iOS 18.2 brings a significant upgrade to Apple Intelligence. How to download it to your iPhone


Apple pushed hard Apple Intelligence since the company announced it in June, but frankly, it’s been pretty disappointing. Until now.

Apple on Wednesday announced the release of iOS 18.2, which brings some of the most anticipated AI features to iOS 18, including ChatGPT integration for Siri and writing tools, the ability to create your own emoji with Genmojiand the Image Playground an application for creating images from text queries.

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If you are iPhone 16 owner, you get Visual Intelligence, a visual search tool that lets you extract information about anything you point your camera at, such as text, food, locations, and more. Think Google Lens, but for Apple.

As long as you own a compatible Apple Intelligence device, you can download iOS 18.2 today and get all the latest AI features. Here’s everything you need to know.

To learn more, take a look what’s new in ios 18.2 and how to prepare your iPhone before downloading iOS 18.2.

Which iPhone models support Apple Intelligence?

Every iPhone model after iPhone XS and iPhone 11 can run iOS 18, only some of the latest models support Apple Intelligence. This is it every iPhone that supports Apple Intelligence:

As mentioned above, only iPhone 16 users will get Visual Intelligence, a visual search feature powered by artificial intelligence.

Apple Intelligence also works on iPad and Mac models with the M1 chip and later.

Apple's Visual Intelligence feature on the iPhone 16 from the outside.

Only the iPhone 16 running iOS 18.2 has visual intelligence.

Numi Prasarn/CNET

Now do these six things before installing iOS 18.2

You don’t necessarily need to do all of these things to download iOS 18.2 to your iPhone, but it will definitely make the download experience a lot easier:

  • Back up your iPhone. You never know what can go wrong with an update, so it’s good to have a backup. On your iPhone, go to Settings > (your name) > iCloud > iCloud Backup and tap Back it up now.
  • Update to iOS 18.1.1. This will make updating easier than moving from iOS 18 to iOS 18.2.
  • Charge your iPhone or connect it to power. You don’t want your battery to die when you download a new software update, so make sure it’s charged to at least 20% or just plug it into power while you update.
  • Connect your iPhone to a decent Wi-Fi network. You can download iOS 18.2 using cellular data, but it will be slow and might crash if your service is bad.
  • Check if your iPhone has enough storage space. Each iOS software update requires sufficient space to download and install successfully. If you’re running out of storage, go to Settings > general > iPhone Storage and delete large files and applications. You can also download iOS 18.2 using a computer, which does not require you to free up storage on your phone.
  • If you haven’t already, join the Apple Intelligence waiting list. Go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri and tap Join the Apple Intelligence waiting list. It should take a few hours to get approved. You also have to wait on a waiting list to use ‌Genmoji‌ and ‌Image Playground‌.

To check out Apple’s new AI, you must have an eligible device running current iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, or MacOS 15.1. (In terms of iPhones, that’s basically the current iPhone 16 models plus last year’s iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.) You’ll also need to do join the waiting list in the Settings app, but Apple Support says it usually only takes a few hours to gain access. Once it’s approved, you’ll get a notification that it’s ready to activate on your device.

You should check these out too simple tricks to optimize your iPhone storage.

iPhone connected to MacBook Pro laptop via sync cable.

Make sure your iPhone is charged before updating to iOS 18.2.

Jeff Carlson/CNET

How to download iOS 18.2 on your iPhone

Now that you’re all set, it’s time to download iOS 18.2. If you’re coming with iOS 18 or iOS 18.1, updating should be incredibly easy. All you have to do is go to Settings > general > Software update and press Update Now. Enter your password, accept the terms and conditions to request the update, and wait for iOS 18 to download and install. Once the phone reboots and restarts, you should be running iOS 18.2.

iOS 18.2 software update

The download for iOS 18.2 is just over 7GB.

Screenshots by Nelson Aguilar/CNET

When is iOS 18.2 coming out?

He’s out! Apple began to develop iOS 18.2 update today, December 11. More Apple Intelligence features will be available in the coming months, the company said.

While you’re here, sign out what to expect from the iPhone in 2025.



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