Apple Intelligence opened for testing in the latest iOS developer beta early on Nov. 4.
According to a CLS report cited by ChainCatcher, users can directly access capabilities from Qwen, the artificial intelligence app under Alibaba, inside Siri, Writing Tools, and Visual Intelligence. Those capabilities include text and image understanding as well as content generation.
In hands-on testing described in the report, users were able to complete basic question answering, image-and-text analysis, and content generation on an iPhone. For more advanced needs, they could tap through to the Qwen app, where conversation data would sync automatically.
Users can decide for themselves whether to enable the Qwen integration. After turning it on, they can sign in with Apple Login or use their own Qwen app account, then use Qwen through Siri, Visual Intelligence, and Writing Tools.
In one example from the report, a question about improving sleep prompted Siri to call Qwen for general suggestions. If a more personalized plan was needed, users could tap the Qwen icon and jump to the Qwen app, where prior sleep records, exercise data, and lifestyle habits could be used to analyze contributing factors and build an improvement plan.
Visual Intelligence also supports an "Ask Qwen" option for identifying objects or scenes on screen. One example in the report showed a user first asking Siri about a clothing brand, then moving to the Qwen app to search for the same item on Taobao and place an order.
Within Writing Tools, the "Qwen Creation" feature can generate content based on user instructions and adjust tone and length. The report said it can keep details such as time and location in an event invitation, or compress the text into a shorter notice that is easier to forward.
At present, users who bought an Apple Intelligence-supported iPhone in China, or whose device location and Apple account country and region are both set to China, can already try the related features through the developer beta.
