It’s no secret that Apple is bringing many generative AI features with iOS 18, some of which have been leaked and previewed. Just a few days going to the announcement of the major software update, we’re seeing even more details about these features. And it seems the official Mail app is set to get major AI enhancements.
Apple Insider reports that Apple is giving the Mail app on iOS 18 meaningful AI features under ‘Project Blackpearl’, which is the codename for the companies cross-app AI initiative. It is said the app will get more powerful search and smart reply capabilities that will be done through the on-device Ajax LLM (Large Language Model) model of Apple.
Smarter search and reply in the Mail app
Particularly, it is described that users will get expanded and richer search results inside the app. For instance, results would include contacts, locations, and even documents stored in the device’s storage on top of basic mail messages and attachments.
As with the smart reply feature, users would be able to send AI-generated replies. However, they can also compose their messages and dictate Siri to change the tone, like asking the assistant to make the message more professional or friendly.
The writing functions with Siri are said to be enabled by the new framework found in iOS 18 and other operating systems of Apple. But it was noted that the framework will be in a pre-release version once iOS 18 debuts.
Emails categorization and summarization
In addition to smarter search and reply features, the Mail app is also tipped to get better categorization of emails, which is perhaps similar to Google’s Gmail. Among those categories include News, Promotion, Commerce, Social, and Transaction. It’s unclear if AI will also allow for smarter filters, such as detecting spam emails.
A mail feature that is more within the scope of Siri that was mentioned was summarization of emails and email threads on top of messages and notifications. This is said to be available in iOS 18 and macOS 15.
Are you excited to receive and test these AI features? What else are you wishing to see? Please let us know in the comments.
