Apple is expected to unveil iOS 18 and a host of other software updates at WWDC 2024 on Monday, June 10 – but in the meantime we've seen an intriguing early look at some of the new features that are on the way.
These upgrades involve the Apple Mail app and, as you would expect, AI. Sources speaking to AppleInsider have outlined how email on the iPhone will get a boost, through an AI initiative that's apparently called Project Blackpearl inside Apple.
The "substantial improvements" are going to include smarter searching inside Mail, for example: so you'll see information from your contacts, relevant locations, and locally stored documents when you run a search inside the app.
There's also said to be a new 'smart reply' feature on the way. If it works like the similarly-named feature already available with Gmail, it'll give you quick auto-responses to messages you can just click on to send. If you deal with a significant amount of email in a day, it could potentially save you a lot of time.
Writing and categorizing
Some kind of generative AI text feature, in the style of ChatGPT, is also on the way, it seems. You might be able to ask Siri to make the text in an email more professional or more casual, for example. It sounds as though you could even get suggestions on how to improve the composition of an email draft.
Email categorization is also going to be supercharged with AI, AppleInsider says. This means emails can be prioritized based on their contents and their sender, and split into categories such as promotions, social, and transactions (again, much like Gmail).
Apparently, Siri is also going to get some clever summarization skills (as previously rumored). You'll be able to get quick summaries of emails, email threads, messages, notifications, notes, web articles, and more. These summaries could be anything from a handful of words to a full paragraph.
AppleInsider also goes over some of the other rumored upgrades we've heard before for Siri, including a new ability to interface with apps, and photo editing skills. All of this will be made official on Monday, and we'll be covering the WWDC 2024 event live from 10 am PT / 1 pm ET / 6 pm BST on June 10 (1 am ACT on the following date in Australia).
