Select Apple Intelligence features are now available in China, with Apple testing the functionality in the iOS 27.3 beta. Developers in China can turn on Apple Intelligence after updating to the new software.
Apple Intelligence first launched in the United States with iOS 18.1, but Apple was not able to bring it to China until it partnered with Alibaba and won approval from Chinese regulators.
Apple Intelligence features like Siri, Writing Tools, and Visual Intelligence integrate Alibaba's Qwen model. Here's what's live:
- Live Translation for Messages, FaceTime, and the Phone app. Live Translation also works with AirPods 4 with ANC, AirPods Pro 2, and later models.
- Writing Tools for rewriting, proofreading, and summarizing text. With Qwen integration, users can also generate text.
- Visual Intelligence for identifying objects, places, and more.
- Clean Up in Photos for removing unwanted objects from images.
- Genmoji for creating custom emoji.
- Natural language search and memory movie creation in Photos.
- Email summaries, suggested smart replies, and priority emails in the Mail app.
- Notification summaries, urgent notifications, and the Reduce Interruptions Focus mode.
- Summaries for audio recordings in the Notes app.
- Call transcripts in the Phone app, which are saved to the Notes app.
- Type to Siri and more natural Siri responses.
- Siri can relay requests to Qwen to give more in-depth answers.
Apple Intelligence in China does not include Siri AI, the Siri app, or the newer Apple Intelligence features in iOS 27.
Apple will likely release a public beta soon, allowing users in China with a compatible device to try the new features. We're expecting iOS 27.3 to launch in December.
