iOS is Apple's operating system for the iPhone and iPad. It's also the basis for tvOS for the Apple TV and watchOS for the Apple Watch. It's even beginning to infiltrate the Mac in some ways. Apple has worked hard to keep iOS private and secure, and it has a huge ecosystem of apps via its official App Store. Some have argued that it is too locked down, but the trade-off is that it's fast and stable for most users.
RCS appears to be working for people with the iOS 18 beta installed — no tinkering necessary. RCS support is part of the second iOS 18 developer beta, but despite toggling the feature on it wasn’t working for people yesterday. 9to5Mac notes that this has changed today, indicating that carriers in the US have flipped the switch to enable RCS. It’s happening! It’s really happening!
At WWDC, Apple announced a deal with OpenAI to make ChatGPT available for certain tasks on iPhones with iOS 18 and other devices (as long as you aren’t in the EU). Execs also mentioned Google Gemini, but the list doesn’t end there, according to the Wall Street Journal.
In addition to Google and Meta, AI startups Anthropic and Perplexity also have been in discussions with Apple to bring their generative AI to Apple Intelligence, said people familiar with the talks.
Typing to AI assistants might be the way to go
There’s nothing more cringe than issuing voice commands when you’re out and about.
RCS isn’t in the current iOS 18 developer beta but that hasn’t stopped one enterprising tinkerer from getting it working. It’s early days so what we’re seeing now likely isn’t final, but file transfers and read receipts appear to be operational. Oh, and those bubbles are definitely still green, but we knew that would be the case.
As seen in MacRumors, iOS 18 beta testers can set a new Siri wake word using Vocal Shortcuts, a new accessibility feature. Go to Settings > Accessibility > Vocal Shortcuts > Set Up Vocal Shortcuts, then find and tap “Siri” to try it.
It won’t work with HomePods. And your iPhone won’t acknowledge it unless you pause after saying the word. That’s good; otherwise, you learn just how frequently you say a word like “computer.”
The super simple gadget trying to replace your phone
Plus, in this week’s Installer: a music history doc you’ll love, the surprisingly great new Yahoo News app, Apple’s new Passwords app, and much more.
Apple Intelligence, iPhones, and the rest of WWDC 2024
On The Vergecast: Apple makes its AI move, and all the new stuff coming to your phone, tablet, laptop, watch, and TV this year.
Here’s how Apple describes the feature, per MacRumors:
A rotating Wi-Fi address helps reduce tracking by changing your Wi-Fi address at various times. Tracking can happen when your address always appears the same to other devices and people using the same network as you.
It’s coming to iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia.
They sure look like text messages on the iPhone! But the bigger image, green waveform for the audio message, and the “Text Message • RCS” in the text entry field caught my eye.
RCS support is coming with iOS 18.
Apple is announcing the new feature at WWDC 2024 on Monday, according to MacRumors. It would work with built-in apps like Mail, Notes, or Messages, adding another layer of security to the phone in addition to Apple’s Stolen Device Protection setting that rolled out last year.
The Android 15 beta has something similar in “private space,” a lockable section of the app drawer.