Apple today sent release candidate builds of the upcoming iOS 18.3, iPadOS 18.3, and macOS 15.3 updates to developers. But they're coming with one tweak that hasn't been reported yet, according to MacRumors: they'll enable all AI-powered Apple Intelligence features by default during installation. When Apple Intelligence was first released in iOS 18.1, the features were disabled by default unless users chose to log in and enable them.
Those who still want to opt out of Apple Intelligence features will now need to do so after their devices have been set up by navigating to the Apple Intelligence & Siri section in the Settings app.
Apple Intelligence is enabled by default only for hardware that supports it. For the iPhone, these are only the iPhone 15 Pro series, iPhone 16 series and iPhone 16 Pro series. It goes back even further to the iPad and Mac: Apple Intelligence works on any model with an M1 processor or newer.
Apple is following in the footsteps of Microsoft and Google here, rolling out new generative AI features to its user base as quickly as possible and enabling some or all features by default, while still labeling everything as a “beta” and referring to that label is referenced when things go wrong. Case in point: The iOS 18.3 update also temporarily disables all notification summaries for apps in the App Store's “news & entertainment” category because some of those summaries contain major factual inaccuracies.
