Apple will not rush to expand the geography of its AI service. Following today’s US launch, Apple Intelligence will first debut in December in other English-speaking countries, before arriving in the EU next spring. The service will support local languages of countries and will offer almost a full set of functions, improved Siri and integration with ChatGPT.
Image source: BoliviaInteligente/Unsplash
Apple has officially announced that its Apple Intelligence service will be available to users in the European Union starting in April 2025, TechCrunch reports. It was previously expected that EU technical rules, namely the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), would limit the launch of the technology in the region. “Apple Intelligence features will begin rolling out to iPhone and iPad users in the EU this spring. These will include Writing Tools, Genmoji, an updated Siri with improved language understanding, integration with ChatGPT and much more,” the company said in a press release.
Currently, with the release of iOS 18.1, Apple has begun gradually introducing artificial intelligence features for the latest iPhone, iPad and Mac models. When Apple Intelligence was first introduced at the WWDC developer conference in June, the company warned that the features would be rolled out slowly and would initially only be available in US English. This still remains relevant, and in order to use the service, user devices must be configured for this language. If the Apple ID is tied to a European address, access to the service on the iPhone is currently impossible.
However, Mac owners in Europe can already try out some Apple Intelligence features. If you have a Mac with an M1 chip or later, you only need to change the system language to US English to activate the service. Presumably, this opportunity is due to the fact that Apple is recognized among other major platforms as a “gatekeeper” – the main intermediary between business users and consumers under DMA, but only with respect to iOS, iPadOS, App Store and Safari devices. macOS is not subject to these rules.
Apple also confirmed that it plans to expand language support in the near future. Already in December 2024, a localized English version will be added for Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the UK, and during 2025 the service will be available in twelve more languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese and Spanish.
The only feature that, according to preliminary data, will not be available in the EU will be “Notification Summaries”. Apple has not yet given more detailed comments on this matter.