Apple releases iOS 18 Developer Beta 5 with Distraction Controls for Safari

Apple’s confusing airport departure board full of different iOS and iPadOS software Betas gets a little more complicated today as the company pushed out the fifth Developer Beta of iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. Don’t confuse these newly released Betas with the iOS 18.1 Developer Beta that came with the Apple Intelligence Beta that was just released on July 29th.

Available only in the U.S. right now for the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, the Apple Intelligence Beta comes with some of the AI features that iPhone users have been waiting for since hearing about them at WWDC. Such features include the ability to summarize emails and websites, have AI change the tone of an email or text being written, and record a phone call and have it transcribed in the Notes app.

Some features, such as the following, won’t be ready until next year. For example, Siri will eventually be able to access data on your iPhone so that the digital assistant can answer a query such as, “What time do I need to pick up my mom at the airport?” Siri will also be able to remove certain distractions from photographs similar to Google’s Magic Eraser. Apple Intelligence will allow rough sketches to be turned into images and custom emoji, known as Genmoji, can be created. Don’t forget that ChatGPT will also become available to compatible iPhone users in 2025.

So right now, the Apple Intelligence features available in the iOS 18.1 Developer Beta won’t be ready for those not interested in joining the Beta program until October when the stable version of iOS 18.1 is released.