Apple’s AI capabilities have been lower than spectacular up to now, however there’s one new characteristic coming with iOS 26 that’s really actually helpful: including stuff to your calendar with a screenshot.
I’ve been testing this characteristic out for the previous few weeks within the developer beta, and I’m happy to report that it really works, simply making it my favourite Apple Intelligence characteristic up to now. That’s admittedly a low bar to clear — and it’s not fairly as succesful as Android’s model — however boy is it a pleasant change of tempo to make use of an AI characteristic on a telephone that feels prefer it’s really saving me time.
Possibly including issues to your calendar doesn’t sound all that thrilling, however I’m an individual who’s Unhealthy At Calendars. I’ll confidently add occasions to the unsuitable day, put them on the unsuitable calendar, or overlook so as to add them in any respect. Not my most interesting high quality.
The iOS model of “use AI so as to add issues to your calendar” faucets into Visible Intelligence. iOS 18 included the flexibility to create calendar occasions based mostly on pictures, and now iOS 26 is extending that to something in your display screen. You simply take a screenshot and a immediate will seem with the phrases “Add to calendar.” Faucet it, and after just a few moments you’ll see a preview of the occasion to be added with the top-level particulars. You may faucet to edit the occasion or simply create it if every part appears to be like good and also you’re prepared to maneuver on along with your life.
None of this might be helpful if it didn’t work persistently; fortunately, it does. I’ve but to see it hallucinate the unsuitable day, time, or location for an occasion — although it didn’t account for a timezone distinction in a single case. For essentially the most half although, every part goes on my calendar because it ought to, and I rejoice a bit bit each time it saves me a visit to the calendar app. The one limitation I’ve come throughout is that it will possibly’t create a number of occasions from a screenshot. It sort of simply lands on the primary one it sees and suggests an occasion based mostly on that. If you’d like that sort of performance out of your AI, you’ll want an Android telephone.
Gemini Assistant has been in a position so as to add occasions based mostly on what’s in your display screen since August of final yr, and in January it added assist for Samsung Calendar. To entry it, you may summon Google Assistant and faucet an icon that claims “Ask about display screen.” Gemini creates a screenshot that it references, then you definately simply sort or communicate your immediate to have it add the occasion to your calendar. This has didn’t work for me as not too long ago as a few months in the past, but it surely’s miles higher now.
I gave Gemini Assistant on the Pixel 9 Professional the duty of including a bunch of preschool occasions to my calendar all listed on the finish of an e mail — and it created an occasion for each one among them on the right day. In a separate case, it additionally clocked that the occasions I used to be including have been listed in Japanese Time and accounted for that distinction. In some cases it even fills in an outline for the occasion based mostly on textual content on the display screen. I additionally used Gemini in Google Calendar on my laptop computer, as a result of Gemini is at all times lurking across the nook if you use actually any Google product, and it turned a listing of faculty closure dates into calendar occasions.
That is nice and all, however is that this simply an AI-rebranding of some present characteristic? So far as I can inform, not precisely. Variations of this characteristic already existed on each platforms, however in a way more fundamental type. On my Apple Intelligence-less iPhone 13 Mini, you may faucet on a date in an e mail for an choice so as to add it to your calendar. But it surely makes use of the e-mail topic line because the occasion title; an honest start line, however including 5 occasions to my calendar with the heading “Preschool July E-newsletter” isn’t preferrred. Android will even immediate you so as to add an occasion to your calendar from a screenshot, but it surely steadily will get dates and instances unsuitable. AI does appear to be higher fitted to this explicit job, and I’m able to embrace it.
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