Even though Apple released the iPhone 16 back in September 2024, it's fair to say the rollout of its new operating system has been a little slow on the uptake.
The first waves of iOS 18 focused on the likes of an overhauled Siri, call transcription, and the headline release of Apple Intelligence. That all changes with the introduction of iOS 18.2 and a trio of image-conscious changes. Alongside the ability to create your own adorable sombrero-wearing frogs with Genmoji, you can turn your sketches into works of art with Image Wand. The big one most have been waiting for is the addition of Image Playground.
Image Playground launches as its own separate app for those who have iPhone 15 models or newer and have updated to iOS 18.2. The latest iOS update comes a month after iOS 18.1 launched to a slew of angry complaints about a revamped Photos app and a rejigged emoji board.
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If you've got Playground installed, it should appear as a new app, with the icon being a cute-looking cat in a bubble. You can access Playground through Messages by tapping the (+) symbol next to the text box and then selecting Image Playground.
Like most other AI image generators, you type a description of what you want or choose from a series of prompts.
You might remember when Midjourney struggled to create anatomically correct humans, and by all accounts, Playground is a little bare-bones right now.
Playground only accepts six suggestions and descriptors at once, so adding more will replace the earlier ones.
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Early reactions aren't the best, with someone on Reddit giving their 'honest' reactions to the update. Redditor u/IMightBYourDad shared a meme of Dipper from Gravity Falls, calling it 'worthless'. Ironically, the r/iphone moderators pulled down the post.
In the replies, the OP wrote: "I’m not sure if I’ll get hate for saying this but the images from Playground are predominantly just plain ugly and inaccurate. Sora/OpenAI is leagues ahead."
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Others agreed, as someone else raged: "It’s garbage. The UI is garbage (ridiculously and unnecessarily confusing), the output is garbage, and all in all less usable than Memojis… which was a fairly low bar to begin with.
“It’s the TEMU of AI. They had one job with AI. Fix Siri. That was it."
Another put all of Apple's recent AI features in their crosshairs and concluded: "Playground is just a bit of fun on the side but unfortunately even its implementation isn’t as seamless as you’d expect for iOS.
“I’m really disappointed with all AI features so far, mostly because Siri has been so bad for so long and this should be fixing it."
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The sentiments were much the same on X, with someone referring to Playground as dead on arrival.
As this is just the first iteration of Playground, some of you are being a bit harsh. Still, with its most vocal critics comparing it to those cartoonish adverts for shovelware games, Playground hasn't had the all-star launch Apple was presumably hoping for.