Learn how to use Apple Intelligence in the Mail app on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac to compose professional emails, understand the context of lengthy messages, and take your communication to the next level.
Apple Intelligence, Apple’s approach to AI, lets you do things like generate images, rewrite text, summarize long articles, mute unimportant notifications, prioritize certain messages and alerts, create video memories in the Photos app, remove unwanted objects from pictures, make Siri smarter, and more
The stock Mail app also has several Apple Intelligence features built in, and we’ll walk you through them. Before diving in, make sure you have set up Apple Intelligence on a supported device:
- iPhone 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max, and the entire iPhone 16 line-up
- The new iPad mini with A17 Pro chip
- All iPads and Macs with Apple silicon chip (M1, M2, M3, M4, and their variants)
Furthermore, keep in mind that while some AI features are available in the latest non-beta versions of iOS 18.1, iPadOS 18.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.1, others require the newest beta software, such as iOS 18.2 and its equivalent.
With that clarified, here are six ways to use Apple’s built-in AI in the Mail app on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac.
Summarize long emails
When you open an email, you will see a “Summarize” button at the top. Tap it, and Apple Intelligence will condense the complex message or a long thread of emails in a few seconds.
I never use AI summarization for short or important emails or threads, but if it’s a long, trivial message, the Summarize tool helps you grasp the main points quickly without having to spend too much time reading the full, original text.
See summarized email previews and notifications
When you go to the Inbox view in the Mail app, you will notice that several messages have a summarize icon, indicating that you are not seeing the actual opening line of the email but a summarization by Apple Intelligence.
Like other app notifications, new emails from the Mail app are also summarized when stacked on your iPhone or iPad Lock Screen and in the Notification Center.
Personally, I have mixed feelings about notification summaries and don’t find them particularly helpful, but your experience might differ.
Show Priority inbox
Apple Intelligence can understand the content of your emails, and if something is important or urgent, it will float that message to the top of the Inbox in a “Priority” section so it gets your immediate attention.
To turn Priority on or off:
- iOS: Tap the three dots menu button at the top of the Inbox screen and check or uncheck Show Priority.
- macOS: Click View in the top menu bar and check or uncheck Show Priority.
Note that even with Show Priority enabled, you won’t see it in the Mail app if you don’t have emails that are urgent in nature. Apple says emails with a boarding pass, same-day dinner invitations, and similar messages will show up in the Priority section.
Rewrite your emails
Imagine typing a lengthy email in anger or frustration to your coworker, only to change your mind later. Instead of rewriting the whole thing, simply tap the Apple Intelligence icon and let AI rewrite it for you.
You can pick from friendly, professional, or other styles. Additionally, you can proofread your writing to fix mistakes, make it concise, rewrite it, and more.
We have covered all the ins and outs of Apple Intelligence Writing Tools in a dedicated tutorial.
Have ChatGPT write your emails from scratch
While writing your own message is accurate, personal, and covers the precise points you want to convey, there can be moments when you don’t want to do all that hard work.
In these situations, you can let ChatGPT integration in Apple Intelligence craft an email for you based on a small prompt.
1) Open the Mail app and start a new message or email reply.
2) Hit the Apple Intelligence icon and choose Compose from the bottom. Turn on ChatGPT if prompted.
3) Now, mention what you want your email to say, and ChatGPT will generate the text for you. Go through it and tweak it manually to fill in your name and other salutations.
Use Smart Replies
Just like the Messages app, Apple Intelligence can suggest quick replies above the iPhone and iPad keyboard in the Mail app. This usually works best for small question-based messages. For instance, if your friend emails you, “Are you up for dinner at KFC or a new Italian place,” Apple Intelligence may offer Smart Replies, saying, “KFC sounds good” or “I’d rather have Italian.”
Bonus tip: Turn off automatic inbox summarization
As mentioned earlier, the Inbox section of the Mail app shows summary previews instead of the original initial lines of the email (called Preview, which you can adjust between 1 to 5 lines).
If you don’t like Apple Intelligence working its charm here, you can turn it off from iPhone Settings > Apps > Mail > Summarize Message Previews.
Check out next: 40+ tips for the Mail app on your iPhone, iPad, and Mac