You can access Visual Intelligence on more iPhones after an iOS 18 update.
Zachary McAuliffe Staff writer
Zach began writing for CNET in November, 2021 after writing for a broadcast news station in his hometown, Cincinnati, for five years. You can usually find him reading and drinking coffee or watching a TV series with his wife and their dog.
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When Apple released iOS 18 in 2024, the update remodeled the Control Center to give you more control over how the feature functions on your iPhone. With iOS 18.4 in March, a handful of new controls were added to the iPhone Control Center, including one that brings Visual Intelligence to the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max.
Even if you don’t have an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone, iOS 18.4 lets you add new music controls to your control center. These controls give you easy access to musical playlists that, depending on your mood, could help you sleep, relax or be more productive.
Here’s what you need to know about the new controls and how to add them to your Control Center.
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New Apple Intelligence controls
For now, only those with an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max or the iPhone 16 lineup can access Apple Intelligence features. With iOS 18.4, those people got three new dedicated Apple Intelligence controls: Talk to Siri, Type to Siri and Visual Intelligence.
Here’s how to find these controls.
1. Swipe down from the top-right corner of your Home Screen to open your Control Center.
2. Tap the plus (+) sign in the top-left corner of your screen.
3. Tap Add a Control.
Visual Intelligence might not always be correct.
Then you can use the search bar near the top of the screen to search for “Apple Intelligence” or you can scroll through the menu to find the Apple Intelligence & Siri section. Tap any (or all) of these controls to add them to your Control Center. While Talk to Siri and Type to Siri controls can be helpful if you have trouble accessing the digital assistant, the Visual Intelligence control is important because it brings the Apple Intelligence feature to the iPhone 15 Pro and Pro Max.
Visual Intelligence was originally only accessible on the iPhone 16 lineup because those devices have the Camera Control button. With iOS 18.4, however, it is now accessible on more devices and people thanks to the titular control in Control Center. But remember, Visual Intelligence is like any other AI tool, so it might not always be accurate. You should double-check the results and information it shows you.
iOS 18.4 also introduced new Ambient Music controls to iPhones.
Ambient Music controls
With iOS 18.4, Apple added four new controls to the Control Center library under the Ambient Music category: Sleep, Chill, Productivity and Wellbeing. Each of these controls can activate a playlist filled with music that corresponds to the specific control. Sleep, for instance, plays ambient music to help lull you to bed.
Some studies suggest white noise could help adults learn words and improve learning in environments full of distractions. According to the mental health company Calm, certain kinds of music can help you fall asleep faster and improve the quality of your sleep. So these new controls can help you learn, fall asleep and more.
Here’s how to find these controls.
1. Swipe down from the top-right corner of your Home Screen to open your Control Center.
2. Tap the plus (+) sign in the top-left corner of your screen.
3. Tap Add a Control.
You’ll see a section of controls called Ambient Music. You can also search for “Ambient Music” in the search bar at the top of the control library. Under Ambient Music, you’ll see all four controls. Tap one (or all) of them to add them to your Control Center. Once you’ve added one or all the controls to your Control Center, go back to your Control Center and tap one to start playing music.
The new Ambient Music controls in Control Center play preloaded playlists on your iPhone when activated.
Apple/CNETHere’s how to change the playlist for each control.
1. Swipe down from the top-right corner of your Home Screen to open your Control Center.
2. Tap the plus (+) sign in the top-left corner of your screen.
3. Tap the Ambient Music control you want to edit.
4. Tap the playlist to the right of Playlist.
A dropdown menu will appear with additional playlists for each control. If you’re in the Sleep control, you’ll see playlists like Restful Notes and Lo-Fi Snooze. If you have playlists in your Music app, then you’ll also see an option From Library, which pulls music from your library. Tap whichever playlist you want, and it will be assigned to that control.
Ambient Music is similar to Background Sounds but those are more static sounds, like white noise.
Jeff Carlson/CNETApple already lets you transform your iPhone into a white noise machine with Background Sounds, like ocean and rain. But Ambient Music is actual music as opposed to more static sounds, like in that feature.
Both of these features feel like a way for Apple to present itself as the first option for whenever you want some background music to help you fall asleep or be productive. Other services, like Spotify and YouTube, already have ambient music playlists like these, so this could be Apple’s way of taking some of those services’ audience.
For more iOS news, here are my first impressions of the beta version of iOS 26, how to enable call screening in the beta and all the new features Apple said it will bring to your device later this year. You can get an early view of the upcoming iPhone features with our iOS 26 cheat sheet.
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