Apple Expands Intelligence to EU with Priority Notifications

Apple Intelligence, the iPhone maker's set of AI-powered tools and features, is rolling out some cool new stuff. One of the biggest announcements made on Monday is the introduction of Priority Notifications. This feature lets Apple's AI pick out your most urgent notifications and put 'em right at the top of your list, so you don't have to sift through a bunch of junk to find what's important. Plus, there are updates coming to the Image Playground app and the Mac. And guess what? Apple Intelligence is now available to iPhone and iPad users in the EU, and to Apple Vision Pro users in the U.S. who speak English.

These changes are hitting the scene with the release of Apple's new software versions: iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4.

Apple's also making its AI features available in a bunch of new languages, like French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified). They've even added localized English for folks in Singapore and India.

Even though Apple Intelligence was unveiled at last year's Worldwide Developers Conference as their shiny new generative AI offering, they weren't quite ready to roll out everything at once. So, they've been slowly dropping updates since iOS 18.1, when Apple Intelligence first went live. Stuff like ChatGPT integration and Image Playground didn't show up until iOS 18.2 and iPadOS 18.2, and macOS Sequoia 15.2, which came out months later.

Of the new features coming out on Monday, Priority Notifications might just be the most handy, if they get it right. Instead of having to dig through all your notifications to find the important stuff, you'll see the ones that really matter right at the top.

There are other Apple Intelligence upgrades coming today too. You can now make a "memory movie" on your Mac just by typing a description, and Image Playground has a new Sketch style for creating detailed academic sketches.

Apple had said its AI suite would hit the EU in April 2025, but they blamed the delay on EU tech regulations, like the Digital Markets Act.

Meanwhile, Vision Pro users will get to play with AI features like Writing Tools, Image Playground, Genmoji, and more, now that Apple Intelligence is expanding to the mixed reality platform.

The update also throws in some new emojis, like a paint splatter, a face with bags under its eyes, a fingerprint, a root vegetable, and a shovel, to name a few.

And don't forget, the recently announced recipe companion, Apple News+ Food, is dropping on Monday too, along with new child safety features and other tweaks to the revamped Apple Photos app and other Apple services.