With today’s release of iOS 18.1 beta 3 to developers, Apple Intelligence is adding a new cleanup feature to Photos. As announced at WWDC, this feature can identify and remove distracting options in the background of a photo.

iOS 18.1 adds new Apple Intelligence features

The new Clean Up feature is available in the Photos app when you’re editing a photo. It’s identified by a new eraser icon in the bottom toolbar. The feature offers intelligent detection and uses multiple machine learning models to identify distractions, find the edges of an unwanted object, and then replace them. The feature can even identify and remove the shadow or reflection of an unwanted object.

The Cleanup feature also detects where people are in the photo, so it can prevent accidental removal or replacement of parts of a person.

Clean Up can intelligently identify distracting elements in the background of a photo and the user can remove these distractions with a single tab. Users can also manually zoom in and use their finger as a retouching brush to remove distractions.

Finally, the feature works for any image in your photo library, not just those taken with an iPhone.

The Clean Up feature is available in iOS 18.1 beta 3, which is now available to developers. The first time you use the feature, iOS 18.1 will “download” the necessary models and “prepare” them. It is also available in the latest betas of iPadOS 18.1 and macOS Sequoia 15.1.

In addition to Clean Up, iOS 18.1 beta 3 also expands Apple Intelligence-powered notification summaries beyond Messages and Mail. Learn more about this change in our full coverage.

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