iOS 18 to sport new AI-enabled Safari browsing feature and more, report claims

Apple is expected to announce the new iOS 18 software update for the iPhone during WWDC in June, and now a new report has detailed some of the features that we can expect that software update to bring to the table including AI-based browsing options.

The new 18 software has long been rumored to have big new AI-powered features in the works, but details on what those features would be have so far been difficult to come by. Now, AppleInsider has detailed the features that iPhone owners can expect to use when the new software arrives, including an AI-enhanced browsing and test summarization feature.

2

Dubbed Intelligent Search, the new feature will apparently live within Safari's address bar and will use Apple's on-device Ajax machine learning model to identify the topics and key phrases within a web page to then summarize the information for users. It's suggested that Apple intends to give users a way to visit a webpage and then have the information distilled into a shorter, more easily digested chunk of information. However, the feature isn't currently enabled by default according to unnamed engineers evaluating the latest builds of Safari 18.

Next is a feature called Web Eraser that will allow people to choose which types of content are removed from web pages. Unnamed sources suggest the feature will build upon existing privacy features within Safari and give users the option to erase ads, images, and more. Those portions will then not appear whenever the webpage is next loaded, it would seem.

The same report explains that the Safari web browser will feature an updated interface to move some of the software's key tools into areas that are more easily accessed. Some of Safari's features are difficult to find in iOS 17, and that looks set to change when iSO 18 arrives.

If Apple sticks to its usual release pattern the iOS 18 software update will debut at WWDC on June 10 but then enter a months-long beta program. Developers initially, and public beta testers later, will be able to use iOS 18 on their own devices and report bugs to Apple. Then, iOS 18 will be released to the public towards the middle of September.

The iOS 18 update is expected to be available to millions of existing iPhone owners around the globe, but it'll also ship preinstalled on the iPhone 16, iPhone 16 Plus, iPhone 16 Pro, and iPhone 16 Pro Max which are all expected to be announced in September.