Apple started rolling out iOS 18.2 to everyone’s iPhone last week. The version number may seem random, but this update is important because it’s the first time you’ll get access to the Apple Intelligence features teased at WWDC. AI capabilities include ChatGPT integration with Siri, the introduction of GenMoji, and a space to play within the aptly named Image Playground.
iOS 18.2 includes other improvements, such as the ability to close the two-stage Camera controlincluded with the update, and AI-powered inbox editing within the Mail app. You can read the official release notes for an update to see everything. While those improvements will improve the iOS experience, everyone is looking forward to Image Playground and Apple Intelligence. I’m here to give people what they want.
I will say this: whatever Apple’s algorithm thinks of me and my likeness, it seems to be done in the safest way it knows how. I didn’t expect my AI to be like the main character of the latest batch of saccharin Hallmark Christmas movies. But I almost wonder if that’s the point of how Apple plans things to be. I’ve fed my family photos through Apple Intelligence, too, and they look prepared and polished enough to play well in a poorly written holiday-themed get-together.
It took a few tries with the Apple Intelligence prompter to find the images I wanted to share here. In my first attempt to reproduce my image, Image Playground chose an archived image where I wear headphones and my hair is pulled back. My photo produced made me look at least twenty years older than I was. It gave me short hair with a gray tone rather than the long brown hair I have in all the other pictures it has saved for me. Even my AI-generated clothes looked like something out of the Izod catalog for early retirees. I’m not that!
I used Image Playground’s built-in rating system to let you know that this was incredible. After you select thumbs up or down, the app invites you to share more details as feedback to the development team. There are many options, and I would encourage you to post a few comments as you play with power.
Apple’s photo playground was more fun when it didn’t include the professional face of a loved one. I asked it to create a picture with a purple cow grazing in a pasture under a starry sky and a UFO in the distance. It delivered that almost flawlessly, or at least from what I could see on the iPhone 16 Pro. Then I asked Image Playground to make a picture of a cat with snakes scattered about. Apple Intelligence struggled there and combined many tails into the image in a snake-like fashion. Poor cat.
I liked how responsive the Image Playground was as you added and removed commands. As you work with your image, you can fine-tune it with terms and themes, including adding and removing different terms as you see fit. I took a cat with many tails and changed it to an astronaut cat which is also royal. Because why not?
I tried exiting the script in a naughty way. I asked Image Playground to create a picture of “Nude Santa running through a tropical storm but covering his private parts in creative ways.” What can I say? I was inspired by my recent viewing of Hot Frostyone of this year’s Netflix holidays. The picture playground denied me my dream. Apple Intelligence took my hand off, so to speak, with a kind but firm command. “It can’t use that definition.” Good.
The good news is that you can make some holiday photos for any group text you’re trying to put together. You can save those images and come back to them later to edit them as you see fit. If you want to create your own Hallmark holiday movie poster, the ability is available with the iOS 18.2 update for iPhone 15 Pro and all iPhone 16 models.
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