Well, Apple kinda tricked us, didn’t it? The iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max are here, and there’s an Apple Intelligence public beta to supercharge your new iPhone at launch.
Yes, the public beta isn't as stable as the upcoming iOS 18.1 release next month, but I decided to install it on my new iPhone 16 Pro Max and I'm impressed with the results so far.
To be completely transparent, I initially installed the iOS 18.1 developer beta on my iPhone 15 Pro Max back in July, and after testing Apple Intelligence for a few days, I uninstalled the buggy mess from my device. This wasn’t so much an issue with Apple Intelligence, but more about how unstable a developer beta can be, and why no one should install any developer beta on their primary device.
Fast forward to September 20th and not only do I have the shiny new iPhone 16 Pro Max in Desert Titanium, but I’ve also reinstalled iOS 18.1 thanks to Apple’s surprise public beta release. Public betas are still in development, but they’re typically much more stable than any developer beta, and so far, so good.
So, I unpacked my 16 Pro Max, instantly updated to the iOS 18.1 public beta (if you want to know how to do that, check out our iOS 18.1 public beta installation guide), and joined the Apple Intelligence waitlist.
Within minutes, my new iPhone had Apple Intelligence installed, and my concerns about the haphazard launch of Apple Intelligence were somewhat allayed.
To be clear, the iOS 18.1 public beta is exactly that — a beta — so while I’m happy to use it on my primary device, I don’t recommend installing it unless you know exactly what you’re getting into. So far I haven’t had any bugs or performance issues, and the Apple Intelligence features that are available work pretty well, but everyone’s experience with the beta software is different depending on the apps you use.
Back to Apple Intelligence: You’ll find all the features my colleague Lance Ulanoff mentioned in his review of the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which means writing tools for correcting and summarizing text, smart replies in Messages, the redesign of Siri (though not the super-smart one you’re hoping for), Cleanup in Photos to remove objects from images, the ability to create Movie Memories, and the most underrated Apple Intelligence feature of all: Reduce Interruptions Focus mode.
On paper, it might not seem like there's much new to iOS on the best iPhone, but Apple Intelligence gives your smartphone an AI-powered sheen in 2024 that makes my new device feel refreshed, rather than an incremental upgrade from my already fantastic 15 Pro Max from last year.
It is not yet fully ripe.
So far, I’ve used Apple Intelligence to reply to my girlfriend more often than I care to admit (she’s definitely noticing, so I have to be careful), quickly removed a dog toy from the background of a photo of my French bulldog, and used Reduce Interruptions to silence unnecessary notifications. So far, I haven’t had any issues with Apple Intelligence’s performance while using the iOS 18.1 public beta — everything works as expected and is much better than the initial developer beta I tested all those months ago. While it feels like the AI features aren’t quite mature yet, this is enough to get me excited for the lifespan of my iPhone 16 Pro Max and all the Apple intelligence that awaits me.
If you're not sure, there are worse things you can do than test the iOS 18.1 public beta with Apple Intelligence. But remember, it is a beta after all.
