AI summaries in Apple Mail put Gmail to absolute shame

Apple Mail has long been the ugly duckling of email clients. While the app technically works, it’s pretty barebones in terms of functionality. Despite the latest iOS 18 beta not addressing all of its shortcomings, it does make using the client more desirable on iPhone 15 Pro models. With iOS 18.1, the iPhone maker has baked Apple Intelligence into the Mail app, enabling AI summaries, priority detection, and more. Some of these features have also made it to the Messages app, such as the newly-added smart replies. Sure, Apple Mail still has a long way to go, but boy, do these AI enhancements make my everyday life easier and give Google’s Gmail a run for its money.

It all starts before you even launch the app

What I love about Apple Intelligence on iOS 18.1 beta 1 is that it works from the moment you receive an email or text. The technology analyzes the notifications’ content to display summaries on the lock screen. So, instead of previewing the first two lines of an email, the notification now shows a handier, AI-generated summary of the entire message. We’ve gone from “Hi, I hope this email finds you well” to “The sender is inquiring about your availability tomorrow” in the notification center. It’s pretty neat if you ask me.

This feature also works when you receive multiple texts or emails back to back. Prior to this update, the notification stack would preview the most recent message before expanding it. Now, Apple Intelligence analyzes all of the received messages and displays a summary. This truly helps me identify how urgent their topics are by just glancing at the lock screen.

Speaking of urgency, Apple Intelligence now also powers a new Reduce Interruptions Focus mode, which analyzes and filters all notifications — not just ones sent by the Mail and Messages apps. When combined with the aforementioned email and text message summaries, I find myself picking up my iPhone less frequently and focusing more on getting work done. It turns out most of the notifications I receive are unimportant, and not all alerts are worthy of my immediate attention.

While this doesn’t completely fix the notification mess on iOS compared to Android, it manages to sweep most of the issue away. And it certainly beats the simple first-line-or-two blurb from Gmail and Google Messages on Android.

AI summaries in Apple Mail

Apple Intelligence’s summaries on the lock screen are often too concise, as they have to fit in the notification banners. So, when you’re actually viewing an email in the Apple Mail app, AI summaries behave differently. There’s a new Summarize button on top of each email that generates a more detailed overview of the content.

What I especially love about this feature is that it also works with longer email threads, not just individual messages. So, I can now get a summary of the entire conversation, including sent and received emails. This is particularly helpful when many people are participating in the same conversation, and I just want to read a brief description of whatever they’re discussing.

With this release, Apple Mail should also highlight urgent emails inside the app under a new Priority section, but I haven’t been able to get it to work on my personal devices. This feature uses AI to determine which emails urgently need your attention, such as reservation confirmations, meeting invitations, etc. Also, through a future software update, the Mail app should start automatically sorting emails based on whether they’re promotions, receipts, and so on.

That last aspect is partly reminiscent of Google’s killed Inbox app, and it’s a bit disheartening to think that Google had somewhat similar functionality and never pursued it.

Smart replies in Mail and Messages

Another time-saving feature I’ve been enjoying on iOS 18.1 beta 1 is smart reply support in Mail and Messages. As its name suggests, this addition uses AI to analyze received messages and suggest relevant responses.

In Messages, the replies are usually short and to the point, as that’s how users generally text. Mail, on the other hand, generates proper, long responses that match the context. And when the sender inquires about a certain matter, the Mail app lets me pick from its auto-generated answers and composes the email reply based on my selection. It’s amazing, and it goes a step beyond Gmail’s current smart reply approach.

AI features in Apple Mail and Messages: Availability

All of the features mentioned above are powered by Apple Intelligence and work offline for free. Just like Writing Tools, Apple’s other AI features require an iPhone 15 Pro model running iOS 18.1 beta 1 or later. Similarly, those with an M-powered iPad or Mac running at least the first beta of iPadOS 18.1 or macOS Sequoia 15.1 can take advantage of these features. While I demonstrated the AI goods in Apple Mail and Messages on an iPhone, all of these tools are identical on compatible iPads and Macs.

Summing it up: Apple takes a step ahead of Google

Apple is only getting started with its AI features rollout. While iOS 18.1 beta 1 packs some notable additions, there’s still plenty to look forward to. Some of the missing tools that will debut later on include the emoji and image generators, ChatGPT integration, on-screen content awareness, and much more. Nevertheless, the first batch of artificial smarts has already impacted my workflow and how I use my Apple devices.

For starters, I now keep the Reduce Interruptions Focus mode on at all times, as I don’t want my phone to distract me whenever someone sends me a meme or Instagram Reel. Only urgent texts come through, and the rest silently live in the notification center until I have free time to check them. Similarly, the AI summaries for Apple Mail and Messages notifications deliver the essence of these messages without requiring my full attention. It simplifies the thought process of whether I should dismiss or open a particular notification.

Since I work in media, I often receive long press releases that aren’t always relevant to my expertise. Being able to summarize individual emails and entire threads has genuinely been a timesaver. I’m actually shocked to learn that free Gmail users aren’t offered a similar feature when Google is — on almost every other front — ahead of Apple in the AI race. While, yes, you can use Gemini to summarize emails, it isn’t baked natively into the client or is as simple to use. And Apple’s AI summaries in Mail and Messages notifications on iOS, iPadOS, and macOS have no equivalent on Android or Chrome OS.

Lastly, smart replies have also been saving me some time, as they typically include the options I’m looking for. Whether it’s in Messages or Mail, I no longer have to compose responses from scratch.

Given Apple’s private approach and Siri’s infamous reputation, I’m really impressed by Cupertino’s first batch of AI features. Despite it being late to the artificial brain party and not excelling in this field in previous years, Apple has managed to build AI tools that work reliably, and they’re already saving me some time. I’m curious to see how these features will evolve in upcoming OS updates and how its image and emoji generators will compare. Google’s answer shouldn’t take long, either, and this competition should, hopefully, push these features forward and make them even more useful.