Image Playground is one of the big new features coming in next month's iOS 18.2, but it may not be quite what Apple promised: at WWDC 2024 in June, Apple claimed its image generation software would have three different styles: animation, illustrations, and sketches. Apparently, that is no longer true.

As reported by MacRumors and confirmed by Tom's Guide AI editor Ryan Morrison, the current beta versions of iOS 18.2, iPadOS 18.2, and MacOS Sequoia 15.2 have a sketch option in Image Playground is not available. Instead, there are only animation and illustration options.

This may just be a quirk of the beta software, and Apple may introduce a sketching option at some point in the future, either near or during the release of iOS 18.2. However, as MacRumors points out, all mention of the sketching option has been removed from the description of the Image Playground app, so it is unlikely to appear anytime soon.

The previous description stated that the “highly detailed and academic Sketch style produces gorgeous drawings on desolate backgrounds.” But apparently that is not something Apple can offer for the foreseeable future.

The iOS 18.2 beta is currently available to developers and the public, and will be released to the public at some point in December; Image Playground is one of the big features that will be coming, but if the rollout is anything like the beta, before you try it yourself You may have to join a long waiting list.

This limitation currently applies to all image generators, including Genmoji and Image wand.

Other big features are on the way, including Visual Intelligence AI Vision for the iPhone 16, ChatGPT support for Siri and other Apple Intelligence features, improved lighting tools, and many more features unrelated to AI. Other big features are on the horizon. For example, the ability to share locations with the Find My app, battery intelligence, and better connectivity between iPhone and Mac.