iOS 18.2: More testers get Image Playground, preparation for better Siri

Contents

Users of the second developer beta of iOS 18.2 report that they will now be able to test the new Apple image generators more quickly. This also applies to the other two platforms that provide the functions: iPadOS 18.2 Beta 2 and macOS 15.2 Beta 2. Previously, interested parties had to wait a long time, especially in Europe: After being placed on the waiting list, nothing happened at first.

Three Apple-style features

The image generators are part of Apple Intelligence, which must first be activated on the device. On the Mac, this is possible from macOS 15.1, as long as the system language is set to US English. On the iPhone and iPad, which have not yet been officially activated for the AI system by Apple within the EU, the App Store or media account must be based in the USA – plus the system language must be US English. After activating Apple Intelligence, which can take a few hours or even days, but is sometimes instantaneous, the image generators still need to be activated.

Apple has another queue for this. To do this, open the new Image Playground app and add your name to the list. As mentioned, this has been possible since iOS 18.2 Beta 1, but many users remained in the queue and were unable to use the app. Once you have moved up the list, the system first downloads data to prepare the models. A total of three image generation functions can then be used.

Only comics and drawings

The central feature is the Image Playground, which can be used to generate images from a mixture of text prompts, suggestions from Apple and template images. These are always kept in a comic or at least drawing style, as Apple does not want to run into any fake news problems. Even this early version of the app is fun to use, as it is possible to layer image content, for example placing a person with a crown in a forest in front of a giraffe.

The visual quality sometimes looks old-fashioned compared to modern models such as Midjourney, Ideogram or Flux. In addition, logos and company names are often filtered out, even the Apple logo is not easy to reach. Image Playground is also unable to handle fonts, resulting in a jumble of characters.

Genmoji and Image Wand

The second image generation function is Genmoji, a way to create your own emojis. This is somewhat hidden: you can find the feature when you open the emoji keyboard. An emoji symbol in Apple Intelligence colors then appears on the right-hand side. In our tests, it was sometimes not available and we had to open the keyboard again. As with Image Playground, several variants are created. The favorite version can then be sent and is saved automatically.

On devices without iOS 18.2 / iPadOS 18.2 / macOS 15.2, the Genmojis appear as images with a description, unfortunately currently still preceded by a special question mark. Apple should still be working on this. The third new function is called Image Wand and is only available on the iPad with Apple Pencil. It turns highlighted words in the Notes app into illustrations. This feature seems to us to be the weakest, and is sometimes clearly not what we wanted. The new versions will probably be released in December. However, the EU version is – including German language – not planned until April 2025. Meanwhile, Apple is providing developers with initial API information on the new "Onscreen Awareness" of the Siri voice assistant, which is also expected in the spring. This should enable the system to "see" what users are currently doing – and help them accordingly in an agent-like manner.

Empfohlener redaktioneller Inhalt

Mit Ihrer Zustimmung wird hier ein externer Preisvergleich (heise Preisvergleich) geladen.

Preisvergleiche immer laden Preisvergleich jetzt laden

Ich bin damit einverstanden, dass mir externe Inhalte angezeigt werden. Damit können personenbezogene Daten an Drittplattformen (heise Preisvergleich) übermittelt werden. Mehr dazu in unserer Datenschutzerklärung.

(bsc)