Apple Mail has long been the ugly duckling of email clients. While the app technically works, it’s pretty barebones in terms of functionality. Despite the latest iOS 18 beta not addressing all of its shortcomings, it does make using the client more desirable on iPhone 15 Pro models. With iOS 18.1, the iPhone maker has baked Apple Intelligence into the Mail app, enabling AI summaries, priority detection, and more. Some of these features have also made it to the Messages app, such as the newly-added smart replies. Sure, Apple Mail still has a long way to go, but boy, do these AI enhancements make my everyday life easier and give Google’s Gmail a run for its money.
It all starts before you even launch the app
What I love about Apple Intelligence on iOS 18.1 beta 1 is that it works from the moment you receive an email or text. The technology analyzes the notifications’ content to display summaries on the lock screen. So, instead of previewing the first two lines of an email, the notification now shows a handier, AI-generated summary of the entire message. We’ve gone from “Hi, I hope this email finds you well” to “The sender is inquiring about your availability tomorrow” in the notification center. It’s pretty neat if you ask me.