How to Enable Apple Intelligence on Unsupported iPhone and iPad on iOS 18

Apple officially unveiled Apple Intelligence during WWDC in iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. It introduces some terrific AI features, such as smarter Siri, on-device language and text comprehension, priority notifications and enhanced writing tools. The problem? Apple restricted these capabilities to newer devices only — for the iPhone, you’ll need an iPhone 15 Pro or Pro Max with the A17 Pro chip at minimum, and for the iPad, you’ll have to use M1 or newer models.

But if you have one of Apple’s older iPhones or iPads, you might be asking yourself: is there a way to check out Apple Intelligence features? The short answer is yes, with caveats. I’ll walk you through what’s doable, what’s not and workarounds that actually work in this guide.

Why Apple Blocks Older Devices

1. Smarter Siri (Partially)

The reasoning Apple has offered is rooted in hardware. Is the Neural Engine (the fastest neural network matrix multiplier burstable of more than a trillion ops/sec) fast enough to let Apple’s AI do its thing on same device and also without shipping your queries to the cloud? It is virtually unplayable on chips that came before the A17 Pro (which is available in the iPad) or the M1 (which is available in the iPad), because chips before that do not have enough power to run it fully.

With that said, many of the features are essentially software-based and there are ways to unlock them or emulate them on unsupported devices.

2. Writing Tools

Although rewriting, summarizing, and proofreading functionalities are restricted to Apple Intelligence, they are supplemented and supported by third-party applications such as Grammarly or ChatGPT. These apps function on devices where Apple Intelligence is not supported and can bridge the gap.

3. Priority Notifications (Workaround)

Apple Intelligence sorts notifications by importance, but you can use Focus Modes and custom notification filters to replicate a similar experience on older iPhones. It takes more setup, but it works.

How to Try Apple Intelligence Features

Here’s what many users are doing to get a “taste” of Apple Intelligence even without an iPhone 15 Pro:

1. Update to iOS 18 Beta/Release

First, make sure your device is updated to iOS 18. Some visual changes (like Siri’s new glow effect) work on almost all supported iPhones.

2. Use Apple’s Built-In Apps

Apps like Mail, Notes, and Safari get upgrades in iOS 18 even if Apple Intelligence is missing. For example, Safari’s Highlights and Notes’ organization tools are available system-wide.

3. Third-Party Alternatives

If you want writing tools, AI summaries, or smarter search, apps like Notion, Grammarly, or even ChatGPT shortcuts can give you nearly the same functionality — and sometimes more flexibility than Apple’s version.

4. Shortcuts & Automations

The Shortcuts app in iOS 18 is extremely powerful. You can build automations that act like “AI features” — for example, a shortcut that sends text to an AI app and pastes back the response into Mail or Notes. This is a clever way to mimic Apple Intelligence even on an unsupported iPhone.

Should You Hack or Jailbreak?

Some communities are working on jailbreak tweaks to force-enable Apple Intelligence features, but at this stage, it’s unstable and could break your device. Unless you’re very comfortable restoring iOS and dealing with bugs, I don’t recommend jailbreaking just to enable Apple Intelligence. It’s better to use safer workarounds until developers release more reliable methods.

Final Thoughts

Apple Intelligence is exciting, but Apple decided to make it exclusive to newer hardware. While unsupported iPhones and iPads can’t run the full suite of features, you can still enjoy a big part of the iOS 18 experience and recreate many “AI-like” tools with third-party apps and Shortcuts.

If you’re really interested in Apple Intelligence, consider this a preview phase — Apple may expand support over time, or third-party developers will continue to fill the gap. Until then, your older iPhone or iPad can still feel fresh and powerful with iOS 18.