Apple Intelligence is a suite of tools used to generate text and images. Interestingly, Apple is now highlighting Apple Intelligence to upsell the iPhone 16. But, did you know that you could get the same features elsewhere, which turns your phone into AI Phone and takes away the need to upgrade? Read on to know more!
In September 2024, Apple hosted a marketing event where it unveiled its latest iPhones. The similarity between Apple’s latest iPhone offering and the one before it is outstanding, particularly in terms of appearance.
So, what is the USP of the latest line of iPhones that Apple is trying to sell? It’s what lies beneath the surface, software. The latest software for the latest iPhone is richly supplemented with the implements of AI or Artificial Intelligence. It persuades people to upgrade to the new AI Phone.
A core component of AI within software is Apple Intelligence, which is the company’s new AI services suite. The core work of AI Intelligence includes but is not limited to generating images, summarizing web articles, and rewriting emails. So, that’s how your new AI Phone, iPhone 16s will work.
Not all iPhones can run this software. Only iPhone 16s, unveiled in September 2024 and the immediately earlier version, iPhone 15 Pro can run this software. These two are AI Phones but other iPhones are too slow to run it.
The starting price for this faster iPhone 16s is $800 and they will arrive in stores later in the month. You may surely invest in a new iPhone if it meets your preferences. However, the key to this article is that some alternative ways present the same perks before you.
This happened a long time back before Apple introduced Apple Intelligence at June 2024’s software conference. Many apps were widely available for the automatic production of images and text. They would primarily rely on a technology called generative AI to assume what images and text would work in unison. This would bring ease to a host of tasks, such as writing a catchy poem or coming up with a simple image of a cat sitting on a window sill, which would still appear to be pretty realistic.
So, even before Apple introduced Apple Intelligence, these services had been trending for at least a couple of years. To avail of these services, upgrading your iPhone to get an AI Phone is not a prerequisite. You may want to download the concerned apps on your existing iPhone to get the required functionality. If you upgrade your iPhone to the latest version, these apps won’t be required and these features will naturally flow from your phone.
Ultimately, the decision rests on you whether you seek to upgrade your iPhone or not. But, if you own an older version of the iPhone and you use the concerned apps to do AI-related tasks, it only gives you a reason to hold on longer to your existing iPhone.
Let us take a look, task-wise, at different apps available online that do the tasks that iPhone 16 can do without using any apps.
1. Summarizing Text
If we consider the most anticipated features of Apple Intelligence, we should list Summarizing Text. This is, technically, little more than first taking large blocks of text and then summarizing it in a few sentences. It has a lot to do with filtering out the most important points. You may want to use these capabilities to summarize lecture notes or a lengthy web article.
However, buying an iPhone 16s is not the only resource available to us to summarize web articles. You may want to use Arc Search, one of the most popular online tools to meet the requirements.
Arc Search is a powerful tool. It may give a sentence with some bullet points to explain what an article is all about. So, it brings ease to content and document management.
Now, if you want to summarize notes, you could be using Humata AI, which is a free web app. Lawyers and academic researchers use the app elaborately.
If you use a web browser to access Humata AI, it shares options to upload documents, like a PDF. Similarly, a window is also available that lets you interact with the interface by typing requests. In this window, you could request the chatbot to summarize the most crucial points.
In response, the tool shows the PDF’s digital copy wherein the most relevant sections of the text are highlighted.
2. Writing Tools
Tools to rewrite text are also included in Apple Intelligence. This has an n number of applications. For instance, you may want to use Apple Intelligence’s competencies to make your email sound professional.
However, many free apps are also available for professionally managing this task. The top among them is a name that needs no introduction. You may want to use Open AI’s ChatGPT for the task. ChatGPT’s potent rivals also deserve a mention here. They include Microsoft’s Bing AI and Google Gemini. Each of these apps is available for download from the App Store.
There are many different smart ways of using these AI text-generation apps. You may want to ask the app to rewrite the text after pasting the original text onto the prompt. Besides, you can also add personalized instruction. An example of the same is ‘add a personal touch to this business email I have created’.
A host of AI tools are available for help with writing pursuits and all of them have slight differences in operation and performance. Wordtune is a writing tool that is not currently very popular but includes interesting features. AI21 Labs has created the tool. To access its interface, you can visit wordtune.com. This bears similarities with a word processor such that composing and editing text is easy.
To use Wordtune, you first type in a paragraph and then click on buttons for expanding, shortening, and rewriting sentences to add a casual or formal touch or tone. You’ll have the rewritten sentences before you to use as your work requires.
3. Image Generation
The capability to create fun images is one of Apple Intelligence’s most hyped features. This could be many things, such as an image where you are eating a pizza or an emoji. You may then want to share these images with your friends on social media.
However, you will not need to invest in iPhone16s to facilitate image generation because several apps are available for the same. You can just download them and use them on your existing iPhone model. This turns your phone into an AI Phone. The top among them include Meta AI, Meta’s free chatbot that also comes as a part of apps such as WhatsApp and Instagram.
So, images can be generated by using Instagram. Locate Instagram’s search bar, which will be towards the top. To create an image, first type Imagine and then the description.
4. Photo Editing
Apple Intelligence has come up with a new tool that takes a tap of a button to remove photo bombers. However, a similar tool is also available on Google and is known as Magic Eraser. Since 2023, the tool has been available in the Google Photos photo album app for Android and iPhone users.
To use Magic Eraser, visit Google Photos and select your photo. Then, upon tapping the edit button, select the magic erasure tool. The next step is to circle the distracting objects or people you would like to erase.
