Apple iPhone 17 Pro's built-in AI (Apple Intelligence) feature is a set of intelligent experiences integrated into iOS 26, designed to automatically enhance efficiency, understand content, generate content, and analyze images across many system apps and operations. It's not a standalone "AI app" but is deeply integrated into the system and various apps. Apple Support +1

Below is a practical guide to its main features and how to use them 👇

📌 1. What is Apple Intelligence?

Apple Intelligence is Apple's built-in AI system on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. It can:

  • Understand text and help you rewrite, polish, and summarize
  • Analyze images, find, and identify content
  • Work with Siri for smarter queries and actions
  • Provide intelligent suggestions and assistance across apps within the system 🌐 All system-level integration, no additional installation required. Apple

⚙️ 2. Enabling Apple Intelligence

  1. Open Settings
  2. Go to Apple Intelligence & Siri
  3. Ensure Apple Intelligence is turned on (enabled by default) 📍 If turned off, many intelligent features will be unavailable. Apple Support

🤖 3. Enhancing Input and Writing with AI (Writing Tools)

In apps that support text editing (like Notes, Mail, Messages):

  • Select a piece of text
  • The Apple Intelligence icon will appear in the pop-up menu
  • You can choose: Polish / Adjust Tone / Summarize long text / Rewrite in a more concise or formal version

This allows you to quickly rewrite sentences, generate summaries, help write articles, or reply to emails. Apple Support

📷 4. Visual Intelligence

You can use the camera or screenshots to run Visual AI:

📸 Method A: Long press the Camera or Action Button

On the lock screen or any app screen:

  • Long press the camera icon / Action button
  • Enter Visual mode
  • iPhone will recognize objects, text, and scenes in the image
  • You can ask questions, for example: "What is this animal?" "What does this text mean?" "Help me translate this menu"

📱 Method B: After taking a screenshot

  • Take a screenshot
  • Tap the Smart button in the screenshot preview
  • Let AI recognize photo content, extract information, etc.

Visual AI can recognize text, objects, and scenes, and can also help you create calendar events from photos, translate menus, etc. Apple Support

💡 5. New Ways to Use Siri + AI

Unlike before, when you could only "wake Siri up and it didn't understand much," now:

  • You can ask questions using natural language
  • Ask Siri to perform complex tasks (requires Apple Intelligence to be turned on first)
  • Siri will answer based on device content and context. For example:
  • "Find that article my friend sent me this week"
  • "Write a thank you email to XX for me"

This makes Siri much "smarter" than before. Apple

🖼️ 6. Image Creation and Genmoji

If you enjoy creating:

  • You can use Image Playground in Messages and Notes
  • Enter a description, and AI will generate a corresponding image
  • You can also create personalized Genmoji (custom emoji)
  • Then send them to friends as stickers or reactions 📍 This feature is similar to AI drawing, but directly supported within the Apple ecosystem. Apple

🧠 7. Other Intelligent Features

📌 Photo Search and Organization (Photos App)

Search for photos using natural language, for example:

  • "Photos I took in Tokyo last month"
  • "Those photos of cats and cafes"

📌 Smart Reminders and Tasks

Reminders and Mail can suggest reminders, automatically categorize tasks, etc. Apple Support

⚠️ 8. Important Notes (Especially for Users in Mainland China)

📍 ⭐ Some AI features may currently not support a full Chinese experience or may not be available in all regions (Full functionality of Apple Intelligence depends on regional and language support). Sina Finance

📍 If you can't open a certain AI feature, you may need to:

  • Switch the system language to English
  • Update to the latest iOS 26
  • Ensure Apple Intelligence is turned on and connected to Wi-Fi (models will download on first run)

🔍 Practical Tips

✅ Screenshot + long press the AI icon is the most convenient way for intelligent image recognition.

✅ When processing text, select a keyword and see if a smart suggestion button appears.

✅ Try asking Siri questions in natural language to see if it can help you complete tasks directly.