Apple Intelligence nears general availability on iPhone. iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, tvOS 18.1, visionOS 2.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1 release candidates were released today (October 21).

The release builds come one week after the Beta 6 versions of each OS were released on October 14. For those not in the know, a release candidate is the final build of software before its full public release.

Release candidate versions are stable and ready to use, but that does not mean that serious bugs will not affect the OS. Release Candidates are Apple's final check for anything that might break before release.

Apple hyped its AI version, Apple Intelligence, upon the release of the iPhone 16, but curious Apple fans had to wait to try it out.

As the 18.1 beta version was released, Apple gradually added several AI tools to the iPhone. The update adds superior hearing aid capabilities to Air Pods Pro 2 and also offers home hearing tests for those over 18.

You can currently sign up for the public or developer beta to try out the features, but Apple advises against testing the beta on your primary device. Other features include writing tools, abridged audio transcripts, and email summarization.

Not all of Apple's announced Apple Intelligence features are coming to iOS 18 yet, but the first wave will be released in 18.1.

These include new writing tools that summarize text, write for you, and proofread what you write, all integrated with any app you can type in. Cleanup tools have been added to the Photos app to remove unwanted objects and people from photos, along with conversational search in the Photos app.

Finally, AI-powered summaries will be added to emails and notifications. Emails and messages will also get smart replies that offer suggested responses, with priority sorting to highlight important messages.

Expect to see some fixes (spotted by 9to5Mac) to some annoyances within the Photos app, Podcasts, and digital car keys as part of iOS 18.1.

As of this writing, there is no release candidate build of watchOS 11.1, so the Apple Watch may not yet receive the latest features. The company also released regular updates for iOS 17.7.1 and iPadOS 17.7.1.

When Apple announced the iPad mini 7 last week, the company also announced that a full public release of iOS 18.1 would arrive by the end of October. However, no specific date was given.

We speculate that Apple will officially launch the update on Monday, October 28, or shortly thereafter. In this case, it would take about a week to see how the release candidate actually works.