Apple kicked off the week with the release of its iOS 18.1 developer beta, marking the first beta to include Apple Intelligence features. This is a significant step in Apple’s push toward AI, though the Apple Intelligence experience available in the iOS 18.1 beta is not yet complete. Notably, Apple’s most impressive Apple Intelligence feature is still missing from the beta.
At WWDC 2024, Apple showcased a new and improved Siri with the ability to answer questions based on personal information and context. A demo highlighted Siri’s capability to find flight information from a user’s mom’s email and even understand the context of a conversation to surface a lunch reservation mentioned in a text. This highly promising functionality, however, is not yet available in the iOS 18.1 beta.
According to Joanna Stern at The Wall Street Journal, Siri will gain ChatGPT integration and personal context capabilities before the end of the year. This means that while Siri’s personal context features are expected soon, they will not be included in the current beta release. It’s possible that these features may not even appear in the next beta update. While this isn’t entirely surprising, it is still disappointing.
The iOS 18.1 developer beta is now available for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, while the iOS 18 public beta remains available for download.
