It’s been a year since Apple Intelligence was officially rolled out to the public. A year later, how has it held up for me?
Apple Intelligence has been Around for a Year, Do You Still Need it? Should You Upgrade Your iPhone, iPad, or Mac for it?
Apple’s approach to AI has been… different. Rather than create a chatbot, Apple made several utilities powered by AI that assists the user in daily tasks. At the time, it made a lot of sense, too.
Those utilities include Writing Tools, Image Playground, Genmoji, Live Translation in Messages, and more.
Though there are a bunch of useful things that Apple Intelligence has to offer, there are only two I found myself using on a daily basis to this minute: Writing Tools and Image Playground. Everything else conveniently takes a backseat and I don’t even think about it.
First of all, I didn’t expect to use Image Playground at all. It’s the most okay-ish app Apple has ever made. However, if you want to create fun little images of your friends and family members, it hits the spot, even when used occasionally.
The reason I am inclined to use Image Playground over services like ChatGPT or Gemini is simple – there’s no way I’m uploading personal photos or videos to train AI. Image Playground keeps everything on-device, and it gives me the confidence like nothing else out there.
Secondly, Writing Tools has become an essential part of how I pen down my thoughts. If it’s an important email, text message, or even a note, I make sure I run it through Writing Tools in order to refine it. And again, it works on-device, which means my personal thoughts and ramblings do not leave my iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
The one thing I’m not using at all is ChatGPT integration in Apple Intelligence. Despite having it set up in a way that it feels as quick as possible, it’s just not convenient, and terribly slow.
I do not want to initiate a conversation with ChatGPT by asking Siri first, so the solution to the problem is a handy-dandy ChatGPT widget right on my iPhone and iPad Home Screen.
I really wish Apple did a chatbot, because sometimes you do want to go back and forth with AI in order to find a solution or dive deep into a problem. But given the privacy concerns these services have, I understand why Apple is taking a while to make it happen.
My answer hasn’t changed from earlier this year: you do not need Apple Intelligence, and you do not have to upgrade your iPhone, iPad, or Mac for it either. Because Apple’s AI is not offering anything groundbreaking or unique, unless the new and advanced Siri shows up to change the game, hopefully next year.
As long as privacy is not a concern for you, you can just download one of the many apps, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Grok, and Microsoft Copilot, to get your AI fix.
You’re really not missing anything by not having Apple Intelligence on your device, because the integration is so subtle that it doesn’t manifest itself unless you want it to.
