Apple gives more eligible iPhone users early access to the Image Playground and Genmoji
I must admit that last week, when Apple released iOS 18.2 developer beta 1, I was excited because of the changes that Apple Intelligence is bringing to Siri. Back in 2021, the last test between the three digital assistants that I wrote about, Google Assistant was correct 76.57% of the time answering simple questions and was correct 70.18% of the time answering complex questions. Alexa was right 56.29% and 55.05% on simple and complex queries respectively.
At the bottom was poor Siri. The latter was created by a company named Siri Inc. that built a personal assistant app. Apple acquired the firm in 2010 for approximately $200 million. The very next year, when Apple launched the iPhone 4s, Siri debuted. At the time, it looked like Siri had a great future ahead of it; instead, it ended up outsmarted by Google Assistant and Alexa.
Siri is more useful now that it is integrated with AI chatbot ChatGPT
With ChatGPT integration coming to Siri with the iOS 18.2 beta, questions that Siri might not have been able to answer in the past will now, with the user's approval, be handled through ChatGPT. Once you install iOS 18.2 developer beta 1, go to Apple Intelligence and Siri in Settings and make sure you have ChatGPT integration for Siri enabled. Check out our article about iOS 18.2 beta 1 to read about what you need to do to get this feature working.
Siri will now have ChatGPT answer some questions it cannot answer. | Image credit-PhoneArena
Two other features I was looking forward to using witht he arrival of iOS 18.2 beta 1 were the Image Playground and Genmoji. The former allows you to describe an animation or illustration you want the Image Playground to create. With Genmoji, describe the custom emoji you want created and it will be done. But Apple surprised many of the iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPhone 16 series users who installed the iOS 18.2 beta by putting them on a waitlist before allowing them to use the Image Playground and Genmoji.
If you joined the wait list by pressing the "Request Early Access" button on the Image Creation splash screen, you can check to see if you have been approved by going to the App Library on your phone and tapping the Image Creation icon (the one with the cat). Most of us continue to receive the same message that says "Early Access Requested. You will be notified when Image Playground, Genmoji, and Image Wand are ready for you to share feedback."
On Sunday, Apple gave more users access to test Image Playground and Genmoji
On Sunday, it appears that Apple gave early access to more eligible iPhone users who have been waiting to hear from the company. On Friday, Apple told developers, "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."
Tap the cat icon in the App Library to see if you've received access to test the Image Playground and Genmoji. | Image credit-PhoneArena
Hopefully, Apple will continue to increase the number of users getting access to Image Playground, Genmoji, and Image Wand every day.
Waiting for access has bummed out many who were looking forward to using Genmoji and the Image Playground more than any other Apple Intelligence feature. As noted, I've been looking forward to seeing the improvements in Siri and more will be coming when Apple releases iOS 18.4 next year. At that time, we will see Siri browse user's emails and messages in order to answer questions such as, "What time is my Aunt's plane expected to land at JFK?" and "What time is our reservation at Morton's?"
So far, I like the ChatGPT integration for Siri except for one drawback. While it might help you get more useful answers from the digital assistant, by asking for your permission to use the AI chatbot, another step is being added to the process. As for Image Playground and Genmoji, I've been waiting about five days for my access request to be approved. As soon as it is, I will pass along more information about each feature.
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