Updated on October 31 with details on Apple Intelligence waitlist and delays.

Apple Intelligence, Apple’s approach to artificial intelligence, is now live. It’s coming to iPhone and will be coming to Mac and iPad at the same time. For the phone, this depends on iOS 18.1; If you’re still hesitant to switch from iOS 17 to iOS 18, there’s also a new update for you that includes security fixes but no Apple Intelligence.

If you haven’t upgraded to iOS 18 on your iPhone running iOS 17, that’s okay. Of course, you can upgrade if you want, because the list of iOS 18 and iOS 17 compatible iPhones is the same (full list below).

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There are many people who have not yet migrated for reasons such as users finding issues with their email systems. Another user said Live Captions was missing an audio wave feature, and others decided to wait for the feature to be worked out a bit more, heeding warnings of serious issues in iOS 18. Still, more said they were extremely happy with iOS 17, thanked them very much, and expected the new version to be more polished.

This is all fair enough, but in this case consider iOS 17.7.1; This is for security purposes only and has no new features, so it’s less likely to cause problems.

The bug fixes are similar to those in iOS 18.1, including issues with Safari, Safari Downloads, Shortcuts, VoiceOver, and Siri, as well as phone core elements like WebKit and Kernel.

The VoiceOver bug was particularly thorny and meant, as Apple put it, that “an attacker could view restricted content from the lock screen.” Since this content may contain passwords, it seems like a good idea to upgrade to fix this.

There’s nothing wrong with not upgrading to iOS 18, but early indications are that it’s now stable and there are plenty of new features available, including Apple Intelligence. Also note that if you have upgraded to iOS 18.1, there is a waiting list for Apple Intelligence.

Apple Intelligence Waitlist

When you install iOS 18.1, you can sign up to try out AI features if your iPhone is one of the six models compatible with Apple Intelligence (extensive list below). Again, all the details of these are below.

The waitlist is a new feature in Apple’s release, but it’s made to make things easier, and Apple Intelligence is a feature that’s still in beta. Once you sign up to join, the iPhone starts downloading some generative AI models from Apple so you can use ChatGPT if you want. And if you do, it will need to communicate with Apple’s servers through a process that Apple says is extremely secure: Apple Private Cloud Compute.

Signing up can be a big part of the need for a waitlist. As a content creator Brandon Butch “For those still asking: ‘Why does Apple Intelligence have a waiting list?'” he says. Here’s some good information from a server engineer: ‘The real reason is almost certainly why you should sign up for Private Cloud Computing. This is the server side of Apple Intelligence. Some of your requests are processed locally, while more complex ones are sent to the cloud.’

So how long is the waiting list? In the hours following the release of iOS 18.1, there was initially a 30-minute to an hour delay between request and acceptance. This may grow further as more people sign up.

Which iPhones Can Run iOS 18.1?

Any iPhone that can run last year’s software, iOS 17, will be compatible with iOS 18.1. This means everything from the iPhone Xs, iPhone Xs Max, and iPhone Xr onwards. All phones in the following series are included: iPhone 11, iPhone 12, iPhone 13, iPhone 14, iPhone 15 and iPhone 16 plus iPhone SE second- and third-generation models. Note that Apple Intelligence is only compatible with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, as well as this year’s entire iPhone 16 lineup.

While it’s always been the case that some features are only available on select phones, this time the warning applies to many more. That’s because Apple Intelligence is only available for six iPhones: iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max. Plus, if you have one of these, you’ll need to set the language and Siri to US English (this will change when iOS 18.2 arrives in December).

But wait, even if you don’t have one of these, iOS 18.1 still has its benefits.

How to Buy?

You’ll know the routine by now, but just in case: Open the Settings app, click General, then click Software Update. After that click on Download and Install and let the software do its magic.

What’s in the Version?

We’ll get to Apple Intelligence in a moment. Call recordings are available for all users. You can now record live phone calls or FaceTime audio. There are also updates to the Control Center, fixes for Podcast issues, and video recording issues in certain situations, as well as fixes for digital car keys. New hearing features are coming to AirPods Pro 2.

There’s a fix for the random reboot bug and improvements to Camera Control for iPhone 16 series users.

And then there’s Apple Intelligence. This is coming slowly, but the first features are now live. These include writing tools to help you correct text or improve your writing, and a new look for Siri, which now has extensive Apple product information; so to start with you can ask your iPhone questions about your iPhone.

Cleanup comes to Photos to remove unwanted objects from images and provide the ability to create slideshows from words in Memory Movie.

There’s a new Focus mode to reduce interruptions, and you can now summarize emails and Messages. There’s much more to come, but this is a solid start.

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