iOS 18.1: How to Proofread, Rewrite and Edit With Apple Intelligence

Apple released iOS 18.1 in October, more than a month after the company released iOS 18 to the general public. The update included some bug fixes and a new feature that lets you record phone calls and read call transcripts. Some iPhones also got a few Apple Intelligence features, like being able to proofread, rewrite and alter written messages and comments. 

Read more: Everything You Need to Know About iOS 18

With these new tools, you can ask AI to rewrite a business email to sound more professional or friendly, or you can have AI proofread what you’ve written. These tools can be used anywhere you would type a message, like Messages, Mail and third-party apps like Instagram.

Here’s how to use AI to help make your messages pop. Just know that these tools are only available on the iPhone 16 lineup and the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max, and you have to request access to Apple Intelligence. Otherwise, you won’t be able to use these tools at this time. 

What to know about Writing Tools in Apple Intelligence

All Apple Intelligence-enabled devices get a new menu in their keyboard called Writing Tools. You can find this menu by highlighting your text and tapping Writing Tools in the floating menu over your text. You can also access Writing Tools by tapping the Apple Intelligence logo — the pink and blue atom symbol — in the menu over your keyboard.

Once you’ve opened Writing Tools, you’ll see options to Proofread or Rewrite your text. 

Tapping Proofread will check your text for grammatical errors. If it doesn’t detect any errors it will give you the message “No recommended changes.”

Tapping Rewrite will adjust your message by changing words or describing things in more detail. After tapping Rewrite, you can tap Original to see what your original text was, or you can tap Rewrite again and Apple Intelligence will try again. However, I found that after tapping Rewrite four times on a particular text it didn’t change the text at all. The number of times you can tap Rewrite before you stop getting changes is likely dependent on how long your text is, though.

There are also options to give your text a Friendly, Professional or Concise tone. Tapping Friendly, for example, will make your text read more informal and like chatting with a friend, and tapping Professional will make your text safe for work. 

Depending on the content of your text, you might get a message that reads, “Writing Tools aren’t designed to work with this type of content.” I got this message when using curse words, and it seems to be meant to deter you from going further. However, you can tap Continue in the top right corner of the menu and Apple Intelligence will revise your message anyway. So if you type, “That’s bullshit,” and ask Apple Intelligence to make it sound more professional, it might say, “That assertion is inaccurate,” which is now part of my corporate vocabulary. 

If you like what Apple Intelligence created, tap Done in the top right corner of the menu and the changes will stay. If you don’t like what Apple Intelligence made you can tap Revert in the top left corner of the menu and you’ll be taken back to the Writing Tools menu. You can also tap Original to check what your original text was.

Quickly edit longer text with Apple Intelligence

You don’t have to go through the Writing Tools menu to proofread or revise a longer text. Instead, highlight the entire text you want to edit and the options Proofread and Rewrite will appear in the menu over your keyboard.

These buttons work the same way as they do in the Writing Tools menu. If you’re happy with your message, tap Done to replace your message with the rewritten version. But if you prefer your original message, tap Revert to go remove all changes.

Don’t forget, you should always reread your text if you use any of these tools. Because this is AI, your revised message might have errors or it might not make sense depending on the context.

For more on iOS 18, here’s everything you need to know about iOS 18.1, my iOS 18 review and our iOS 18 cheat sheet. You can also check out what might be coming to your iPhone in iOS 18.2.

Watch this: Apple’s Monster iPhone Update: How Apple Intelligence Works on iOS 18.1

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