Apple teases when iOS 18.1 update will arrive with Apple Intelligence features

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Look for the update in late October

iOS 18 logo on an iPhone 15 Pro
(Image credit: Future)

When Apple revealed the iPad mini 7 this week, the company also announced that the iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1 updates would arrive before the end of October. With those updates, we will finally get our hands on the first group of Apple Intelligence features. 

The iPad Mini 7 was launched in a press release. Within the text, Apple wrote, "The first set of Apple Intelligence features will be available in U.S. English this month through a free software update with iPadOS 18.1, and available for iPad with A17 Pro or M1 and later."

It's not a specific date, but we can extrapolate when Apple will release the updates. 

The new iPad mini is available for pre-order and will be fully available on Wednesday, October 23. Of course, Apple is promoting the newest iPad as AI-capable with the integrated A17 Pro chip. 

If you don't want to wait, you can try the new AI features by downloading the iOS 18.1 public beta. 

  • Writing tools: These tools will be available in any app where you can write with Apple Intelligence acting as your editor. The tools can be used for spelling and grammar check and suggest rewrites based on a chosen tone. The tools will also give AI-summaries.
  • Photo features: Apple is adding three new tools in the Photos app; Clean Up, which erases unwanted people and objects; Memory Movie that creates slideshows from your library based on written prompts; and natural language search in the photos library.
  • Summaries: Similar to the writing tools, Summaries adds auto-generated blurbs or transcriptions of audio recordings from phone calls or within the upgraded iOS 18 Notes 
  • Siri: Version 2.0 of Siri won't totally be available until iOS 18.4 releases, but Siri is getting some improvements in iOS 18.1 including troubleshooting Apple devices and stronger responses to follow-up questions.
  • Mail: In the Mail app iOS 18.1 is introducing email summaries, smart replies for fast responses and priority messages, which will highlight important emails and offer calls to action. Later this year, the app will also get new categories including receipts, deals, newsletters and personal messages.

However, based on the press release, the updates will be coming to Apple devices via a software update and not available right out of the box. That points to October 24th as the earliest possible date to receive the update. However, it's more likely that we won't see the release next week.

Instead, we'll likely see the updates for all the devices on Monday, October 28, or soon after. That would coincide with reports from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

Apple typically does not ship software updates on Fridays, and it doesn't usually launch updates the day after a device launch, which makes the following Monday the most likely update day.

Strangely, Apple has been delaying the releases of majorly hyped features for their latest flagship devices, but it appears they are finally coming.

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Scott Younker
Scott Younker
West Coast Reporter

Scott Younker is the West Coast Reporter at Tom’s Guide. He covers all the lastest tech news. He’s been involved in tech since 2011 at various outlets and is on an ongoing hunt to build the easiest to use home media system. When not writing about the latest devices, you are more than welcome to discuss board games or disc golf with him. He also handles all the Connections coverage on Tom's Guide and has been playing the addictive NYT game since it released.