macOS 15.1 Sequoia review: Apple Intelligence is on the Mac but you have to look for it

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in macOS

Maybe it's early in the game, maybe we just have to get used to it, but Apple Intelligence is not yet as big a part of the Mac as it is the iPhone.

Apple Intelligence & Siri settings screen with Siri Requests toggle enabled on a purple gradient background.
Apple Intelligence is now available on the Mac



Really, it seems that Apple Intelligence is made for the iPhone and the iPad. It's there on the Mac, too, and the writing tools ought to be a perfect fit for macOS Sequoia, but in practice Apple Intelligence is making little impact on the Mac.

Apple Intelligence on Mac review -- problems and bugs



Some of this is may genuinely be down to bugs in the beta test. Plus I'm in the UK and despite changing my Mac's region settings correctly, it's still possible that I'm not getting everything I should because my Apple ID is a non-American one.

But that can't account for how some Apple Intelligence features appear, while others don't. I've yet to see Safari Highlights for instance, but I've got writing tools.

Context menu with spelling options displayed over highlighted text in a digital document, alongside a sidebar with a list of notes.
The Writing Tools icon (marked in red) appears only inconsistently



And then it also doesn't account for features coming and going.

For instance, those writing tools are supposed to appear when you select some of your writing, but in practice they only occasionally do.

It's occasional enough that it's surprising when there is a little icon next to your text, offering these features. With the most recent beta release of macOS, the icon would appear in some apps and not others -- and then not consistently.

What is consistent is that you can select some text in just about any app, and the right-click to bring up a context menu that includes writing tools.

But compare that to the iPhone where as soon as you go to select anything, you get a pop up menu that has writing tools next to the familiar copy and paste.

Apple Intelligence on Mac review -- Siri



Then every iPhone, and every iPad, has a microphone so you can call out "Hey, Siri," or just "Siri," and basically have Apple Intelligence listen to what you want. The MacBook Pro and MacBook Air have microphones too, but the iMac is the only desktop model that includes one.

So it's not that Apple Intelligence and Siri can't be called up on a Mac, but the presence or absence of a microphone is only half the story. The other half is that the way we use Macs and iPhones is different.

Desktop top menu bar with icons and notification stating Siri can be activated with a keystroke, against a purple gradient background.
Type to Siri works well but is more disruptive to your work



With an iPhone, it can be next to you as you work, so asking Siri to do something doesn't interrupt your flow. On a Mac, you have to stop what you're doing to talk.

Plus the Mac seems to defer to just about any other device in existence. Ask Siri on your MacBook Pro a question -- solely using your voice -- and it's highly likely that your iPhone will answer.

Or your Apple Watch.

Or the HomePod in the next room.

You can get around this by invoking Siri with a keyboard shortcut, which by default is the globe key plus the spacebar. And you can also then type your request to Siri.

So it's all there and you can make it all work, but it's tedious friction compared to just picking up your iPhone, saying "Siri", and seeing that great new animation.

Apple Intelligence on Mac review -- friction and Mail summaries



Apple Intelligence ought to be working for you in the background as well as waiting for any Siri requests. But the clearest, constant example of this is the summarizing of emails and during the beta, that's not always been clear, and it has rarely been constant.

Computer screen displaying a text editor with highlighted text and a pop-up menu offering writing style options like 'Proofread' and 'Rewrite.'
It is now possible to have rewrites do more than Professional, Friendly, and Concise



Where the iOS beta long ago switched to summarizing your inbox so that you see a description of an email or of a thread instead just the first three lines of a message, the Mac hasn't. Except when it has.

There is still a Summarize button within any one message or any one message thread. But it's the inbox glance where this ought to be of most use.

And maybe this is a clue to the future of Apple Intelligence because having had those inbox summaries, it's actually disappointing to lose them.

It's also disappointing to have got used to summarized notifications on the iPhone and not have them on the Mac -- or at least, not automatically. You can click on the date in the Mac's menu bar and get a Control Center-like view of notifications, but only at times are they summarized.

A computer screen displaying a proofreading tool overlay with highlighted text and options like replace and copy across different windows.
Sometimes the Rewrite function doesn't appear to do much at all



A feature of macOS Sequoia is that it now relays more notifications from the iPhone and that is working -- but at least for me, it isn't helpful. Anything I want to be notified about on the Mac, I already get notifications for.

So having new ones pop up from the iPhone is just adding to interruptions.

Apple Intelligence on Mac review -- no Image Playground yet



Presumably macOS Sequoia will get the Image Playground and genmoji features of Apple Intelligence. But they aren't in the beta yet.

Nor, at least for me, is the automatic categorization of emails into Priority, Transactions, Updates, and Promotions. Doubtlessly that will come, surely it's just a bug that I'm still not seeing it.

But what the Mac presumably won't ever get is Visual Intelligence. Of all the Apple Intelligence features available to test on any device, summaries have been the most practical and useful, but Visual Intelligence has been the most fun.

Just not on the Mac.

On the Mac, Apple Intelligence is so far always an extra step. On the iPhone, it's more seamlessly worked into how you do things anyway.

Email interface showing a message from William Gallagher at Apple Intelligence. The 'Summarize' button is highlighted in the top-right corner.
There is consistently a summarize button in every Mail message



Hopefully that will get better and writing tools, for instance, will more consistently fit in with your work.

Apple Intelligence must already have made an impact because it's practically annoying to lose those inbox summaries, and I'm getting very impatient waiting for Safari Highlights. So it's not as if it feels that Apple Intelligence does little on the Mac, or simply doesn't belong on there.

But it does very much feel as if it's made for the iPhone.

Apple Intelligence on Mac review -- pros


  • Email inbox summaries are excellent

  • Summaries of individual emails are good

  • Writing Tools now have more options than Professional, Friendly, and Concise

Apple Intelligence on Mac review -- cons


  • It's too early to assess how it will ultimately fit into our workflows

  • Sometimes Rewrite doesn't do anything at all

  • Writing Tools icon appears inconsistently

  • Unlike the iPhone, you have to add steps to use Apple Intelligence

  • Some features appear and disappear, such as Mail summaries

Rating: 4 out of 5 on potential



Right now the mark should be 3 out of 5 because of how features appear and disappear. But that will presumably have been a beta issue that must be fixed by this official release.

It's also harder to assess the longer-term success of Apple Intelligence on the Mac because so far it's so often an extra step you have to remember to use.

Based on how annoying it is to lose the Mail summaries from time to time, Apple Intelligence is going to grow on us.



Read on AppleInsider

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 6
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,142member
    I don't see mail summaries at all. No where to be found. Suspect it was removed from 18.1 in the US.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 2 of 6
    None of the Apple Intelligence features seem to be available in Sequoia15.1 on my M2 Mac Mini, although I'm in the U.S and the language is English. What's going on? All I have is an Apple Intelligence and Siri waitlist option! The Tips app shows all sorts of contextual menu Writing Tools options I'm supposed to but don't have, and an Apple Intelligence icon in the menu bar I don't have in Mail or Notes, etc. Is this an installer screwup?
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 6
    No Apple intelligence, just waitlist option for me on Mac mini m1 running 15.1

    watto_cobra
  • Reply 4 of 6
    eightzeroeightzero Posts: 3,142member
    No Apple intelligence, just waitlist option for me on Mac mini m1 running 15.1

    So Apple Intelligence has not been made available yet; it has to sort itself out for a while. Man, I hope people buying a new iMac today specifically for AI find out it won't work when they get it home. 
    edited October 28 watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 6
    YucamYucam Posts: 18member
    My M3 Max plays stupid as usual, assisted by Mrs Siri who has hearing issues…
  • Reply 6 of 6
    flydogflydog Posts: 1,140member
    eightzero said:
    I don't see mail summaries at all. No where to be found. Suspect it was removed from 18.1 in the US.
    It was not removed from 18.1 in the US, and contrary to this poorly-researched article, it works exactly the same on MacOS, iOS, and iPadOS.  You just need to scroll up to reveal the Summarize button. 
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