During its iPhone 16 launch keynote, Apple swore by Apple Intelligence, its in-house AI promising to open “a new era” for the iPhone. Finally, it’s a cold shower since this AI is not available at the time of writing these lines. According to sources close to Apple, the first features should arrive on October 28.
Problem: only American users will be able to benefit from it, Apple having failed to reach an agreement with the European (and Chinese) authorities for a global deployment. This frustrating situation can, however, be circumvented, provided that you accept a few compromises. You will find all the details to take advantage of Apple Intelligence in France now.
Waiting for, we have installed iOS 18.1 on our iPhone 16 Plus, finally available. Why were we waiting for it so much? Because it gives access to the first features of Apple Intelligence. We tested them.
New Siri (still limited)
iOS 18.1 with Apple Intelligence is available. I’m preparing a short summary of what’s new. Among them, the new Siri (forgive my broken English accent) #iOS18 #AppleIntelligence #iPhone16 pic.twitter.com/zT8QG630QR
— Romain Vitt (@vitt_romain) October 8, 2024
iOS 18.1 therefore first marks the arrival of the long-awaited improved Siri. The famous “Glow” animation highlighted during the keynote becomes reality. When you request Siri, the screen glows with a multi-colored effect and its edges remain lit as long as you communicate with Siri.
English accent problem or assistant difficulty, Siri still has trouble recognizing what we say to her. We asked him to find emails from Meta for example. He systematically recognizes the first name “Maite”. Not the same cuisine at all.
Siri is therefore capable of snooping through the data of Apple’s in-house applications in order to respond to requests. Find an email, a photo from a description, a note on a specific subject. On these points, the assistant is responsive and precise.
So Siri for the moment is not crazy since ChatGPT is not yet integrated into Apple Intelligence. So the responses are basically referrals to web links on Safari. pic.twitter.com/FPGXxjPCPe
— Romain Vitt (@vitt_romain) October 8, 2024
For general searches requiring an Internet connection, Siri retains its previous functionality. Apple announced that it would rely on ChatGPT for in-context responses, but OpenAI AI is not yet integrated into this update. So, when we ask Siri which are the 5 most valuable companies in the world, it gives us a list of web links to consult on Siri. We are therefore still far from Gemini’s answers on a Pixel for example.
Some productivity tools
I continue with the creation functions. For the moment we mainly have summary, rewriting. Nothing that doesn’t already exist on certain Android models (Pixel and Samsung in particular) but nice to see it on the iPhone. pic.twitter.com/evVmcQCTV2
— Romain Vitt (@vitt_romain) October 8, 2024
The beginnings of Apple Intelligence are also marked by the integration of productivity tools. Here again, Apple is not revolutionizing the genre, this type of functionality is already integrated into many competing models. We are still happy to see them land on iPhone (well in the United States for the moment).
Thus, Apple Intelligence is able to summarize texts and rewrite them with different styles (friendly, professional, concise). In Notesyou can also create a summary, transform the text into a bulleted list, a table or summarize it in a few key points. To access it, simply tap the new “Apple Intelligence” button accessible in the toolbar.
And here a little illustration of the summary in the emails. Once again it’s well integrated but not revolutionary. pic.twitter.com/jePEP7i31g
— Romain Vitt (@vitt_romain) October 8, 2024
Safari also includes the “Summary” tool. On news websites for example, you can obtain a summary of the article after switching to “Reader” mode. Not all sites are compatible but the majority support it.
The big thing missing from these features is translation. And for good reason, Apple Intelligence only understands English at the moment. Also, all the new features described above only work if you master the language of Shakespeare. A big limitation for most consumers, even those willing to tinker with their iPhone a little.
At any rate, if Apple Intelligence brings some interesting new features, the revolution will still wait. In addition to deploying its AI in several languages, Apple still has work to do to offer a solution as fluid and advanced as it presented to us at WWDC last June.
How to benefit from Apple Intelligence in France now?
Officially, Apple Intelligence is not available in France. So how did we go about using it? In reality, Apple’s blocks are easily circumvented and entirely permissible.
The latest iOS 18 updates allow access to Apple Intelligence using just a US account. You can quickly create one and configure it on your iPhone. It is also necessary use the English (US) language as the primary language. If you had a French account, you will then need to download all your applications with this new account. And you will lose your subscriptions to Apple services (Music, iCloud, TV, etc.).
Finally, you will need to register your account so that it can install the beta versions of iOS. Once this setting is complete, download and install iOS 18.1. Finally, in “Apple Intelligence and Siri” make sure everything is configured for the US. Join the Apple Intelligence waitlist. After a few minutes, the registration is validated and the installation is carried out. All you have to do is enjoy it. That is, if you are ready for all these sacrifices.
