Apple Intelligence is a collection of artificial intelligence features developed by Apple. Relying on a combination of on-device and server processing, it was announced on June 10, 2024, at the 2024 Worldwide Developers Conference, as a built-in feature of Apple's iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, which were announced alongside Apple Intelligence. Apple Intelligence is free for all users with supported devices.
On macOS, Apple Intelligence is available only on Apple silicon Mac computers; Intel-based Mac computers are not supported. Features include writing tools that assist users with grammar and proofreading, image generation, summaries of system notifications, AI-assisted image retouching in the Photos app, and integration with ChatGPT, a chatbot by OpenAI.
History Background Apple first implemented artificial intelligence features in its products with the release of Siri in the iPhone 4S in 2011. In the years after its release, Apple engaged in efforts to ensure its artificial intelligence operations remained covert; according to University of California, Berkeley, professor Trevor Darrell, the company's secrecy deterred graduate students. The company started expanding its artificial intelligence team in 2015, opening up its operations by publishing more scientific papers and joining AI industry research groups. Apple reportedly acquired more AI companies from 2016 to 2020. In 2017, Apple released the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X with the A11 Bionic processor, which featured its first dedicated Neural Engine for accelerating common machine learning tasks. Siri's investments in artificial intelligence was criticized both by reviewers and internally at Apple for lagging behind other AI assistants.
The rapid development of generative artificial intelligence and the release of ChatGPT in late 2022 reportedly blindsided Apple executives and forced the company to refocus its efforts on AI. In an interview with Good Morning America, Apple CEO Tim Cook stated that generative AI had "great promise" but had some potential dangers, and that it was "looking closely" at ChatGPT. It was first reported in July 2023 that Apple was creating its own internal large language model, codenamed "Ajax". In October 2023, Apple was reportedly on track to release new generative AI features into its operating systems by 2024, including a significantly redeveloped Siri. In an earnings call in February 2024, Cook stated that the company was spending a "tremendous amount of time and effort" into AI features that would be shared "later that year".
Google deal In January 2026, Apple and Google announced a multi-year partnership under which Apple's next-generation foundation models are expected to incorporate Google's Gemini models and cloud infrastructure. According to the companies, the collaboration is intended to support future Apple Intelligence features, including enhancements to Siri, while Apple Intelligence will continue to operate on Apple devices and through Apple's Private Cloud Compute system, which Apple states is designed to preserve user privacy.
On an earnings call, Apple reported to investors that they were integrating an on-device model of the Google Gemini AI to Siri, as the development of their model was beset with setbacks. Apple has previously tested and used other third-party AI models like ChatGPT, but according to a Bloomberg article by Mark Gurman, Apple pushed forward the proposed Google deal; by using Google's Gemini model possessing 1.2 trillion parameters, Apple would integrate a much larger and more complex model than those it previously developed and used. Comparable AI models from other major companies (including OpenAI and Meta) have also been reported to operate at a similar "trillion-parameter" scale and to compete against Gemini-class systems on benchmarks.
During WWDC 2026, Apple officially announced an improved version of Apple Intelligence, using a next-generation version of Apple's own models trained with the help of Gemini models. The newer version of Apple Intelligence powers an updated Siri, named "Siri AI". In a talk with the media, Apple's senior vice president (SVP) of software engineering Craig Federighi said that the new Siri does not use Gemini's models or infrastructure, but Apple's models are "trained using proprietary data with reinforcement learning and refined using outputs from Gemini frontier models".
Models
Apple Intelligence consists of an on-device model as well as a cloud model running on servers primarily using Apple silicon. Both models are branded as Apple Foundation Models (AFM) and consist of a generic foundation model, as well as multiple adapter models that are more specialized to particular tasks like text summarization and tone adjustment. It was launched for developers and testers on July 29, 2024, in US English, with the developer betas of iOS 18.1, macOS 15.1, and iPadOS 18.1, and fully launched on October 28, 2024.
According to a human evaluation done by Apple's machine learning division, the on-device foundation model beat or tied equivalent small models by Mistral AI, Microsoft, and Google, while the server foundation models beat the performance of OpenAI's GPT-3, while roughly matching the performance of GPT-4.
According to Apple, Apple's cloud models are built on a Private Cloud Compute platform. Unlike other generative AI services which use servers from third parties, Apple Intelligence's cloud models are run entirely on Apple servers with custom silicon hardware built for end-to-end encryption. It was also designed to make sure that the software running on said servers matches the independently verifiable software accessible to researchers. In case of a software mismatch, Apple devices will refuse to connect to the servers.
Apple states that the data centers used for Private Cloud Compute have been powered by 100% renewable energy since 2018. The company has also announced a goal of achieving carbon neutrality across its products and supply chain by 2030. This addresses growing concerns about the environmental impacts of AI technologies, which have faced backlash for their high energy consumption and carbon footprint.
On June 9, 2025, Apple released the second version of AFM. They announced that AFM will be available to third-party applications as part of the Foundation Models API, with support for structured data response and tool calling.
On June 8, 2026, Apple released the third version of AFM. From the previous two models, AFM 3 is now a family of five models: two on-device models and three cloud models. The existing 3-billion-parameter on-device model is now named AFM 3 Core, while a 20-billion-parameter version, named AFM 3 Core Advanced, is available only on certain newer devices. Apple's two cloud models running on Apple servers are now called AFM 3 Cloud and ADM 3 Cloud (Image), while a more advanced model, AFM 3 Cloud Pro, runs on Nvidia GPUs on Google Cloud servers using Apple's own Private Cloud Compute guidelines.
Features Writing tools Apple Intelligence features writing tools that are powered by LLMs. Selected text can be proofread, rewritten, made more friendly, concise, or professional, similar to the AI writing features of the online English-language writing assistant tool Grammarly. It can also be used to generate summaries, key points, tables, and lists from an article or piece of writing. In iOS 18.2 and macOS 15.2, a ChatGPT integration was added to Writing Tools through "Compose" and "Describe your change" features.
Real-time translation Apple Intelligence enables the real-time translation of messages, photos and videos, and phone calls, through Apple's hardware. For communicating with foreigners, using the Translate app on iPhone to show subtitles in their language or to play back the translated audio naturally in their language, and also by wearing AirPods with Live Translation can now help to understand what someone is saying in users' preferred language in conversation. If both have headphones, simultaneous interpretation can be achieved.
Image Playground
Apple Intelligence can be used to generate images on-device with the Image Playground app. Similarly to OpenAI's DALL-E, it can be used to generate images using AI, using phrases and descriptions to output an image with customizable styles such as Animation and Sketch. In Notes, users can access Image Playground on iPad through the Image Wand tool in the Apple Pencil palette without having to open the Image Playground app. Rough sketches made with Apple Pencil can be transformed into images.
As part of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26, Image Playground now integrates with the image generation models built into ChatGPT.
Genmoji
Using Apple Intelligence text-to-image models, users can generate unique "Genmoji" images by typing descriptions (prompting). Users can pick people in photos to have Genmoji generate images that resemble them. Similarly to emoji, Genmoji can be added inline to text messages, tapbacks, and stickers, and can be shared in Messages as well in third-party applications as inline messages or as stickers.
Siri overhaul
Siri has been updated to use Apple Intelligence's large language foundation models. The first iteration of Siri with Apple Intelligence, released as part of iOS 18, features an updated user interface, improved natural language processing, and the option to interact via text by double tapping the home bar without enabling the feature in the Accessibility menu, or double-clicking the command key on macOS.
At WWDC 2024, Apple stated that Siri would be able use personal context from device activities to answer queries in a future software update. After numerous delays, this feature was released in beta as part of Apple's late 2026 OS releases, as part of a wider overhaul of Siri named "Siri AI".
Mail Apple Intelligence adds a feature called Priority Messages to the Mail app, which shows urgent emails such as same-day invitations or boarding passes, with AI generated summaries of the email. The Mail app also gains the ability to categorize incoming mail into Primary, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions based on what the email contains, which Apple says is done all on-device.
Photos Apple's Photos app includes a feature to create custom memory movies and enhanced search capabilities. Users can describe a story, and using Apple Intelligence, Photos selects matching photos, videos, and music. Users can also remove distractions in images with the Clean Up tool in the Photos app. Apple Intelligence identifies background objects and removes them with a tap, brush, or circle. It organizes these into a movie with a narrative arc based on identified themes. Additionally, users can search for specific photos or videos by description or keyword, and Apple Intelligence can pinpoint particular moments within video clips.
Notifications Using the Notification Summary feature, Apple Intelligence can summarize notifications from messaging apps and groups of notifications from apps so that users do not have to examine large numbers of notifications. A new Reduce Interruptions focus mode silences notifications deemed unimportant while letting important notifications go through.
Visual intelligence On the iPhone 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, and 16 Pro Max, or later, users are able to hold down the Camera Control button and take a picture of an item to then either send to ChatGPT or search with Google. The image taken is not stored on-device, and Apple says they do not have access to the image either. This is meant to allow people to learn more about items faster. This feature was also made available on the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPhone 16e, and later devices, starting with iOS 18.4, via the action button or in the Control Center. It was also introduced to compatible iPads, Macs, and Apple Vision Pros in late 2026.
ChatGPT integration