iOS 18 is about to open your iPhone’s eyes with Visual Intelligence.
At its annual keynote, Apple unveiled Visual Intelligence, a new feature in iOS 18 that promises to give your iPhone’s camera eyes (and a brain). But what’s really behind that slightly pompous name?
Visual AI according to Apple: revolution or catch-up?
Visual Intelligence is Apple’s answer to Google Lens. The idea? Use artificial intelligence to analyze in real time what your camera sees.
Handy for deciphering a menu, understanding a poster or identifying a monument. But wait, doesn’t that ring a bell? Normal, Google has been offering this for years on Android (and even on iOS via its app).
So, is Apple late? Yes and no. Of course, the Apple company is not the first in this niche. But it is banking on two assets: deep integration with iOS and privacy protection. Visual Intelligence will work partly directly on your iPhone, without sending all your photos to the cloud. Enough to reassure the most wary among us.
To go further
How Apple plans to use AI while respecting our privacy: this is Private Cloud Compute
Tempting promises, but…
Craig Federighi, Apple’s software guy, has cracked an impressive demo. Scanning the opening hours of a restaurant at a glance, creating an event in your calendar by photographing a poster… It all sounds great on paper.
Especially since Visual Intelligence will not be available from the launch of iOS 18.
Openness to developers: the real strength of Visual Intelligence?
Visual Intelligence’s strong point may well be its openness to third-party apps. Apple promises that developers will be able to integrate this technology into their own applications.
But here again, everything will depend on the quality of the tool provided by Apple. And especially on the enthusiasm of developers to adopt it. Because if Visual Intelligence remains confined to Apple apps, its interest will necessarily be limited.
Apple Keynote: our video debrief
The flagship products of the Apple keynote were obviously the iPhone 16 and iPhone 16 Plus. We take a look at the main information to remember in our dedicated video. One of the big new features to remember is the capacitive Camera Control button on the side.
Also note that the prices in euros of the iPhone 16 were not long in being communicated. On the other hand, it is a little more vague on the side of Apple Intelligence which will be accessible in French in 2025 without more precise information on the date or the exact countries of availability.
