Apple Intelligence is still in beta with iOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1. When announced in June, Apple said that its AI features would only be available in US English – and although Apple Intelligence works in other countries, the first betas required users to change the region of their device to the US. However, it seems that Apple is dropping this requirement.
Enabling Apple Intelligence outside the US
With the third beta of iOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1, which was released to developers on Wednesday, Apple has changed the release notes for the updates. Whereas previously the release notes said that the device region had to be set to the US, the notes for beta 3 only mention that users must set Siri to the US English language.
9to5Mac can confirm that it’s now possible to try out Apple Intelligence features just by changing Siri’s language and the device language to US English, without changing the region settings. Changing the region of the device can affect things like the format of phone numbers and calendar.
Of course, features like Writing Tools and Summarization still only work in English, but the change will certainly be welcomed by those who don’t live in the US but still want to take a look at Apple Intelligence’s features. Users in the EU and China are still unable to activate Apple Intelligence.
Another thing to keep in mind is that the hardware requirements for Apple Intelligence remain the same: iPhone 15 Pro or later, or iPads and Macs with the M1 chip or later.
Also with beta 3, Apple introduced the first preview of Clean Up – a new feature for erasing objects and people from photographs. Clean Up processes images locally and requires the same Apple Intelligence-compatible devices.
While iOS 18 and macOS Sequoia will be released to the public next month, Apple Intelligence won’t be available until October.
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