Picture Wand is a brand new function in Apple Notes that turns tough sketches into full photos — and creates photos from scratch primarily based on textual content prompts. Granted, it’s powered by Picture Playground, so the imagery it creates isn’t precisely cutting-edge. Apple’s image-making instruments nonetheless lag different AI methods. However if you happen to’re a struggling artist, it could enhance your squiggles.
Picture Wand is a part of Apple Intelligence, the rising set of AI options that work on the most recent iPhones, Macs and iPads. It runs solely on-device, so that you don’t have to fret about utilization limits, tokens or establishing accounts.
Try how Picture Wand works within the article beneath, or watch our fast video.
Easy methods to use Picture Wand in Apple Notes
AI picture creation is without doubt one of the most controversial purposes of quickly evolving AI know-how. From the theft of paintings for coaching knowledge, automated replication of artists’ trademark kinds to the flood of generated content material on social media, folks are actually referring to a whole lot of AI content material derogatorily as ‘slop.’
Apple’s typical measured strategy has left the corporate unprepared to compete. Whereas Picture Playground performs to Apple’s strengths of an amazing person interface with many guardrails to keep away from copyright and content material controversy, the photographs it produces are mediocre at finest.
Nonetheless, you possibly can strive it out free of charge, when you’ve got a appropriate iPhone (iPhone 15 Professional or later) — with out limits. So it’s value a couple of minutes testing.
Desk of Contents:
- Set up iOS 18.2 and allow Apple Intelligence
- Create a picture primarily based in your notes
- Flip a sketch into a picture
- Extra Apple Intelligence options
Set up iOS 18.2 and allow Apple Intelligence
Picture Wand is part of Apple Intelligence, obtainable in iOS 18.2. As with all Apple Intelligence options, you’ll want an iPhone, Mac or iPad with an M-series chip, an A17 Professional chip or better to make use of the function.
You possibly can set up iOS 18.2 by going to Settings > Basic > Software program Replace. After you replace, you’ll be prompted to allow Apple Intelligence throughout setup.
Create a picture primarily based in your notes with Picture Wand
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
To make use of Picture Wand within the Notes app, faucet the Attachments button (paperclip icon), then faucet Create Picture.
It’ll use the context of your notes to make a related picture. I copied the textual content from the Wikipedia article on rest room paper orientation. Its generated picture was a sketch of a bathroom roll — with further descriptors pulled from the textual content.
Simply as with Picture Playground, you possibly can add extra prompts by typing within the textual content field. Or, you possibly can take away prompts by tapping on the floating bubbles. You may as well swap over to Animation or Illustration kinds by tapping the + button. Faucet Performed to avoid wasting the picture or Cancel to take away it.
Flip a sketch into a picture with Picture Wand
Screenshot: D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
When you have a tough drawing or sketch in your notice already, you possibly can convert it into an AI picture. Simply faucet the Markup button (pen icon), then faucet the brand new Picture Wand instrument. Circle a part of a drawing to make use of it as enter, then sort in your personal description of the picture and Picture Wand will generate one thing new.
It appears to take a broad type of inspiration out of your sketch, however usually deviates from it, placing rather more weight in your description. You possibly can write a totally unrelated description to your drawing and it’ll simply … draw that as an alternative. Which, in my view, defeats the aim.
I can see some use for this instrument on the iPhone, the place at finest you possibly can solely make tough sketches together with your finger — so long as you’re OK with the ugly generative artwork that Picture Wand makes. But when I owned an iPad and an Apple Pencil, I don’t suppose I’d see the purpose. Picture Wand doesn’t improve your drawing a lot because it paints over it. Irrespective of how a lot element you add, the AI will nonetheless ignore it.
Nonetheless, Picture Wand is a enjoyable novelty to mess around with for a bit.
Extra Apple Intelligence options
Past Picture Wand, there are various extra Apple Intelligence options to take a look at: