The full text of Apple's news article, shared on the Feedback Assistant website:
With the iOS & iPadOS 18.2 and macOS Sequoia 15.2 betas, you can join the waitlist for early access to Image Playground, Genmoji, and Image Wand in order to test and help improve these features.
You can request access within any one of these experiences:
- Image Playground app - Image Playground integration in Messages or Freeform - Genmoji integration in the emoji keyboard, or - Image Wand within the Apple Pencil tool palette in Notes
We will roll out access to Image Playground, Genmoji, and Image Wand over the coming weeks. When the features are ready for you to test, you will be notified. After you receive access, you can tap the thumbs up or thumbs down that appear with each result in Image Playground, Genmoji, and Image Wand in order to provide feedback.
As mentioned by Apple, the features have a waitlist. Some users received access to the features within minutes of Apple releasing the betas, but others are still waiting, so Apple's announcement provides clarity to those who are still waiting.
Genmoji, Image Playground, and Image Wand are some of the new Apple Intelligence features introduced in the iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2 developer betas, with others including ChatGPT integration for Siri, Visual Intelligence on all iPhone 16 models, and the ability to describe custom tones for text in Writing Tools.
Genmoji can generate custom emoji based on your description, Image Playground can generate cartoon-like images based on your description, and Image Wand can transform a rough sketch into a proper image in the Notes app.
The first Apple Intelligence features are launching to the public with iOS 18.1 next week, in U.S. English only. Those features include Writing Tools, notification summaries, suggested replies in the Messages and Mail apps, a "Clean Up" tool in the Photos app for quickly removing objects from the background of photos, and more. iOS 18.2 should be released to the public in December with Genmoji, Image Playground, and the additional features.
Apple has several new smart home products in development, and with rumors about the initial low-cost smart home control device ramping up over the past few months, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman has fleshed out a few new details in the latest edition of his Power On newsletter.
MacRumors concept of an iMac G4-like HomePod/smart home device
According to Gurman, the smart home device is planned to launch sometime next year and will feature a hemispherical base with a small screen positioned at an angle on the base, making it resemble the iconic G4 iMac design from two decades ago.
Following up on previous rumors that the device will include a "squarish" display, Gurman indicates the screen and overall device may be smaller than many have expected, with the screen being "about the size of two iPhones side by side."
The small size is reportedly part of Apple's effort to keep pricing down, allowing users to scatter multiple units in different rooms around the house.
The original iMac G4
As previously described, the smart home device will run a number of iPad-like apps that make sense for its intended purpose, including FaceTime, Notes, and Calendar, as well serving as a hub for smart home controls and being able to display photo and video slideshows. Gurman says it's "possible" that there will be speakers in the device's base, allowing it to serve as a HomePod-like device as well.
Beyond this initial smart home device, Gurman has previously described a more ambitious product with a larger screen mounted on a robotic arm that would be able to identify users and automatically track them as they move around a room. That higher-end product will likely retail for around $1,000 and won't launch until 2026 at the earliest.
Apple's flurry of activity to close out October is well underway, led on the hardware side by the launch of the new iPad mini and Apple uncharacteriscally teasing some Mac updates for next week even without an announced event.
On the software side, Apple Intelligence is ready to make its debut in iOS 18.1 and related updates next week, but Apple has already begun beta testing further AI features in iOS 18.2, so read on below for all the details on these stories and more!
Apple Teases M4 Mac Announcements Next Week
We've long been expecting several Mac launches to happen around the end of this month, and Apple has now essentially made it official with marketing chief Greg Joswiak teasing an "exciting week of announcements" coming up centered around a Mac theme.
Following last week's press release announcement of the seventh-generation iPad mini, the latest version of Apple's smallest tablet is now available and we've had a chance to go hands-on with it.
While the new iPad mini looks nearly identical to its predecessor, it does include a number of internal improvements, led by the A17 Pro chip that brings support for Apple Intelligence.
Apple Seeds iOS 18.1 and iPadOS 18.1 Release Candidates With Apple Intelligence
Apple is rumored to be releasing iOS 18.1 and related operating system updates this coming Monday, October 28, and things certainly seem to be lining up for that to happen as Apple this week seeded release candidate versions of the updates to developers and public beta testers.
The updates bring the first Apple Intelligence features for compatible devices, as well as a number of other additions and tweaks. Also included are new hearing health features for the AirPods Pro 2, and we went ears-on with the hearing test that can determine whether you're experiencing hearing loss and configure the AirPods Pro to serve as a hearing aid.
Apple Releases First Betas of iOS 18.2 and More With Genmoji, Image Playground and ChatGPT Integration
iOS 18.2 brings a number of highly anticipated Apple Intelligence features including Image Playground, Image Wand, Genmoji, ChatGPT integration, Visual Intelligence for iPhone 16 users, and more. There are plenty of non-Apple Intelligence changes as well, so make sure to check out our overview of everything new in iOS 18.2. Dan and Hartley also tackled the iOS 18.2 changes in this week's episode of The MacRumors Show.
Tim Cook Admits Truth About Vision Pro Following Lackluster Sales
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal this week, Apple CEO Tim Cook acknowledged that the Vision Pro headset is "not a mass-market product" given its $3,500 starting price, but argued that it's an early-adopter product for "people who want to have tomorrow's technology today."
The interview comes as a new report from The Information claims that Apple has abruptly reduced production of the Vision Pro and could halt production of the current version entirely by the end of the year, as it may have enough units on hand at that point to satisfy expected future demand.
iPhone SE 4 Mass Production Timeframe Revealed as Launch Gets Closer
Mass production of the fourth-generation iPhone SE is expected to get underway sometime in December, setting the stage for an anticipated launch in the first part of 2025. The update will bring a more modern design based on the iPhone 14 but with enough beefed-up internal specs to support Apple Intelligence.
That's not the only Apple product expected to see a launch in the first half of 2025, however, with production of M4-based MacBook Air models also expected to begin soon. Updates for the iPad Air and entry-level iPad are also expected, with new Mac Studio and Mac Pro models to follow.
MacRumors Newsletter
Each week, we publish an email newsletter like this highlighting the top Apple stories, making it a great way to get a bite-sized recap of the week hitting all of the major topics we've covered and tying together related stories for a big-picture view.
iOS 18.2 includes the first image generation technologies that are coming to Apple Intelligence, including Image Playground. Image Playground is Apple's dedicated image creation app that can build cartoon-like pictures based on text descriptions.
This guide highlights everything that you need to know about Image Playground, from its limitations to where you can use it, and we'll provide updates as Image Playground evolves.
The Image Playground App
Updating to iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, or macOS Sequoia 15.2 adds a "Playground" app to the Home Screen or desktop, denoted by an icon featuring a white cat/dog/bear creature in a 3D style.
Tapping into the app brings up a splash screen with instructions on how to use Image Playground, but it's straightforward. There's a text bar at the bottom that instructs you to "Describe an image."
As soon as you type in a word or phrase, Image Playground starts working on generating an image for you. You can essentially type in anything, like "crocodile wearing a tutu" or "skunk hula hooping on top of an elephant."
You can modify the result with additional word descriptions, or use one of Apple's suggestions. You'll get several possible images for each description, and you can swipe through them to choose what you want. You can add and remove words and phrases until you refine the generated image to exactly what you want.
Image Playground is very much in beta right now, so Apple is soliciting feedback. There are thumbs up and thumbs down icons you can use to submit feedback. Thumbs up doesn't require additional input, but thumbs down goes to an interface where you can select what's wrong with an image and provide additional written details.
After you've created your ideal image, you can tap on the Done button to save it to your Image Playground library. Items saved in the Image Playground library can be edited again later, deleted, or shared with the standard Share Sheet. There are also built-in tools for copying, sharing, or saving an image during the creation process.
Personalized Images Based on People
You can start an Image Playground creation with a person. People that are saved in your People album in the Photos app will show up as an option (yourself included), and you can select a specific photo of a person to use as the base for a new image.
Each photo of a person will look different because Image Playground is pulling in the specific angle, lighting, and look of a particular image rather than of an aggregate, so you can swipe through to see which image of a person looks the most like them when converted to an animated form.
You are limited to individuals that are saved to your People album, so AI isn't going to understand if you ask for an image of Tim Cook or Taylor Swift, but for this use case, you can import a photo.
You can also create a generic look to use as a base using the built-in "Appearance" option in the Person interface. That setting lets you select a skin tone and feature set, which can be refined further with image descriptions.
Image Playground Suggestions
If you don't know where to start with an image creation or you need inspiration for details, Apple has a range of suggestions that you can tap to add to your image.
There are themes like adventure, disco, summer, party, sunset, and fantasy, along with places like city, space, desert, park, prairie, and forest. Apple suggests costumes that include artist, chef, hiker, mage, robot, and superhero, and there are accessories you can select from like sunglasses, beanie, top hat, party hat, and flower crown.
These are just a jumping off point, of course, and you can choose any location or setting and add any objects and accessories you want using text descriptions.
Suggestions in the Image Playground app aren't contextual, but when you use Image Playground in Messages, you might see suggestions based on what you've been talking about.
Animation Style
You can't make photorealistic images with Image Playground, and that's by design. Apple doesn't want to generate images that can fool someone, so you're limited to two styles: Animation and Illustration.
Animation is a 3D-looking style that looks like something out of a Pixar movie, while Illustration is a flatter, 2D image that's simpler.
When Image Playground was first announced in June 2024, Apple said there would be three styles, including Animation, Illustration, and Sketch. It's not clear if sketch is still planned and will be coming at a later date.
Base an Image on a Photo
You can take a photo or import a photo from the Photos app to use as inspiration for an Image Playground creation. If you want an Image Playground image with Tim Cook, using a photo is the way to go.
Any photo works to serve as inspiration for a creation, and you can use a photo for the main subject of an image or for the background.
Image Playground in Messages
You can create images in the Image Playground app and share them in Messages, but you can also do it directly from the Messages app. In a conversation, tap on the "+" button and then choose Image Playground from the list.
The Messages mini app works like the full app. Just type in a description of an image and use the same steps to get it to where you want it. When you're finished, tap on Done, and it'll show up in the send field of your conversation so you can text it to whoever you're conversing with.
Sharing Image Playground Creations
To share an Image Playground image in a text message, you can use the built-in Image Playground mini app in Messages, which is the quickest route.
You can also go to the Image Playground library or create a new image in the app and then use the Share Sheet to AirDrop it, send it via Messages, email it, or save it to the Photos or Files app. Anything you've saved to Photos can be uploaded to a social media app.
The Share Sheet is like the Share Sheet anywhere else in iOS, so if you have an app like Instagram installed, there is a Share Sheet option to upload an Image Playground creation directly to Instagram. The same goes for other social networks that support the Share Sheet.
Image Playground Limitations
Image Playground is in beta right now, and Apple says that users can see unexpected results depending on the descriptors that are used. Sometimes words that seem like they should produce a simple result end up making something unexpectedly odd, such as the banana split images below.
The AI has some limitations to be aware of, and there are also built-in guardrails that restrict the content that you can create.
Size and Scope
One noticeable limitation involves Image Playground creations that use photos of people. You can only get portrait-style photos that show the top half of a person, with no option for a full-body pose. So if you wanted to generate an image of your friend Eric roller skating, it's hard to depict that activity accurately because Image Playground will only generate a chest-up image.
This limitation doesn't apply when generating images of animals and creatures, but it's an issue when you want to depict an activity that needs more than a head and shoulders.
This also impacts images that you might want to generate with a secondary object, like a cat or another person. Image Playground doesn't always do a good job with multiple subjects in a photo at this time. The more descriptors you have, the more it struggles with this kind of thing.
Words
As with most image generating tools that are available, Image Playground struggles with text. Text tends to be non-sensical.
Restricted Phrases
Apple learned some lessons from other tech companies that have introduced image generation tools, and there are plenty of built-in restrictions. When Google debuted Pixel Studio in August, people were able to use it to generate images with drugs, alcohol, Nazis, and more, and Apple's not allowing any of that.
When a word isn't allowed, you'll see the following message: "Unable to use that description" with an undo button you can use to remove it.
There are other phrases that Image Playground will kind of ignore. If you use "blood" or "bloody" for example, you'll get a red-tinted background, but no actual blood. You can't use words like murder or dead or their synonyms, and while gun and pistol are okay, AK-47, machine gun, and shotgun are not.
Concepts that could be used to generate a political image are likewise banned. You can't add country-specific flags, or countries like United States, Mexico or Germany. Words related to drugs or drug paraphernalia don't work, and there are a lot of descriptors that Image Playground will just disregard, even if you don't get a message that it's explicitly forbidden.
It's clear that Apple put a lot of work into preventing Image Playground from generating inappropriate images, and the company has made it clear that improvements will be made and that there's still a possibility of unexpected results during the beta.
People Requirement
When Apple Intelligence is having trouble applying a word, it often requires you to select a person to add to your image, even if you didn't want to add a person. It can be frustrating, and you'll need to add the person, change your phrasing, and remove the person to get to what you really meant.
Copyright
Likewise, Apple doesn't allow you to create images of copyrighted characters, so there won't be any option to use Image Playground to create compromising photos of Bluey and Mickey Mouse.
Security
Image generation for Image Playground is done on-device, so nothing that you're typing in is sent to a cloud server or shared, though it is worth noting that Apple is collecting feedback on it right now.
Availability
Image Playground is only available in the iOS 18.2 beta, and the beta is limited to developers at the current time. There is no word yet on when a public beta might be released.
Waitlist
You need to opt in to a second waitlist to get access to Image Playground, Image Wand and Genmoji in iOS 18.2, which can be done by requesting access in the Settings app, in Image Playground, or through the emoji keyboard.
Apple says that it is rolling out access to the feature set "over the coming weeks," so some users may need to wait for a week or two to be able to use the image generation capabilities. Apple will send a notification when the features are ready to test.
Apple Intelligence Feedback
Apple is collecting feedback from developers who have access to Image Playground, Genmoji, and Image Wand. Feedback can be sent by tapping the thumbs up or thumbs down icons that appear with each result
Public Launch
iOS 18.2 with Image Playground and other Apple Intelligence features will be coming in December.
This week we saw big discounts on a few Apple devices and related accessories, including a new record low price on the 13-inch M2 MacBook Air. You'll also find great deals on Apple Pencil Pro, Apple Watch Series 10, AirPods 4, and more below.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Apple Accessories
What's the deal? Save on Apple's first party accessories
This week we tracked a few deals on Apple's Magic Keyboards for iPad, Apple Pencil Pro, AirTag, and the new MagSafe Charger. Some of the most notable discounts include the Apple Pencil Pro which was at $94.99 and has since dropped another $1 to sit just $4 above its all-time low price, plus up to $50 off the M4 Magic Keyboards.
Additionally, you can find some big discounts on Apple's official Silicone and Clear Cases for the iPhone 16 at Woot. There's a large selection of these cases down to $34.99 right now, and you can take an additional $10 off with the coupon code APPLEWELCOME through the end of today, Friday, October 25.
One of the most notable deals of the week was on the 256GB 13-inch M2 MacBook Air, available for just $699.99, down from $999.00, and this sale has since expanded to include more colors. Overall, this is a new record low price on the previous generation MacBook Air, and the 512GB model is seeing a similarly steep discount on Amazon.
Amazon took $10 off both models of the AirPods 4 this week, starting at $119.00 for the base model without Active Noise Cancellation. Both deals are still available to purchase today, and right now only Amazon has the discounts.
Apple Watch
What's the deal? Take up to $33 off Apple Watch Series 10
Amazon hosted a few low prices on the Apple Watch Series 10 this week, with solid markdowns on both the 42mm and 46mm GPS models still available. This includes the 42mm GPS model for the all-time low price of $365.28 in Rose Gold Aluminum, down from $399.00.
Samsung
What's the deal? Find sitewide deals during Samsung's week-long event
Samsung's new discount event features deals on TVs, smartphones, monitors and memory, wearables, appliances, and more. One of the most notable offers during this sale is a bundle deal with Samsung's TVs and monitors. When you purchase select gaming monitors at the same time as one of Samsung's OLED S95D TVs, you can save up to $1,075 on your entire order.
Head to our full Deals Roundup to get caught up with all of the latest deals and discounts that we've been tracking over the past week.
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Interested in hearing more about top deals as we head into the holidays? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we'll keep you updated so you don't miss the biggest deals of the season!
Vision Pro users will soon be able to view spatial photos and videos in Safari, according to PetaPixel. The photography site did an interview with Apple product manager Della Huff and designer Billy Sorrentino, who shared that Apple is bringing spatial photo and spatial video support to Safari.
Later this year, web developers will be able to add spatial photos and videos to their websites, which will be viewable in 3D on the Vision Pro.
Spatial photos and videos can be captured with the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, as well as all four iPhone 16 models and the Vision Pro itself. Note that spatial photo support for the iPhone 15 Pro is coming in iOS 18.1, set to be released next week. With Vision Pro and visionOS 2, even existing photos can have added depth.
As of right now, spatial photos and videos can only be viewed on Vision Pro when they're sent to you directly via Messages, email, or AirDrop, which makes it difficult to see content from other people. Browser support for spatial videos and photos will let iPhone users upload their content to websites where anyone with a Vision Pro can see it in 3D.
For those without a Vision Pro, spatial photos and videos will look like standard media embeds. "Once you embedded spatial content, folks who are on Vision Pro are getting spatial and folks who are just looking at it on their laptop see it in two dimensions," Sorrentino told PetaPixel.
There is no word on exactly when spatial photo and video support will be coming to Safari, but it is expected before the end of the year so it could be included in a visionOS 2.2 update.
3-in-1 charging stations capable of wirelessly powering up an iPhone, an Apple Watch, and AirPods have been popular for years now, although most of them involve relatively straightforward and utilitarian designs. Accessory brand Journey is looking to bring a bit more design flair to the category with its new NOVA 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station, which will begin shipping next Monday, October 28.
The NOVA charging station is available in Wood Grain and Sparkle Grey color options, and I've been testing out a Wood Grain model for a few days to see how it looks and performs.
Overall it features a compact footprint with a vertically oriented design rather than a "tree-style" design used on some competing 3-in-1 chargers. The entire body is made of plastic, but the faux wood grain front can help it fit in depending on your decor. A pair of non-slip strips on the bottom of the charger help keep it in place and protect your surfaces from damage.
At a little over 400 grams (0.9 pounds), the NOVA is hefty enough to remain stable with an iPhone mounted on it, yet it remains somewhat portable so it can be easily transported. It measures around 15 cm high (though an attached iPhone will raise the total height by a few centimeters) and has a footprint of around 8 cm by 9 cm.
The NOVA is topped with an elevated angled surface hiding a Qi2 charging pad, allowing an iPhone to magnetically attach and charge at up to 15 watts depending on your iPhone model. The MagSafe-compatible Qi2 standard has only recently started making its way into a broad array of products, and while Apple has already one-upped Qi2 with its new 25-watt MagSafe charging on the latest iPhone 16 models, Qi2 should still be plenty sufficient for most users.
The phone charging surface is plain plastic with no distinct pad or graphics indicating where to place the device. Magnetic alignment makes it easy to find the right spot even without those features, so it allows for a very clean look when there's no phone on the charger.
The rear of the station includes a flip-up Apple Watch charging puck that delivers fast charging on supported Apple Watch models. The flip-up feature lets you hide the puck away while not in use and protect it if you choose to toss the charging station in a bag for travel.
The rear-mounted Apple Watch puck design means your watch won't be visible while charging on a nightstand, end table, or desk, but if you're also charging a phone in either horizontal StandBy or vertical orientation, that's likely a better option for viewing the time and other information.
Finally, a hollow opening oriented toward the front of the charging station serves as a spot to drop a compatible AirPods case for charging. The AirPods charging spot has a grippy pad to help keep the AirPods in position, but it doesn't include magnets to help with aligning AirPods cases with that feature. Still, the placement seems fairly forgiving to me, and I didn't have any issues getting my AirPods Pro to consistently charge.
A touch-activated light inside the opening can help you find the AirPods charging spot in the dark or even just provide a bit of light in a dark room for any other needs.
The NOVA charging station comes with a 1.5-meter USB-C to USB-C cable to power the unit, although you'll have to provide your own power adapter. I always prefer that a power adapter be included in the box, especially for more premium priced accessories, so that's a bit of a downside here. Allowing you to provide your own adapter does offer more flexibility if you prefer to power it from a multi-port charger, a flat charger for tucking behind furniture, or other options, so just be aware of that potential additional cost. You'll want at least a 30-watt charger to be able to charge everything at full speed.
Journey also includes an adhesive magnetic ring and alignment guide in the box, which allows you to add magnetic capabilities to older iPhones and other smartphone models that support wireless charging but not MagSafe/Qi2.
The NOVA 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station is normally priced at $139.99, but there's currently a 20% off pre-order discount that brings the price down to $112.00. Many other 3-in-1 chargers from reputable brands with MagSafe/Qi2 and Made for Apple Watch certification are in the $120–$150 range, so this is in the same ballpark. Remember that you do have to provide your own power adapter though, but the current pre-order discount brings things down enough to keep pricing competitive even with that possible additional cost.
Note: Journey provided MacRumors with a NOVA 3-in-1 Wireless Charging Station for the purposes of this review. No other compensation was received. MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Journey. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
In 2020, iPadOS 14 was released with a "Scribble" feature that automatically converts any handwriting written with the Apple Pencil into typed text. Scribble works in any text field, and this means the feature works with the revamped Siri on iPadOS 18.1.
iPadOS 18.1 introduces the first Apple Intelligence features, including the ability to type to Siri in an on-screen overlay. Given that Scribble works in any text field, this means you can now write a Siri query with an Apple Pencil and it will automatically be converted to typed text. Apple highlighted this "Scribble to Siri" feature, and discussed the new iPad mini, in an interview with TechRadar's Jacob Krol this week.
Scribble works with any Apple Pencil, but the revamped version of Siri is limited to devices with Apple Intelligence, including iPad Pro, iPad Air, and iPad mini models equipped with the M1 chip, M2 chip, M4 chip, or A17 Pro chip.
Scribble to Siri (Credit: TechRadar)
Typing to Siri technically already existed as an accessibility setting, but you could not easily switch between typing and talking to Siri like you can now.
Read the full interview with Apple marketing employees Tom Boger and Kurt Knight on TechRadar for more details about Scribble to Siri and more.
Apple has been testing a health-focused app that's aimed at diabetes prevention, reports Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The app isn't slated for release, but it could help inform some of Apple's future products related to blood sugar management.
Select employees with prediabetes were invited to test the app, which offered assistance with food selection and lifestyle changes. Employees who participated confirmed that they had prediabetes with a blood test, and then actively monitored their meals and their blood sugar using glucose monitoring devices.
The app was used to demonstrate to employees how healthy and unhealthy food choices could impact their blood sugar and lead to disease progression. A significant glucose spike after a carbohydrate-heavy meal, for example, could encourage testers to consume more protein and make different choices. Intervening at the prediabetes stage could help millions of people avoid developing diabetes 2.
According to Gurman, Apple used the app to look at how blood sugar data could be used, and what future tools might be helpful for consumers. For the last several years, Apple has been working to add non-invasive blood glucose monitoring functionality to the Apple Watch. Currently, most blood sugar tests require a skin prick, but Apple is developing a method that uses optical absorption spectroscopy and lasers to determine the concentration of glucose in the body without puncturing the skin.
As of last year, Apple's work on blood glucose monitoring had reached a "proof-of-concept" stage. Apple has a functional prototype device, but it is still much too large to incorporate into a device the size of the Apple Watch. It will likely be several more years before Apple is able to release an Apple Watch that has noninvasive blood sugar tracking features.
In the meantime, Apple could develop more advanced food logging and glucose tracking tools for the Health app, expanding integration with third-party blood glucose monitors.
On this week's episode of The MacRumors Show, we discuss the first beta version of iOS 18.2 – a significant update that continues the rollout of Apple Intelligence.
iOS 18.1 will bring the first Apple Intelligence features to Apple devices. The update includes Writing Tools, the ability for Siri to answer Apple product questions, smart replies to emails and messages, audio transcripts, the Reduce Interruptions Focus Mode, and a new Clean Up tool in Photos, as well as email, text, and notification summaries. iOS 18.1 is expected to be officially released on Monday, October 28.
Ahead of this, Apple this week seeded the first beta version of iOS 18.2 to developers. The update further expands Apple Intelligence's capabilities, with new Mail app categories, Image Playground to generate pictures, Image Wand in Notes, Genmoji to create custom emojis, ChatGPT integration in Siri, Visual Intelligence on iPhone 16 models, expanded Writing Tools, and support for regional versions of English outside the United States.
If you haven't already listened to the previous episode of The MacRumors Show, catch up for our discussion about the new iPad mini 7, Apple Intelligence and Genmoji, and the chances of an October Apple event to introduce M4 Macs.
The MacRumors Show is on X @MacRumorsShow, so be sure to give us a follow to keep up with the podcast. You can also head over to The MacRumors Show forum thread to engage with us directly. Remember to rate and review the podcast, and let us know what subjects and guests you would like to see in the future.
Apple announced price increases for some of its subscription-based services on October 24, 2022, and again on October 25, 2023, but no such announcement has been made as the same week of October comes to an end this year. Hopefully, that means no price increases are planned for the likes of Apple Music and Apple TV+ this year, but knock on wood.
Here are the current monthly prices of Apple's services in the U.S.:
Take this as a bit of good news on a Friday, or we reminded Apple that it still needs to increase prices and we will forever regret publishing this story.
Starting with iOS 18.2, Apple News+ subscribers in the U.S. have access to daily sudoku puzzles, with easy, moderate, and challenging difficulty levels.
A scoreboard tracks your sudoku stats, including your total number of puzzles solved, fastest completion times per difficulty level, and more.
Sudoku is also available in Apple News+ on iPadOS 18.2, and likely macOS Sequoia 15.2. It is the fourth puzzle game to be included with an Apple News+ subscription, alongside Crossword, Crossword Mini, and Quartiles.
In the U.S., Apple News+ costs $12.99 per month, and the service is also included in the Apple One Premier subscription bundle alongside Apple Music, Apple TV+, Apple Arcade, Apple Fitness+, and iCloud+ with 2TB of storage for $37.95 per month.
The first iOS 18.2 beta was released this week for devices with Apple Intelligence support, including iPhone 15 Pro models and all iPhone 16 models. The software update is expected to be widely released to the public in December.
iOS 18.2 also includes additional Apple Intelligence features, such as Image Playground and Genmoji. Check out our list of everything new in the first iOS 18.2 beta for an overview of most of the new features and changes discovered so far.
Apple has teased an "exciting week of announcements" starting on Monday, and going on its teaser image, new Macs are sure to feature prominently. However, there are some hardware updates on Apple's roadmap that are unlikely to be a part of those announcements.
Below, we've recapped what not to expect from Apple's series of product announcements through the last week of October going into November.
M4 MacBook Air
Apple in March 2024 launched updated 13-inch and 15-inch MacBook Air models equipped with Apple's M3 chip, and the company will soon start production of M4 versions ahead of an early 2025 launch, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. There are no new design changes planned for the MacBook Air models, and the focus will be on the M4 chip. The machines will arrive next year between January and March.
M4 Mac Studio
Apple plans to refresh the Mac Studio after the M4 MacBook Air has been released in early 2025. It will be equipped with a variation of the M4 processor, which could be an M4 Ultra or Max chip. The current model comes in both M2 Max and M2 Ultra variants. Mark Gurman claims that the Mac Studio was on track to be updated alongside the MacBook Air, but it is now going to see a refresh between March and June. In previous reports, he said the Mac Studio would come out in mid-2025, so it is unclear what has changed.
M4 Mac Pro
Apple last updated the Mac Pro in June 2023, adding an M2 Ultra chip and officially completing the transition away from Intel chips. Apple will refresh the Mac Pro in the summer of 2025, according to Mark Gurman. Like the Mac Studio, the next Mac Pro will skip the M3 series. Instead it will be equipped with the highest-end version of the M4 chip, codenamed "Hidra." Based on the description of the chip, it could be positioned as an "Ultra" or "Extreme" chip. It could also support up to 512GB of memory, a notable increase over the current 192GB limit.
iPhone SE 4
Apple plans to release a new iPhone SE with Apple Intelligence support early next year, with a launch in March or April most likely, according to Mark Gurman. The fourth-generation iPhone SE is expected to have a similar design as the base iPhone 14, with rumored features including a 6.1-inch OLED display, Face ID, a newer A-series chip, a USB-C port, a single 48-megapixel rear camera, 8GB of RAM for Apple Intelligence support, and an Apple-designed 5G modem. Supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo claims that Apple suppliers will begin mass production in December.
iPad
Apple has already updated the iPad Air and iPad Pro this year, and the company released the new iPad mini 7 earlier this month, which leaves the entry-level iPad as the most likely candidate next in line to receive an update. Don't expect an announcement next week though.
Apple's most affordable iPad model will receive an 11th-generation update with Apple Intelligence capabilities in late 2025, according to Mark Gurman. The timeline indicates a significant gap since the last refresh of the entry-level iPad, which occurred in October 2022. The delayed update could be attributed to the technical requirements of implementing AI capabilities in a budget-friendly $349 device.
AirPods Pro 3
Despite being released over two years ago, Apple's AirPods Pro 2 continue to dominate the wireless earbud market, but they aren't expected to see a refresh until next year, according to Gurman. The 2025 AirPods Pro will be updated with a new design and a faster chip, plus the earbuds will inherit Apple's upcoming new hearing health features.
Apple's marketing chief Greg Joswiak on Thursday teased an "exciting week of announcements" planned next week, and that likely rules out a prerecorded Apple Event video this month, despite Apple streaming a short, spooky "Scary Fast" event last October.
Nevertheless, YouTube channel Front Page Tech has stepped in with its own rendition of the Apple Event we aren't getting this month. In the video, Jon Prosser does his best impression of Apple CEO Tim Cook and announces all of the rumored new Macs with M4 chips. The video is somewhat of a parody, so don't take it too seriously, but it's also an impressive production feat that Prosser's team spent nearly a month working on.
Apple plans to introduce the first Apple Intelligence features in iOS 18.1, debuting Writing Tools, notification summaries, smart replies, and more. iOS 18.1 will be followed by iOS 18.2, which Apple started testing this week.
iOS 18.2 has Genmoji, Image Playground, and Siri ChatGPT integration, but there are still some Apple Intelligence features that won't be introduced until even later.
More Siri Features
Apple plans to make major updates to Siri, and has outlined new functionality that will make Siri much more helpful. Siri will be able to learn more about you through your communications and actions on your iPhone, but this personal context won't be coming until a later update.
Personal context will incorporate texts, emails, notes, and more, so you'll be able to ask Siri for things like a flight number buried in an email, or a recipe that a friend once texted you.
Siri will also be able to do more in apps, both first and third-party, with in-app actions. Siri will be able to do things like edit a photo for you and then send it to someone in the Messages app, or pull a PDF from an email and save it to the Files app.
Siri will also be able to get information and take action in third-party apps, doing things like getting a weather readout from Carrot Weather or scheduling an event in Fantastical.
New Siri capabilities will either come in iOS 18.3 or iOS 18.4 in 2025.
Genmoji on macOS
macOS Sequoia 15.2 includes support for Image Playground, but it does not have Genmoji integration as of yet. You can create Genmoji with iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2, but there is no Mac feature for making custom emoji characters.
Memory Movies on macOS
The Memory Movie feature that lets you create slideshows from your photos using text descriptions is limited to the iPhone and iPad in iOS/iPadOS 18.1 and later. It will come to macOS Sequoia in the future.
Priority Notifications
Apple is working on a feature that will show you your most important notifications first. Priority Notifications will show up at the top of your notification stack.
More Languages
Apple plans to add support for more languages in 2025, including Chinese, English (India), English (Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Vietnamese, and more.
Apple Intelligence Release Timing
Writing Tools, the new Siri design, Type to Siri, notification summaries, smart replies, Clean Up in Photos, and several other features are available in iOS 18.1, which will be released on Monday, October 28.
Image Playground, Genmoji, Siri ChatGPT integration, and other features will be released in iOS 18.2, which will likely launch in December. iOS 18.2 will be the last iOS update of 2024.
All other Apple Intelligence features are expected in iOS 18.3 and iOS 18.4, which will be released in 2025. iOS 18.3 could come as soon as late January, while iOS 18.4 will likely be a March update.
As we get into the final months of 2024, now is a good opportunity to look back at devices and accessories that Apple discontinued throughout the year.
Apple products discontinued this year include the iPad 9, SuperDrive, FineWoven cases for the iPhone, and the Powerbeats Pro earbuds.
This list excludes most previous-generation devices that were discontinued this year as part of annual updates to Apple's product lineup, such as the iPhone 15 Pro and Apple Watch Series 9. The one exception to this rule is the iPad 9, as that device was discontinued in May, over a year and a half after the iPad 10 launched.
On the same day that it unveiled new iPad Pro and iPad Air models in May, Apple discontinued the ninth-generation, entry-level iPad. In addition, Apple lowered the price of the tenth-generation iPad, which now starts at $349 in the U.S., down from $449.
SuperDrive
In August, the SuperDrive went out of stock on Apple's online store in the U.S., and it is now listed as sold out or unavailable in all countries. Given it has yet to return, it seems likely that Apple has discontinued the 16-year-old accessory.
Introduced in 2008, the SuperDrive is an external CD/DVD drive that was released alongside the original MacBook Air, which lacked a built-in CD/DVD drive. Despite having an outdated USB-A cable attached to it, the SuperDrive remained available on Apple's online store until just recently, becoming one of the company's longest-sold products.
FineWoven Cases
Apple last year discontinued its leather accessories, including iPhone cases, and it introduced a new "FineWoven" fabric material as a replacement.
"FineWoven" cases for the iPhone 15 series were widely panned, and it appears that Apple was well aware of this feedback, as the material is no longer offered for iPhone 16 cases just a year later. It is unclear if Apple will come up with a new solution.
Powerbeats Pro are a sportier, fitness-focused alternative to AirPods Pro with built-in, adjustable ear hooks for a secure fit. Key features of the original Powerbeats Pro include the H1 chip that debuted in the AirPods 2, IPX4-rated sweat and water resistance, up to nine hours of battery life, and silicone ear tips with four size options.
In a short teaser video last month, Apple revealed that it will be launching new Powerbeats Pro 2 next year. The earbuds look similar to the original Powerbeats Pro, but they have a more vertical, slimmer design. MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris later discovered iOS 18 code revealing that the Powerbeats Pro 2 will feature heart rate monitoring during workouts, and gain support for Active Noise Cancellation, Spatial Audio, and Adaptive Audio.
Apple today released a new firmware update for the AirPods Pro 2, with the software available for both the USB-C and Lightning models. The AirPods Pro 2 firmware has a build number of 7B19, up from the 7A305 firmware released in September.
The new AirPods Pro 2 firmware comes just ahead of when Apple plans to launch Hearing Health features in iOS 18.1. Hearing Health includes a hearing test that mimics an audiologist's test, and hearing aid functionality should that test sense mild to moderate hearing loss.
Release notes for the update are as follows:
When used with an iPhone or iPad running iOS 18.1 or iPadOS 18.1 or later, AirPods Pro 2 with firmware update 7B19 enable three new features—a Hearing Test, Hearing Aid, and Hearing Protection.
The Apple Hearing Test feature provides scientifically-validated hearing test results from the comfort of home (intended for users 18 years or older).
The Hearing Aid feature provides personalized, clinical-grade assistance that is automatically applied to sounds in your environment as well as music, videos, and calls (intended for users 18 years or older with perceived mild to moderate hearing loss)
The Hearing Protection feature helps users minimize exposure to loud environmental noise across listening modes (available in the United States and Canada)
Features require AirPods Pro 2 with firmware version 7B19 or later. All features may not be available for all countries or regions.
Apple has approval for the AirPods Pro 2 to function as an over-the-counter hearing aid in the United States. The hearing aid capabilities will boost conversations and other environmental sounds for those who have hearing loss issues.
The update also includes a Hearing Protection feature that will continuously monitor the wearer's environment to reduce the impact of loud sounds. This functionality will be limited to the U.S. and Canada at launch.
Hearing Health will be introduced in iOS 18.1, which is set to be released next Monday.
Apple doesn't have a way to manually upgrade AirPods software, but firmware is generally installed over-the-air when the AirPods are in a charging case and connected to an iOS device or Mac.
Apple today updated its TestFlight app, adding new features that are designed to streamline the app beta testing process. TestFlight is the app that developers can use to distribute their app to beta testers ahead of when the app is released.
The app has also been redesigned on the iPhone and iPad.
Invites to beta test an app include an app description, plus developers can opt to include screenshots and information about their app category.
To narrow down potential testers, developers can set tester criteria that must be met in order to join a beta. Testers who decide not to join a particular beta can provide feedback to a developer explaining why. Apple's release notes for the update are below.
This update includes several key improvements to enhance your testing experience:
Invitations include a beta app description and developers can now also choose to include screenshots and their app category.
Developers can now set tester criteria you must meet in order to join a beta.
You can share with developers why you decided not to join a beta through a new feedback option.
Additionally, this update includes stability improvements and bug fixes.
TestFlight is a free app for iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Vision Pro, and it can be downloaded from the App Store. [Direct Link]
MacRumors concept of an 
The original iMac G4
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Scribble to Siri (Credit: TechRadar)
