Apple Intelligence rolls out in India with multilingual features, genmoji, built-in ChatGPT access and more

Apple’s AI ambitions just went global. With the latest updates to iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4, Apple has expanded its Apple Intelligence ecosystem to include more users and languages, while quietly baking in tools like ChatGPT, visual recognition, and creative AI features, all underpinned by an emphasis on user privacy.

Announced earlier this week, Apple Intelligence now supports languages including Indian and Singaporean English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese. The expansion marks the biggest leap yet for Apple’s AI-powered personal system, which merges system integration, generative AI, and privacy controls.

AI That Proofreads, Summarises and Paints Pictures

Apple’s new Writing Tools are now embedded across native and third-party apps, allowing users to rewrite, proofread, and summarise content seamlessly. Whether it’s adjusting tone for an email, trimming down long Notes, or crafting a poem-style dinner invite, users can describe the kind of changes they want and let AI do the rest.

Beyond writing, the Photos app introduces ‘Clean Up’, a content-aware feature to erase unwanted photo elements, and a smarter Memories feature that auto-generates highlight videos based on descriptions typed by the user.

Creatives get a boost from Image Playground, a new image-generation tool accessible via Messages, Freeform, and other apps. It allows users to generate AI images using predefined themes or even their own photo references across animation, illustration, or sketch styles. This visual AI capability is extended in Notes, where Image Wand can transform rough sketches or empty white space into full visuals, using contextual clues from handwritten or typed text.

Meanwhile, Genmoji takes emojis into the next era. With a few typed words, users can generate unique emojis from customised faces to quirky accessories and share them as stickers or inline reactions.

Siri Gets Smarter, ChatGPT Moves In

Siri has received a major upgrade, with a cleaner interface and more natural back-and-forth capabilities. Users can now type to Siri and seamlessly switch between voice and text, all while it remembers the context of their ongoing task.

In a notable integration, Apple has embedded ChatGPT access directly into Siri and Writing Tools, letting users pull in responses and image generation from OpenAI without leaving Apple’s ecosystem. “Users can choose whether to enable ChatGPT integration, and are in full control of when to use it and what information is shared,” Apple said in a statement. Notably, even users without an OpenAI account can access this integration with enhanced privacy.

Visual Intelligence and Smarter Mail

Visual Intelligence, a new on-device capability, helps users identify plants, translate signs, extract calendar invites from posters, or find product links. It can be activated via the iPhone’s Camera Control or customisable buttons.

In Mail, Priority Messages surface urgent emails (like flight tickets or last-minute invites) at the top of the inbox. Users can also see AI-generated summaries for long email threads and use Smart Reply for quick responses.