iOS 18.2 Expected in December With These New Features

While the focus is currently on iOS 18 and iOS 18.1, Apple is already working on iOS 18.2 as well, and the update is expected to include several new features.

Below, we recap everything that we know about iOS 18.2.

iOS 18.2

Apple has been internally testing iOS 18.2 for at least a few months now, based on evidence of the software version in our website's analytics logs.

iOS 18.2 will likely be released in December, as that is when Apple said that it will be making Apple Intelligence available in localized English in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K., and support for those languages will likely be added in that update. Apple released iOS 15.2, iOS 16.2, and iOS 17.2 in December over the years.

Expected Features

As mentioned, iOS 18.2 should expand Apple Intelligence to Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, and the U.K. for the first time.

In the U.S., Apple Intelligence will be available starting with iOS 18.1 on the iPhone 15 Pro models and all four iPhone 16 models.

iOS 18.1 is already available in beta for developers, and it includes Apple Intelligence features such as writing tools for proofreading text, notification summaries, suggested replies in the Messages app, the ability to record and transcribe phone calls, and a new "Clean Up" tool in the Photos app that can quickly remove objects from a photo.

Image Playground and Genmoji

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said two more Apple Intelligence features that were previewed earlier this year will be added in iOS 18.2, including Image Playground for generating images and Genmoji for generating custom emoji.

Here is how Apple describes Image Playground:

Produce fun, original images in seconds with the Image Playground experience right in your apps. Create an entirely new image based on a description, suggested concepts, and even a person from your Photos library. You can easily adjust the style and make changes to match a Messages thread, your Freeform board, or a slide in Keynote.

Here is how Apple describes Genmoji:

Make a brand-new Genmoji right in the keyboard to match any conversation. Provide a description to see a preview, and adjust your description until it's perfect. You can even pick someone from your Photos library and create a Genmoji that looks like them.

ChatGPT Integration With Siri

Apple said that ChatGPT will be available through Siri before the end of the year, so this integration will likely go live with iOS 18.2.

With user permission, Siri will be able to show ChatGPT answers directly in response to questions and other prompts. ChatGPT will also be an option for Apple's system-wide Writing Tools feature, allowing users to generate text and images. Apple said ChatGPT will be powered by OpenAI's latest GPT-4o model on its platforms.

iPhone, iPad, and Mac users will be able to use ChatGPT for free, without creating an account, and ChatGPT Plus subscribers will be able to connect their accounts to access paid features on these devices. Apple said OpenAI will not store ChatGPT requests made from its devices, and it said users' IP addresses will be obscured.

Hearing Health Features on AirPods Pro 2

During its iPhone 16 event this week, Apple announced new hearing protection, hearing test, and hearing aid features that will be available on the AirPods Pro 2 starting "this fall" in more than 100 countries and regions, including the U.S., Germany, and Japan. Based on this timeframe, and since these features are not yet included in the iOS 18.1 developer beta, it is possible they will be released as part of iOS 18.2.More

iOS 18.2 will likely include these additional new features:

Transactions, Updates, and Promotions categories in the Mail app

Robot vacuum cleaner support in the Home app