New features in iOS 18.2

iOS 18.2 drops a huge number of new features onto the iPhone. The second major iOS 18 update, expected Monday, will expand the capabilities of Apple Intelligence — and add plenty of goodies for everyone else, too.

Keep reading or watch our video on the new features awaiting iPhone owners in iOS 18.2.

All the new features in iOS 18.2

Although Apple showcased Apple Intelligence as the iPhone 16 lineup’s marquee feature, the AI-powered fun (and productivity) has barely started. The first Apple Intelligence features, which arrived in iOS 18.1 in October, seemed skimpy. The second batch of Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.2 prove much more promising. And new non-AI features will make your iPhone more useful as well.

iOS 18.2 runs on all the same devices as iOS 18: iPhone XS, XR, 11, 11 Pro, second-generation iPhone SE and newer. Apple Intelligence features, however, require a much newer device: the iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max or any iPhone 16 model. (Note: Not all Apple Intelligence features will arrive in all regions. They will be limited to certain countries and languages.)

After the update is released, you will be able to install it in Settings > General > Software Update.

Table of contents: New features in iOS 18.2

1. Image Playground
2. Genmoji
3. Visual Intelligence
4. ChatGPT in Siri
5. Daily sudoku puzzles
6. Share a lost item with an AirTag
7. New email categories in Mail app
8. Share quoted text in Safari
9. Improvements to Camera Control
10. New settings and miscellaneous features

Image Playground

Image Playground is an Apple Intelligence feature that lets you create small AI images from scratch. It’s available inside Messages or as a standalone app.

You can create an image by typing in a prompt, picking a person you know or any picture from your photo library. You can add additional tags to add more detail to your image, by picking a setting or clothing accessory, or by typing in something specific.

The results look far from the state-of-the-art images created by AI services like Midjourney. However, because it all happens on-device, you can make as many images as you want.

Apple integrated a related feature, Image Wand, into apps like Notes. You can use it to circle a drawing and replace it with an Image Playground version of that drawing. Or, based on the context of a note, you can use Image Wand to create a related image from scratch.

Genmoji

If you’ve ever been irritated because you can’t find the right emoji for the occasion, you can create your own with Genmoji in iOS 18.2. Just bring up the emoji keyboard and tap New Genmoji to the right.

You can keep things simple, using prompts like “ostrich” or “shovel.” Or, you can be highly specific, like “Bernese mountain dog” or “African gray parrot.” (Genmoji works wonders with animals.)

Alternatively, you can type in the name of someone in your Photos library and create an emoji-fied version of them smiling, laughing or frowning, and with a variety of gestures and expressions.

Swipe through the generated emoji for different options — Genmoji makes four at a time. You can use these in Messages as emoji, tapbacks and stickers.

Visual Intelligence

Exclusive to iPhone 16 users, iOS 18.2’s new Visual Intelligence feature lets you look things up using the device’s camera. Click and hold the Camera Control to launch Visual Intelligence; click it again to take a picture and analyze what’s in the image.

• Tap Ask to send the picture to ChatGPT. OpenAI’s chatbot might be able to explain what you’re looking at, and you can ask it follow-up questions for more information.
• Tap Search to do a Google reverse-image search that can identify an object or look up a product.

Other Visual Intelligence features are more context-dependent:

• Point the camera at something with event information on it and you might be able to quickly add that event to your calendar. Popular events like concerts or live shows might be matched online and filled in with additional details.
• Take a picture of a restaurant or store and Visual Intelligence will use your GPS location along with data from Apple Maps to give you information like the business’ hours, phone number, website and menu.

ChatGPT integration

In iOS 18.2, Siri gains ChatGPT integration. Sometimes, if you ask Siri a question it doesn’t know the answer to, instead of showing you Google results, it’ll ask if you want to pass your question along to ChatGPT. Tap Ask to get the answer.

You also can ask ChatGPT what you’re looking at on your iPhone. If you ask Siri “What is this?” while you’re looking at a photo, reading an article, browsing the web or watching a video, it’ll send ChatGPT a screenshot. The chatbot will analyze the info and offer its best guess.

Daily sudoku puzzles

If you subscribe to Apple News+, in addition to the daily crossword, mini crossword and Quartiles game, you can play a daily sudoku puzzle after you upgrade to iOS 18.2. Actually, you will find three daily sudoku puzzles: easy, moderate and challenging. (Harder puzzles start with fewer revealed numbers on the board.)

If you don’t know how to play sudoku, there’s a tutorial that teaches you the rules.

The interface is pretty similar to other iOS sudoku apps. Tap on a square to select and tap on a number below to mark it. You can also write notes about possible solutions. The eraser clears a square. Without any squares on the board selected, tap on a number to highlight all instances of that number. When you have a number in every square, its key on the keyboard turns gray — so you know you’re done with it.

If you get stuck, or if you find out you made a mistake, a few tools offer help. You can highlight all the conflicts on the current board, mark all the incorrect numbers, or if you want to give up, you can reveal the answers.

Like all the Apple News+ games, it logs your statistics — your fastest time, average time, daily streak and win percentage. You can share your results and compete with your friends on Game Center.

Share a lost item with an AirTag

If you need help finding a lost item with an AirTag, like your luggage or a bag, you can temporarily get help from other people around you — employees at an airport or friends and family, for instance. Unlike sharing an AirTag, this new “Lost mode” is temporary, so it’s not like Doug who works at Chicago O’Hare will be able to see where your purse is forever.

To use this new feature in iOS 18.2, open the Find My app, tap Items, and then tap on the AirTag in question. You will see a new Lost AirTag section. Show Contact Info lets you pick a username or email address that people can use to find you if they find your item. Share Item Location gives someone else the ability to see where your bag is. Maybe if the item is in an employees-only area you don’t have access to, you can share it with someone who can get it for you.

New email categories in Mail app

In iOS 18.2, Apple’s Mail app automatically sorts your inbox into different categories:

• Primary holds your personal emails and conversations with other people.
• Transactions shows your confirmation emails and order updates for shopping.
• Updates is for notifications from online services.
• Promotions is for mailing lists, newsletters and other mass emails you subscribe to.

You can tap on one of the icons to select the category and filter your mail; tap on the current category to deselect it and show All Mail in one unified list. This feature can make sorting through your inbox much easier.

The new Mail categories feature only works on the iPhone. It’s not on the Mac — which is slightly understandable, since Macs run on a completely different code base — but weirdly, it’s not on the iPad, either. (It doesn’t appear on the Vision Pro, either, in case anyone cared.)

Share quoted text in Safari

If you want to send someone an article in Safari — but you want them to read a bit halfway down the page, one specific section, or even just a single quote — a new feature in iOS 18.2 brings a new, easier way.

In Safari, first select a sentence. Then, from the pop-up menu, swipe over and tap Copy Link with Highlight. You can paste the link in Messages, Mail, Notes or in any other app. When someone opens the link, they’ll see your highlight.

Improvements to Camera Control

The iPhone 16 lineup’s Camera Control gains three new settings in iOS 18.2.

• You can enable a focus and exposure lock, kind of like clicking and holding the shutter button on a traditional camera. Go to Settings > Camera > Camera Control and enable AE/AF Lock. Then, when you hold down the Camera Control, it’ll lock the focus on whatever is in the middle of the frame.
• In Settings > Display & Brightness, you will find a new Require Screen On setting for the Camera Control. With the setting enabled, when your iPhone is locked, clicking the Camera Control will wake it up; clicking it a second time will open the camera. Disable this setting if you want a single click of the Camera Control to launch the camera straight away.
• You can adjust the speed of the Camera Conrol’s double-click gesture. You can make it slow or much slower. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Camera Control to set it how you want.

Record a multitrack demo in Voice Memos

If you own an iPhone 16 Pro, you can capture a multitrack recording in the Voice Memos app after you update to iOS 18.2. This can come in handy if you want to record a quick music demo, laying down multiple parts that play at once. You can self-harmonize a cappella like a barbershop quartet or layer multiple instruments.

To use the new multitrack feature, after recording the first track, tap the Edit Recording button to the left (with the icon of a waveform). Tap the + button to the right to add a second layer; hit Record whenever you’re ready. If you don’t like one of the takes, you can rewind to the beginning, toggle between 1 and 2, and tap Replace to do it over. Tap Playback Settings in the upper left to adjust the mix between Track 1 and Track 2.

Tap Done and you can save the new multilayer track over the original or as a new recording. You can import your recording into Logic Pro on a Mac for advanced editing.

New settings and miscellaneous features in iOS 18.2

Here’s a lightning round of new settings and minor features:

• In the Apple Intelligence writing tools, you can now type in a specific change you want to make using a text prompt. You also can generate text from scratch with ChatGPT.
• You can put a volume slider on your iPhone’s Lock Screen to control the volume on-screen with your phone locked. To enable this, go to Settings > Accessibility > Audio & Visual and turn on Always Show Volume Control.
• If you like using Type to Siri but you find the “double tap the Home bar” shortcut keeps triggering accidentally, iOS 18.2 gives you another option: You can add a Type to Siri toggle in Control Center.  With this enabled, you can disable Type to Siri in Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Talk & Type to Siri.
• iOS 18.2 also brings an easier, all-in-one interface for choosing default apps to act as your web browser, password manager, email client and more. Go to Settings > Apps > Default Apps. Some of the categories don’t offer any alternatives yet. However, as Apple is legally compelled in different parts of the world to make iOS more modular, this user interface will become more useful over time.
• You can set a volume limit for your iPhone’s speaker. This only affects content like music, podcasts and videos; alarms and phone calls will still be able to use the maximum output. You can turn it on in Settings > Sound and Haptics > Volume Limit by enabling Limit Maximum Volume and adjusting the slider.
• In Settings > Apps > Safari, you can now press Import or Export to migrate your browsing history, bookmarks, extensions and passwords to and from a different web browser. This comes in handy if you want to switch to an alternative iPhone browser.
• In iPadOS, you can customize the items in the top navigation bar with shortcuts to your favorite sections.
• Apple Intelligence now supports regional dialects of English for Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom.
• If you live in the European Union, you can delete more stock Apple apps from your phone. You can now remove Photos, Safari, Messages, Camera and the App Store.

More new features in iOS 18

If you aren’t caught up on the other recent updates, check out the 50-plus new features in iOS 18 and the 18 new features in iOS 18.1.