iOS 18.1 adds new Apple Intelligence ‘Clean Up’ tool: 3 things it can do for your photos

Apple dropped the iOS 18.1 beta 3 for developers — and it added a new Apple Intelligence feature to the mix: the AI-powered Clean Up tool.

We've all been there. You take a photo, you're excited to share it with friends or post it on social media, but there's just one little obstruction that diminishes the photo's visual appeal.

Maybe it's an awkward photobomber — or perhaps there's an unsightly thingamajig that's stealing the spotlight. In these situations, Apple Intelligence is here to swoop in and save the day.

iOS 18 Clean Up: 3 things it can do

The iOS 18 Clean Up tool, similar to Google's Magic Eraser feature, is designed to help get rid of unwanted objects in your photo to enhance the overall quality of the image.

Here are three things it can do:

1. It uses smart detection, relying on multiple machine-learning models, to identify and isolate objects in your photo. In other words, the technology that underpins Clean Up tool can precisely determine the edges of objects.

2. After identifying the edges, it removes the object and intelligently fills in the void. (Clean Up Tool is even designed to handle challenging elements of an object, including shadows and reflections.)

3. Clean Up "knows" whether other subjects, like yourself or friends, overlap the object. So in theory, Clean Up will not accidentally replace a person you want to be front-and-center of your photo.

Users can use the Clean Up tool in the Photos app. Once you spot an undesirable object in an image, you can tap or circle it, prompting the AI to detect it, so you can remove it. You can also zoom in on photos to finely retouch tiny blemishes.

One other Apple Intelligence feature the Cupertino-based tech giant added to the new iOS 18.1 update is notification summaries. Before, notification summaries only supported the Mail and Messages app. Now, it can summarize notifications from all of your apps.

Check out some of the other AI-powered features in our Apple Intelligence roundup. Just keep in mind that this is a beta, so it's expected to be a little rough-around-the-edges. Make sure that you have an iPhone backup before installing iOS 18.1 beta 3.

The official version of iOS 18 is expected to roll out later this year after Apple announces the iPhone 16 at its "Glowtime" Sept. 9 event.