iPhone users left disappointed by ‘ridiculous’ feature that delays updating to new Apple Intelligence
Apple doesn't grant users instant access
Fans have been left disappointed after a delay to Apple Intelligence.
With iOS 18.1 just landing on October 28, Apple is officially opening up its hyped Apple Intelligence features for anyone with an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Pro, or an M-series iPad (including the new iPad mini).
But updating your device doesn’t grant instant access to Apple's new AI functions. Instead, you'll need to request access and join a waitlist.
The tech giant introduced the waiting list to reduce the risk of overwhelming the servers with millions of simultaneous requests.
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As more and more users install iOS 18.1, the Apple Intelligence waitlist gives Apple the ability to ramp up the computational load and manage the demand accordingly.
However, not everyone is pleased with the waitlist.
A Reddit user on the r/ios subreddit wondered how long the whole process takes, writing: "Just upgraded my iPhone and iPad to 18.1. Couldn't find any trace of Apple Intelligence.
"Turns out you have to join a waitlist by going into settings. It would have been nice to at least show a notification that there is a waitlist."
They updated the post to say that it took about 2 hours to grant them access.
People have commented on the post to express their frustration with the long wait.
"Mine took about an hour. Got it now. Pretty nice new features but still wondering how ofter I'll actually use any of it outside of cleaning up photos," one commenter wrote.
"It's ridiculous. They did all the event about it. Months later, released the update and turns out that you have to register for whitelist. I can't imagine a worse management of this," another user chimed in.
Others remarked that the features they look forward to aren't even the ones being rolled out anytime soon.
"Not to mention the main features I was looking forward to (such as "find this email from a couple years ago...) apparently won't be available until next year," someone else added.
To get on the waitlist for Apple Intelligence, you’ll need to update to iOS 18.1 and then go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Join Waitlist.
How long it will take to be granted access is unknown. Some have reported waiting just a few minutes, while others have been on hold for hours.
As things have scaled up for the release, wait times could be longer than expected.
Not to mention that iOS 18.2 is just around the corner for an expected drop in December. The beta is set to include the new Image Playground app to create Genmoji and AI-generated artwork.