Last month, Apple released a software update to compatible iPhones, and one of the most interesting iOS 18.2 features was the new-look Mail app. So far, this has been limited to iPhones, but now Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has revealed this AI-tinged software is coming soon to iPads and Macs.
For the latter, it will arrive in macOS 15.4 in April, Gurman writes. He clarified in a post on X that it would be coming to iPad too, but didn’t give an ETA.
“The Mac will get the upgraded Mail app that uses AI to prioritize messages and sort content into different inboxes,” he writes. It uses artificial intelligence to automatically sort incoming mail into different categories, putting receipts into a transaction category, newsletters into a promotion folder, and so on.
As 9to5Mac points out, this isn’t a huge surprise, given Apple itself already teased what the Mail app will look like on Mac back in October:
On iOS, Gurman is a fan, describing it as “terrific”. However, our Managing Editor, Philip Michaels, wasn’t too impressed when he tested the updated iPhone Mail app last month, identifying three main problems: the lack of message indicators, added complications in deleting messages and emails being cut off.
“I'm not necessarily a fan of the new look in iOS 18.2 Mail, primarily because it's hard to tell when new mail has arrived in the different folders,” he wrote. “Managing older emails from the same sender is also more difficult than it needs to be.”
April is some way off, so there’s a good chance that Apple will have refined things before it hits the new platforms. At the very least, turning it off should hopefully be as easy as it is on iOS: just hit the Mail settings area, and change the layout to “List View”.
Gurman reiterates that the April update will also see the long-trailed improvements to the Siri digital assistant, which will “be able to better tap into personal information and use App Intents technology to more precisely control apps.”
Before 15.4 arrives, other AI features will come to Apple desktops and laptops with the release of macOS 15.3 “in a few weeks”, Gurman says. That means you can expect things like the introduction of the Genmoji custom emoji on Macs.
Though Apple will also be reducing the reliance on AI elsewhere, Gurman adds. "Rather than quickly fixing its AI models, Apple is simply pulling the plug on summaries from news and entertainment apps," he writes. "You can also more easily disable summaries from the lock screen, and recaps are now italicized."
That’s perhaps not surprising, given the problems hallucinations have caused the company in recent weeks.
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