Apple’s AI capabilities have been lower than spectacular so far, however there’s one new characteristic coming with iOS 26 that’s truly actually useful: 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 — nevertheless it’s a pleasant change of tempo to make use of an AI characteristic that feels prefer it’s truly saving me time.
Perhaps including issues to your calendar doesn’t sound all that thrilling, however I’m an individual who’s Dangerous 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. It’s not my best high quality.
The iOS model of “use AI so as to add issues to your calendar” faucets into Visible Intelligence. The flexibility to create calendar occasions primarily based on pictures was included in iOS 18, 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 also 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 all the pieces appears good and also you’re prepared to maneuver on together with your life.
None of this is able to 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 time zone distinction in a single case. For essentially the most half, although, all the pieces goes on my calendar because it ought to, and I rejoice just a little bit each time it saves me a visit to the calendar app. The one limitation I’ve come throughout is that it may’t create a number of occasions from a screenshot. It form of simply lands on the primary one it sees and suggests an occasion primarily based on that. So if you’d like that form of performance out of your AI, you’ll want an Android cellphone.
Gemini Assistant has been ready so as to add occasions primarily based on what’s in your display screen since August 2024, and it added assist for Samsung Calendar final January. 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, and you then simply kind or communicate your immediate to have it add the occasion to your calendar. This has did not work for me as lately as a few months in the past, nevertheless it’s miles higher now.
I gave Gemini Assistant on the Pixel 9 Professional the duty of including a bunch of preschool occasions, which have been all listed on the finish of an e-mail, to my calendar, and it created an occasion for every one on the right day. In a separate case, it additionally observed that the occasions I used to be including have been listed in Jap Time and accounted for that distinction. In some situations, it even stuffed in an outline for the occasion primarily based on textual content on the display screen. I additionally used Gemini in Google Calendar on my laptop computer, as a result of Gemini is all the time lurking across the nook once you use actually any Google product, and it turned an inventory of college closure dates into calendar occasions.
That is nice and all, however is that this simply an AI rebranding of some current characteristic? So far as I can inform, not precisely. Variations of this characteristic already existed on each platforms, however in a way more primary kind. On my Apple Intelligence-less iPhone 13 Mini, you may faucet on a date in an e-mail for the choice so as to add it to your calendar. However it makes use of the e-mail topic line because the occasion title, which is a good place to begin, however including 5 occasions to my calendar with the heading “Preschool July Publication” isn’t very best. Android may also immediate you so as to add an occasion to your calendar from a screenshot, nevertheless it regularly will get dates and occasions unsuitable. AI does appear to be higher fitted to this explicit job, and I’m able to embrace it.
