Surprise Apple upgrade lets iPhone text for you using AI helper – and you can finally try it out today

APPLE is adding a new iPhone feature that uses AI to create replies to texts and emails for you.

It makes replying much faster – and it's finally available this week.

The feature is called Smart Reply, and it's part of the Apple Intelligence upgrade coming in the iOS 18.1 update.

You'll find the AI-powered trick inside Apple's Mail and Messages app.

Imagine you receive a text asking you several questions.

Smart Reply will prompt you to tap quick answers to questions that it's identified in the message.

And then it'll create a full reply for you that you can instantly send.

For instance, a message might ask you if your partner is joining for an event – and whether you're driving or taking an Uber.

A quick Smart Reply panel will let you tap an option from multiple choices, and then compose a message.

It's the same process inside the Mail app too.

The more complicated the original message, the more useful Smart Reply will be for saving you time.

Apple explains: "Use a Smart Reply in Mail to quickly draft an email response with all the right details.

"Apple Intelligence can identify questions you were asked in an email and offer relevant selections to include in your response.

"With a few taps you’re ready to send a reply with key questions answered."

HOW TO GET SMART REPLIES ON IPHONE

Getting access to the Apple Intelligence Smart Reply feature depends on a few different things.

First, you'll need an iPhone that's new enough to upgrade to iOS 18 (and iOS 18.1, by extension).

But it also needs to have a powerful-enough processor to run Apple Intelligence.

That means only the following iPhone models can use it:

• iPhone 15 Pro
• iPhone 15 Pro Max
• iPhone 16
• iPhone 16 Plus
• iPhone 16 Pro
• iPhone 16 Pro Max

If you've got an iPhone that's set to US English then Smart Reply will be available in the iOS 18.1 update.

That's coming out this week: these updates usually arrive on Mondays, but there's no guarantee.

Check on Tuesday morning to see if you've got it.

If your iPhone is set to use iOS on UK English then Smart Reply will come with iOS 18.2 instead.

That's coming out in December, which is a bit of a wait.

One option is to simply set your device and Siri language to US English to get the feature with iOS 18.1

Alternatively, you could try signing up to the iOS 18 public beta, which gives you a test UK English version of the feature to your iPhone.

However, this won't be available for a few weeks.

If you're an app maker running the iOS 18.2 developer beta then you'll already have access to the UK English version of the feature.

HOW TO USE SMART REPLY

Once you've got your device set up for Smart Reply, head into messages.

Then choose to reply to a message, and a Smart Reply will appear where normal suggestions show up.

But they'll have a Siri-style glow when they appear, indicating that they're using Apple Intelligence.

Then simply tap on the reply that you prefer, and a reply will be generated.

If there are any questions that need answering, you'll be asked to respond by tapping options.

"Smart Reply in Mail and Messages identifies questions and suggests answers to make it faster to draft a response," Apple explains.

Then you can send your Smart Reply instantly.

The person receiving the Smart Reply won't be told that it was created with the help of AI, so keep that in mind.