Apple has released updates for Keynote, Pages and Numbers that add an "Intelligent Assistant" in beta, MacRumors reports. The apps had briefly disappeared from the App Store earlier on Thursday before returning with the new versions.
What the assistant does
According to MacRumors, the assistant is available to subscribers of Apple Creator Studio, the company's $12.99-per-month bundle of creator apps. Keynote, Pages and Numbers themselves remain free, with the extra capabilities sitting behind the subscription.
Each app gets a different set of tools driven by natural-language requests. In Numbers, the assistant can build formulas, create tables and help visualize data. In Pages, it can start a first draft, edit and organize text, draft sections and adjust tone, as well as generate images or shapes. In Keynote, it can build and refine slides, add animations, write presenter notes and generate images and shapes.
Across all three apps, the assistant can search the web for a topic and add the results to a document, walk users through advanced features and suggest things to try, MacRumors says.
Other changes
Creator Studio subscribers also receive new templates, new themes and curated videos in the Content Hub. All users get bug fixes and performance improvements. Keynote adds an Interchange Format for importing and exporting presentations.
MacRumors also notes that the update adds support for the iPhone Duo to all three apps, even though the release notes do not mention it. That fits with Apple's push to get apps ready for its new foldable ahead of launch; the company has said it will highlight more than 50 apps updated for the device.
Context
The update arrives after a short disappearance of the three apps from the App Store earlier in the day, which MacRumors reported separately and later updated to say they were back. The report does not say why they were pulled, and the version numbers for the new releases were not given.
Apple has not published a newsroom post about the assistant, and the beta label suggests the feature may change. Creator Studio is Apple's subscription for its creator-focused apps, and the new assistant adds AI-driven drafting and editing tools to its productivity apps.
Details here come from MacRumors' report on the release notes and Apple's Creator Studio page; Apple's own pages remain the best place to check availability and pricing in your region.
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