My app, and more.

Apple’s full iOS 18.2 release notes are below.

Apple Intelligence (all iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)

Image Playground
– A new app that lets you use concepts, descriptions, and people from your photo library to create fun and playful images in a variety of styles.
– Swipe through previews and choose the ones you want as you add concepts to your Playground.
– Choose from animation and illustration styles as you create an image.
– Create an image in Messages and Freeform, as well as third-party apps.
– Images sync to your Image Playground library across all your devices using iCloud.

Genmoji
– Genmoji lets you create your own emoji right from your keyboard.
– Genmoji sync to your sticker drawer across all your devices using iCloud.

ChatGPT support
– OpenAI's ChatGPT can be opened directly from Siri or Writing Tools.
– The Compose feature in Writing Tools lets you create something from scratch using ChatGPT.
– Siri can connect to ChatGPT to provide you with a response when needed
– No ChatGPT account required, and your requests will be anonymous and will not be used to train OpenAI models
– Sign in to ChatGPT to access your account benefits, and requests will be governed by OpenAI's data policies

– Image Wand turns sketches and handwritten or typed notes into images in Notes
– Describe your edit in Writing Tools to suggest how you want something was rewritten, for example, into a poem
– Camera control (iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max)
– Visual intelligence with camera control helps you instantly learn about places or interact with information simply by pointing your iPhone at an object, with the ability to use Google Search or ChatGPT
– Two-stage shutter camera control lets you lock focus and exposure in the camera with a gentle press of the camera control

Mail
– Mail categorization sorts your messages to help you prioritize the most important messages
– Digest mode groups all messages from a single sender into one group for easy review

Photos
– Video viewing improvements, including the ability to advance frame by frame and a setting to turn off automatic video looping
– Improvements to navigating collection views, including the ability to swipe right to return to the previous view
– Recently viewed and recently shared albums can be cleared
– The Favorites album appears in the Utilities collection in addition to pinned collections

Safari
– New background images to customize the Safari start page
– Import and Export lets you export browsing data from Safari and import browsing data from another app into Safari
– HTTPS Priority upgrades URLs to HTTPS when possible
– File uploads show real-time file upload progress in Dynamic Island and on the Home screen

This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:
– Voice Memos supports layered recording, letting you add vocals over an existing song idea without the need for headphones, then import your two-track projects directly into Logic Pro (iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max)
– Share Item Location in Find My helps you find and recover lost items by easily and securely sharing the location of your AirTag or Find My network accessory with trusted third parties like airlines
– Natural language search in the Apple Music and Apple TV apps lets you describe what you're looking for using any combination of categories, like genres, moods, actors, decades, and more
– Featured categories in Podcasts let you choose your favorite categories and get relevant show recommendations that you can easily access in your library
– A personalized search page in Podcasts highlights the most relevant categories and editorially curated collections just for you
– Sudoku puzzles for News+ come in three difficulty levels and are available to News+ subscribers
– Support for the Hearing Test feature on AirPods Pro 2 in Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Romania, Spain, United Arab Emirates and the United Kingdom.
– Support for the Hearing Aid feature on AirPods Pro 2 in the United Arab Emirates.
– Preview stock quotes let you track NASDAQ and NYSE tickers before the market opens.
– Fixed an issue where recently taken photos weren’t immediately showing up in the All Photos grid.
– Fixed an issue where Night mode photos in the Camera app might appear degraded when shooting with a long exposure (iPhone 16 Pro, iPhone 16 Pro Max).

Some features may not be available in all regions or on all Apple devices. For security information about Apple software updates, visit this website: https://support.apple.com/100100