Apple Intelligence was the focal point of WWDC 2024, with CEO Tim Cook promising it would “transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users.” But after an underwhelming rollout, excitement around Apple Intelligence was more muted at WWDC 2025 today. 

During an opening keynote, Craig Federighi, Apple’s SVP of Software Engineering, said Apple needs “more time to reach a high-quality bar” for an AI-enhanced Siri, reiterating what Cook said during a recent earnings call. Apple will share more on that “in the coming year,” he said.

(Credit: Apple)

Instead, the big Apple Intelligence announcement is the company giving developers access to Apple’s on-device large language model (LLM). Federighi highlighted two apps that will integrate Apple Intelligence. Kahoot, for example, will be able to create study guides, while the AllTrails camping app could suggest a hike based on what you tell it you want.

Apple also says Automattic will add it to its Day One journaling app for “privacy-centric intelligence features.”

“Developers play a vital role in shaping the experiences customers love across Apple platforms,” Susan Prescott, Apple’s VP of Worldwide Developer Relations, said in a statement. “With access to the on-device Apple Intelligence foundation model and new intelligence features in Xcode 26, we’re empowering developers to build richer, more intuitive apps for users everywhere.”

The Foundation Models framework has native support for Swift, “so developers can easily access the Apple Intelligence model with as few as three lines of code,” Apple says.

Apple also plans to expand language support for Apple Intelligence, including a Live Translation feature for calls and text. Some OS updates will also tap into the company’s AI, like Workout Buddy in watchOS 26. Plus, Visual Intelligence in iOS 26 will be able to assess screenshots to find an item that appears on your social timeline, for example. But overall, OpenAI and Google don’t have much to worry about just yet.

When it launched in October, Apple Intelligence had only a few of its promised features, including text-to-Siri, summarized notifications, and Writing Tools. Notification summaries got messy, prompting Apple to pause them for news-related content. Siri’s upgrades were also rather subtle, which resulted in an executive shuffle. Overall, the piecemeal releases failed to impress. Some iPhone 16 users sued for false advertising. 

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About Chloe Albanesius

Executive Editor for News

I started out covering tech policy in D.C. for The National Journal, where my beat included state-level tech news and all the congressional hearings and FCC meetings I could handle. I later covered Wall Street trading tech before switching gears to consumer tech. I now lead PCMag’s news coverage and manage our how-to content.

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