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Apple announced a major update for Image Playground at WWDC 2025. The app now integrates ChatGPT, replacing its basic emoji-like outputs. New creative styles include Oil Painting, Watercolor, Vector, Anime, and Print, with users describing their preferences under 'Any Style'.
These ChatGPT modes are displayed under a banner labeled 'ChatGPT Style' within Image Playground. Apple has reassured that these descriptions are sent to ChatGPT only after user consent has been granted.
The initial reactions to Image Playground were mixed. Some users noted bizarre outputs, such as "six-fingered hands," while others found it too juvenile compared to other AI tools. Even the most casual of prompts, "old man," or "flower," would not always return any results worth considering.
With ChatGPT integration, the limitations are being addressed with a clearer vision, and diversity in styles is being introduced.
The Image Playground update is timed with the rest of Apple’s big AI push in the fall of iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe. These updates further enhance Apple Intelligence features, such as live translation, visual intelligence, and Genmoji upgrades.
The incorporation of ChatGPT into Image Playground fits in with other system-level capabilities. Siri and Writing Tools use OpenAI models.
Apple has committed to maintaining strong privacy policies. Furthermore, the company has mentioned that user descriptions are only sent to the ChatGPT servers with the user's permission. Image Playground has gained an additional API for developers, opening stylized image generation capabilities for third-party apps.
The developers could henceforth integrate ChatGPT-powered image generation into their workflows, all in the spirit of Apple’s privacy-first, on-device model.
The new Image Playground with ChatGPT styles will arrive this fall with the release of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe. Users with Apple devices compatible with it, from iPhone 15 Pro and onwards, iPads with M-series chips, and new Macs should be expecting the update.
The company aspires to bring those creative tools into Messages, Freeform, Pages, and Keynote as well.
Apple's decision to augment the Image Playground with ChatGPT represents the shift from playfulness to actual creative utility. The added sophisticated styles increase the usability and relevance of the product itself. Keeping in mind that privacy-centric integration builds trust.
While Apple is behind rivals on the cutting-edge AI front, this update fortifies its stance on mobile creativity tools. In line with other AI enhancements, the feature asserts Apple's interest in promoting easy-to-use, refined, on-device AI experiences.
