Apple Intelligence is now available in limited forms for users to try out. The tools were released alongside new versions of macOS, iOS and iPadOS last night. But there’s a catch (a few actually). First off, Apple Intelligence isn’t fully available in South Africa just yet. It is also a shell of what Apple showed off during its reveal in June.
Don’t fret if you’re a South African and you’re hungry for AI on your Apple product. Apple has added support for South African English (ZA) in the current iOS 18.2 beta which went live last week. The software is expected to launch in December for all users. If you can’t wait, you can enable Apple Intelligence in South Africa by simply changing the region and system language of your device to United States English (US).
To do this, head to Settings – General – Language & Region – Select United States (US) under “Region”. Your iPhone will restart. You’ll also need to change the “Language” to English US in the same menu. Once done, you’ll then be able to toggle the Apple Intelligence switch on the main page of your Settings app. You’ll then go on a waitlist to have the tools enabled.
Keep in mind that the Clean Up photo tool works without the region change. So you’ll be able to use Apple Intelligence to mask out photo details even if you’re in South Africa. You can also change your region back at any time without the worry of losing any data and information.
Apple Intelligence only supports the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 range. In terms of Macs and iPads, you’ll need a device with an “M” processor. You’ll then also need to change the region and language on your device to enable the settings.
At the moment Apple Intelligence is quite basic. Across devices, the writing tools and the photo cleanup feature are likely the most exciting. The tools also include notification summaries, memory movie creation and smart reply features. However, I have used Apple Intelligence since June and still haven’t found any of these actually helpful.
But you be the judge of that. If you have a supported iPhone, Mac or iPad simply update the device to the latest software, change the region and test it for yourself. Tools include:
- Writing Tools
- Clean Up in Photos
- Create a Memory movie in Photos
- Natural Language Search in Photos
- Notification summaries
- Reduce Interruptions Focus
- Intelligent Breakthrough & Silencing in Focus
- Priority messages in Mail
- Smart Reply in Mail and Messages
- Summaries in Mail and Messages
- Siri enhancements, including product knowledge, more resilient request handling, new look and feel, more natural voice, the ability to type to Siri, and more
The bigger set of Apple Intelligence tools is coming in iOS 18.2. This includes support for South African English (ZA), genmoji and image generation. If you can hang on for that, you won’t need to change your settings.
You can read all about the supported Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.1 on the announcement page here.
