Apple’s big AI play for 2025 is starting to show up in everyday apps. Earlier this year at WWDC, the company unveiled its Foundation Models framework, a set of on-device AI tools baked into iOS 26. The pitch? Developers can tap into Apple’s models without worrying about inference costs or cloud dependencies. These models come with handy features like guided generation and tool calling right out of the box.
Unlike the massive models from OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google, Apple’s are lightweight and built for local, quality-of-life enhancements rather than sweeping app overhauls. Now that iOS 26 is rolling out, here’s a look at how developers are putting Apple’s local AI models to work:
ALSO SEE: OpenAI’s Fight Against Scheming AI
Lil Artist
An educational app for kids, Lil Artist now includes an AI-powered story creator. Children pick a character and theme, and the app generates a unique story using Apple’s local text model.
Daylish
The productivity app Daylish is experimenting with AI emoji suggestions, automatically pairing emojis with events in your daily planner.
MoneyCoach
Finance tracker MoneyCoach introduced two AI-driven upgrades:
- Weekly insights, like spotting if you overspent on groceries.
- Automatic category and subcategory suggestions for expenses, making logging faster.
LookUp
Language-learning app LookUp rolled out:
- A new learning mode that generates example sentences for vocabulary.
- A word origin map created directly on-device.
Tasks
The Tasks app uses Apple’s models to:
- Suggest tags for entries.
- Detect recurring tasks and schedule them.
- Convert spoken input into organized to-dos—without touching the cloud.
Day One
Journaling favorite Day One added AI features for:
- Smart highlights and title suggestions.
- Contextual writing prompts to encourage deeper reflection.
Crouton
Cooking app Crouton put AI to work by:
- Suggesting recipe tags.
- Naming timers automatically.
- Breaking down recipe text into clear, step-by-step instructions.
SignEasy
With SignEasy, users now get AI-powered contract summaries and extracted key insights—helping make sense of long documents in seconds.
Sources: ( Techcrunch )
