iOS 18.1: Some innovations are planned in the Photos app – but not for everyone

There have rarely been so many complaints about updates to the Photos app on the iPhone this year: With iOS 18, Apple made several changes to its central media library for images and videos. Users were particularly annoyed by changes to the interface. With iOS 18.1 expected later this month, things could get better if Apple wants to. However, presumably not in the EU, as all of the new features are related to Apple Intelligence, which Apple is blocking in this country for regulatory reasons.

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Thanks to Apple Intelligence: better search and more

The search function in the Photos app will be improved with iOS 18.1 thanks to Apple Intelligence, beta testers report. You should be able to ask more independent search queries like “Bernd in a white T-shirt in front of the town hall” or “Manuela with a hat” (in English, of course, as German will only be supported next year).

The app achieves this thanks to Generative AI or intelligent indexing of the photo corpus. Requests run entirely on the local iPhone. “You can ask for really specific things,” Apple said. By the way, this applies not only to photos, but also to videos in which you should find the appropriate status in the future – if it works, it’s quite magical.

Zero-day vulnerabilities in Qualcomm mobile processors have already been attacked in separate cases

Own memory movies and AI editor for pictures

With iOS 18.1, Apple is also introducing a new AI-assisted Memories function, which assembles Memory movies from photos and videos. Here too, you can make specific requests that may be in the context of a sentence. “Using language and image understanding, Apple selects the best photos and videos based on intelligence (prompts), creates a story with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and connects them with their own story arcs.” Organizes into a movie”, says the company.

Finally, the Photos app will also have an editing function that can intelligently remove parts of the image. You have to mark these in advance. It is also possible to pixelate people or parts of an image. in beta it often worked wellBut sometimes it went wrong. It is interesting that image areas are also offered to be removed in advance – they are marked with the Apple Intelligence overlay.

(B.Sc.)