iOS 18.2: Apple Intelligence's Imaging Features Have a Waitlist, Here's Why

Apple just launched the public beta for iOS 18.2. If you want to try out the latest Apple Intelligence features and more, we have an important PSA. Image features like Genmoji and Image Playground come with a waitlist in iOS 18.2, so you may not get access right away. Here's why.

Details for iOS 18.2's New AI Waitlist

When iOS 18.1 launched with the first wave of Apple Intelligence features, Apple used a waitlist. However, from what we've heard, most users didn't have to wait long to get access to AI.

iOS 18.2 introduces a new waitlist specifically for Apple Intelligence imaging tools. These include:

Genmoji
Image Playground
and Image Wand

Once you install the iOS 18.2 beta, you can open the Image Playground app or the Genmoji tool inside the emoji keyboard and request access to the new image tools.

Once you request access, you'll be placed on Apple's waitlist.

But this time, the wait could be longer than with iOS 18.1's AI features. In fact, it could stretch out to several weeks.

Why the wait?

Because Apple is being very careful with this beta testing period. The company wants to make sure that its AI-powered image processing tools work as expected, produce the expected results, and aren't being used inappropriately.

The waitlist is part of Apple's process to create “responsible AI”

There have been countless stories of other AI products being used for harm, especially image manipulation tools. Users have created deceptive deepfakes, versions of popular IP to work with unsafe computing, and a host of other inappropriate AI creations.

One of Apple’s “responsible AI” principles is “Design with Care.” Here’s what that means:

We take precautions at every stage of our process, including design, model training, feature development, and quality assurance, to identify how our AI tools could be misused or lead to potential harm. We'll be continually and actively improving our AI tools with user feedback.

That's a lot of what's behind the iOS 18.2 imaging tools waitlist.

The company is slowly rolling out features and asking for user feedback along the way so we can continue to improve our AI tools before they're publicly released to millions of users next month.

So while the wait may be a while, know that there's a good reason for it.

Have you gotten access to iOS 18.2 imaging features? How long have you been waiting? Let us know in the comments.