The best Apple Intelligence features for iPhone 16 you won’t want to miss

The iPhone 16 launch is almost here. One of the tentpole features for the new lineup of 16 and 16 Pro models is Apple Intelligence. Not all of the coming AI features are made equal, though. Here are the top three Apple Intelligence features for iPhone 16 that you won’t want to miss.

New Siri with ChatGPT integration

Apple Intelligence brings with it a new and improved Siri on all compatible devices. But if you have an older iPhone, you’re stuck with the old Siri.

Apple’s AI-supercharged Siri features a variety of immediate improvements:

• a brand new design that glows around your display
• a typing mode accessed with a double-tap at the bottom of your iPhone
• context continuity from one request to the next
• better parsing of your words, even when you misspeak or change your mind mid-sentence
• deep knowledge of Apple products and features

But this is just the beginning. One huge update expected later this year is ChatGPT integration, which will make Siri a vastly more powerful assistant.

Additionally, in the year ahead Apple says it will introduce a variety of other Siri upgrades. These include awareness of content that’s on your screen, an array of new in-app and cross-app actions, and understanding of your personal context for more intelligent assistance.

In other words, the longer you’re stuck with the old Siri on an older iPhone, the more painful the FOMO for new Siri will be.

AI summaries for notifications

AI notifications are poised to be the early killer feature for Apple Intelligence on iPhone 16.

We all get a variety of notifications every day. In theory, these are meant to be informative and useful. But in practice, lots of the time they’re not.

For example, if you get a message or email notification, that notification’s preview will contain only a brief excerpt of the actual communication. If the content itself is brief, no problem. But for many iMessages and nearly all emails, you need more context to understand what’s being communicated.

Apple Intelligence provides this context with content summaries. Instead of providing an excerpt of the actual content, your AI notifications will include a summary of the full communication.

What’s the key content in a particular email or message? Your notifications will now tell you. Have a stack of notifications to catch up on? AI will summarize all the notifications into a glanceable summary.

This works for all apps, both Apple’s and those from third parties. And it has proven a crucial new feature for me, because it makes notifications truly informative. With a quick glance at the AI summary, I know if I need to take action on it immediately, or if I can save it for later.

Genmoji

Genmoji likely won’t arrive in the first Apple Intelligence release set for iOS 18.1. However, when they do debut, they’re expected to be a popular feature that iPhone 16 users will love.

Genmoji allow you to generate your own custom emoji with a simple command. There’s no work required on your part: just type a description of the emoji you want, and Apple Intelligence will create it for you.

Emoji are such a popular way for people to express themselves, and Genmoji will make the expression potential nearly limitless.

Though Genmoji won’t be ready at the iPhone 16’s launch, expect to see users pine after the feature—especially teens and young adults—when it arrives.

What Apple Intelligence features are you most excited about? Let us know in the comments.