The world of email applications has witnessed numerous innovations over the years, but none as significant as the recent incorporation of Apple Intelligence in the Apple Mail app. With the arrival of iOS 18.1 and macOS 15.1 (the only way to test Apple Intelligence from Europe), Apple has not only improved the functionality of the app, but has completely transformed the user experience. It has marked a before and after in how we manage our email.
A revolution before opening the Mail app
The first thing that stands out about Apple Intelligence in Mail is that the integration, speaking exclusively of email, goes far beyond the app itself. Before even opening the application, this technology analyzes the content of the emails we receive to display summaries of them directly on the lock screen of our iPhone, iPad, or Mac.
Instead of showing the first two lines of an email, which often are not relevant and basically only contain the greeting, the notification now offers us a summary generated by artificial intelligence of the complete message. With this, we can decide in advance if an email needs our immediate attention or if we can attend to it later.
But let’s go further – this summary function is also applicable when multiple emails are received consecutively. Before this update, the notification stack only showed the most recent message before expanding. Now, Apple Intelligence analyzes all received emails and shows a summary.
In the same vein, although slightly off topic, we find the ‘Reduce Interruptions’ focus mode, which also works thanks to Apple Intelligence. This mode analyzes and filters all notifications, helping us concentrate better by reducing distractions. However, if the system detects an email that may be urgent, it will let us know.
Summaries, yes, but much more than that
If we open the Mail app, there are several things that catch our attention. The first one is that those more urgent messages, the ones that triggered the notification we mentioned in the previous paragraph, are at the top of the message list. Highlighted under the ‘Urgent’ label, we can attend to them quickly.
For the rest of the messages, now the same text that was summarized in the notification appears in the email list of each mailbox. Five or six words allow us to quickly know what the message is about, and if we need to, we can delve into the information without having to read the entire email.
For each message, once opened, the ‘Summarize’ button condenses the most relevant information into a single sentence. And yes, despite being an initial beta, the reliability and accuracy of these summaries is simply astonishing. And what’s best of all? Mail is capable of cross-referencing, comparing, merging, and summarizing multiple emails of the same thread. This feature is exceptionally useful in long email threads, where it can provide a summary of the entire conversation, even if parts are repeated, making it easier to understand truly complex conversations without the need to read each message.
Thus, from an initial notification based on importance, to the list of messages in a mailbox, to the individual summary of each of them and to the complete message, we have a series of steps and filters that allow us to process information extremely efficiently. Something that is noticeable if we receive a few emails a day and becomes essential if we receive many more.
Smart responses and writing tools: a substantial evolution
While we have talked so far about what Apple Intelligence does when processing the information we receive, it is also important to mention how it allows us to respond to it. This is where intelligent responses come into play, which are a great advancement in how we simplify our electronic correspondence.
These responses, automatically generated by AI, are contextually appropriate and allow us to quickly respond without having to write a message from scratch. Based on the content of the message and the questions asked in it, Apple Intelligence allows us to choose. Can we attend? Shall we meet at the office or earlier at the hotel? The system summarizes these questions and then crafts the response according to our choices.
The amount of email we receive nowadays is truly enormous. In this context, the transformation of Mail through Apple Intelligence greatly enhances the functionality of the app and redefines what we can expect from an email software. With fewer distractions and more tools at our disposal, we are equipped to handle our communications with unprecedented efficiency and effectiveness. All thanks to Apple Intelligence.
