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30 Hands-On Circulatory System Activities for Kids

Make a working heart pump model, hold a stuffed animal “blood drive,” and more!

Kids need to learn how their bodies work and how to take care of them. Suffice it to say that the heart and circulatory system are a big part of that. Learning about the circulatory system through fun activities is hands-on—check your pulse to help students understand what’s happening—and it’s conceptual.

These hands-on, interactive activities teach and reinforce learning about the circulatory system. They’ll help kids learn how important it is to take care of their one and only heart!

1. Reveal the circulatory system

This is such a cool way to introduce the circulatory system to kids! Make DIY invisible ink using supplies from your kitchen and draw a model of the system. Then, let kids reveal it like magic, helping them envision what lies beneath their skin.

Learn more: Circulatory system reveal activity at Taming Little Monsters

2. Mold a Play-Doh circulatory system

Draw an outline of the human body, then grab some red and blue clay or play dough to make arteries, veins, and the heart itself.

Learn more: Play dough circulatory system at The Pinay Homeschooler

3. Watch a kid-friendly circulatory system video

YouTube has lots of videos that can help kids understand their hearts, blood vessels, and more.

We like this one from TED-Ed, which has free accompanying teacher materials .

4. Read a heart-healthy book

Check the library or buy one of these smart books for pre-K and elementary-age kids.

Buy it: The Heart by Seymour Simon; The Big Red Heart by Z.B. Tucker; Heart Your Heart by Paul Showers; A Drop of Blood by Paul Showers, all at Amazon

5. Play the Circulatory System Game

This free printable PDF game from Ellen McHenry is one of the most popular circulatory system activities around. Create a life-size body model, and spin your way around the system!

Learn more: Circulatory system game at The Fantastic Five

6. Turn a plastic bag into an inflatable heart

Make a simple heart model from a plastic bag, and use the straws to breathe into it and make it “beat” in rhythm.

Learn more: Circulatory system in a bag activity at Kids Activities Blog

7. Scoop water, and try to beat the clock

The heart pumps about 1.3 gallons of blood per minute. Think you can keep up? Fill a container with water, then set a timer. Use a small cup to scoop water into another container as fast as you can. Can you beat your own heart?

Learn more: Pumping blood activity at Primary Theme Park

8. Craft a simple stethoscope

Kids know that doctors use stethoscopes to listen to their hearts. Make a simple version from a cardboard tube and plastic funnel so kids can try it on their own.

Learn more: Stethoscope activity at Science Sparks

9. See your pulse using a marshmallow

Now that they’ve heard their heart, try this idea to see it in action. Push a toothpick into a marshmallow and set it on your upturned wrist. Hold very still and you should see the toothpick bounce up and down along with your pulse!

10. Build a functioning heart pump

Now it’s time to learn how the heart does its job. Use plastic bottles and drinking straws to make a working model that actually pumps “blood” from one chamber to the next.

Learn more: Heart activity at STEAM Powered Family

11. Tie yarn to learn about veins and arteries

The heart works with the veins, arteries, and capillaries to move blood around the body. Tie different colors of yarn together to represent the three and see how they all function together.

Learn more: Veins and arteries activity at The Fantastic Five

12. Engineer a complete circulatory system

Put it all together with this functioning circulatory system model. Get step-by-step instructions at the link.

Learn more: Circulatory system model at Do Science

13. Bottle of blood

Take a closer look at blood and learn about the different types of cells, platelets, and the plasma that they all float around in. Use your favorite candies to represent each in this easy model.

Learn more: Bottle of blood activity at My Joy-Filled Life

14. Explore different blood types with food coloring

Learning about blood types? This clever experiment with food coloring helps kids learn which types are compatible with each other. If the dyes stay the same color when mixed, the types are compatible. If they change color, then they’re not.

Learn more: Blood type experiment at Our Journey Westward

15. Test your blood type knowledge

In this interactive online game, kids “draw blood” from a patient, then run tests to find the blood type and perform a lifesaving transfusion. You can take a tutorial first to learn how it all works

Learn more: The Blood Typing Game at Educational Games

16. Hold a stuffed animal “blood drive”

This might be the cutest of all the circulatory system activities! Gather up some stuffies, assign them “blood types,” then hold a blood drive! Kids learn about blood types and the importance of being willing to donate blood.

Learn more: Toy blood drive at Highhill Education

17. Learn about the danger of narrowed veins and arteries

We talk a lot about “healthy foods,” but what makes some foods bad for your heart? Learn about cholesterol and its effects on veins and arteries with this effective demo.

Learn more: Arteries and veins activity via Teach Engineering

18. Exercise to keep your heart healthy

A healthy heart needs exercise too. Create a tic-tac-toe board with the free printables at the link, then toss a beanbag (bonus points for making heart-shaped ones!) to see which exercise you’ll do next.

Learn more: Heart-healthy exercises at Make and Takes

19. Host a Jump Rope for Heart event

The American Heart Association created Jump Rope for Heart and Hoops for Heart to raise awareness about the importance of heart health for kids. Students have a chance to earn money to support cardiovascular research too.

Learn more: Jump Rope for Heart activities at The P.E. Specialist

20. Label and fill in a heart anatomy coloring page

Teacherplanet.com has many coloring sheets that include opportunities for students to label each part of the heart and the respiratory system. Give your students some crayons or markers and let their creativity flow while simultaneously teaching them the parts of the heart.

Learn more: Heart coloring page at Teacher Planet

21. Watch a Bill Nye video about blood and circulation

What better way to engage your students than by turning on “Bill Nye the Science Guy”?! This video is very efficient in explaining the heart, delivered by a character students will recognize and love.

22. Make a heart and circulatory system poster

Separate your students into groups and give them 30 minutes to create as accurate a poster about the circulatory system as they can. Hang up the posters and keep them up while you finish your lesson plan, so your students can have a physical reference throughout the day.

Learn more: Circulatory system poster at Homeschool Den

23. Play the Circulation Game

This game teaches students about circulation, including the “map” of the circulatory system in and out of the lungs.  Ellenjmchenry.com has detailed instructions on how to set up this engaging game involving small teams, perfect for the classroom.

Learn more: The Circulation Game at Ellen McHenry’s Basement Workshop

24. Graph your heart rate

Have students take their resting pulse and record it. Then, run a few laps, do 20 jumping jacks or dance for one minute, and record their heart rate again. Talk about why their heart rate changes and what happens.

Learn more: Graph heart rate activity at The Rocket Resource

25. Create a model of the heart

Another great use for play dough. Create a model of the heart and label the various parts.

Learn more: Heart model at Windhill 21

26. Blood sensory bin

Create a sensory bin with plasma, red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets for students to discover.

Learn more: What is blood? sensory bin at I Can Teach My Child

27. Blood slime

Another way to show what goes into slime is with this blood slime. The slime is clear and filled with red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets. For older kids, look at the ratio of each type of cell and incorporate that into the blood slime.

Learn more: Blood slime at Royal Baloo

28. Heart booklet

This cute booklet printable is a great way for students to take home what they’ve learned about the circulatory system.

Learn more: Heart booklet at Mrs. Jones’ Creation Station

29. Circulation system disc

This disc is a handy tool for studying the circulatory system.

Learn more: Circulatory system disc at Teaching in Room 6

30. Do the Circulation!

Do the Circulation with Schoolhouse Rock. Print out the lyrics and have students highlight opinions and facts. Then, talk about why authors might incorporate opinions into a song about circulation.

Learn more: Circulation analysis activity at Teaching in Room 6

Love these circulatory system activities? Check out 31 Interactive Ways To Teach Kids the Anatomy of the Human Body.

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The Circulatory System (Year 6)

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This PowerPoint will help children learn about the human circulatory system. It includes all the key information about the main parts of the circulatory system and how they function collectively. The recap quiz at the end is great for testing children’s understanding of what they have learnt.

• Key Stage: Key Stage 2
• Subject: Science
• Topic: Animals, Including Humans
• Topic Group: Living Things
• Year(s): Year 6
• Media Type: PowerPoint
• Resource Type: PowerPoint
• Last Updated: 29/09/2022
• Resource Code: S2PAT17

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Human circulatory system

The circulatory system is one of the most important systems in the body. Made up of the heart, blood and blood vessels , the circulatory system is your body's delivery system. Your heart plays and important part in being healthy. It keeps all the blood in your circulatory system flowing. Blood helps oxygen get around your body. When you exercise you can feel your pulse, it tells you how fast your heart is pumping.

The body's circulatory system is responsible for transporting materials throughout the entire body. It delivers nutrients, water, and oxygen to your billions of body cells and carries away wastes such as carbon dioxide that body cells produce. It is an amazing highway that travels through your entire body connecting all your body cells.

At the centre of this system is the heart, an amazing organ. The heart beats about 3 billion times during an average lifetime . It is a muscle about the size of the fist. The heart is located in the centre of the chest slightly to the left. I ts job is to pump blood and keep the blood moving throughout the body . The blood is pumped around a complex network of blood vessels extending to every part of the body.

Blood carries the oxygen and nutrients needed to fuel the activities of the body’s tissues and organs , and it plays a vital role in removing the body’s waste products. An average-sized adult carries about 5 litres (9 pints) of blood.

Top 10 facts

• If you were to lay out all of the arteries, capillaries and veins in one adult, end-to-end, they would stretch about 60,000 miles (100,000 kilometres).
• It takes 20 seconds for blood to circulate the entire body . Oxygenated blood leaves the aorta at about 1 mile an hour.
• The power output of the heart ranges from 1-5 watts per minute, which is the equivalent to the usage of a 60 watt bulb. It has been said that enough energy is produced by the human body in a day to drive a truck 20 miles.
• Red blood cells live for up to 4 months and make approximately 250,000 round trips around the body before returning to the bone marrow, where they were born, to die.
• Between 2.5 and 3 million red blood cells (called erythrocytes ) are lost and replaced every second.
• Across the animal kingdom, heart rate is related to body size : in general, the bigger the animal, the slower its resting heart rate. An adult human has an average resting heart rate of about 75 beats per minute, the same rate as an adult sheep. But a blue whale's heart is about the size of a small car, and only beats five times per minute. A shrew, on the other hand, has a heart rate of about 1,000 beats per minute.
• The ancient Egyptians believed the heart, rather than the brain, was the source of emotions, wisdom and memory, among other things.
• After circulating within the body for about 120 days, a red blood cell will die from aging or damage. Bone marrow constantly manufactures new red blood cells to replace those that perish.
• The oxygen-rich blood that flows through your arteries and capillaries is bright red. After giving up its oxygen to your bodily tissues, your blood becomes dark red as it races back to your heart through your veins.
• “ Ventricle ” means “little belly".

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Did you know?

• We see and hear about hearts everywhere. A long time ago, people even thought that their emotions came from their hearts, maybe because the heart beats faster when a person is scared or excited. Now we know that emotions come from the brain, and in this case, the brain tells the heart to speed up.
• Your heart is a very strong muscle that pumps blood around your body. It is made of four chambers, two upper chambers and two lower chambers. Blood enters the upper chambers. These squeeze and push the blood into the lower chambers, which then squeeze and push the blood out of your heart.
• The heart works tirelessly – more than 2.5 billion times over an average lifetime – to pump blood around the body. The heart’s contractions or ‘squeezes’ are triggered by electrical impulses that come from a specialised area of heart tissue.
• Your pulse is a measure of how fast your heart is beating. It is the number of beats your heart makes in one minute. Your heart beats faster or slower depending on what you are doing. You can feel your pulse at certain points on your body. The easiest place to feel it is in your wrist, using the first two fingers of your other hand. When you sit, the average heart beats about 80 times per minute. However, everybody is different, so your pulse could be higher or lower than this.
• When you exercise , your heart beats more quickly. This is because your muscles are working harder and need more oxygen to keep going. Your lungs also work harder, making you breathe more quickly to get more oxygen. When you sleep, your muscles need less oxygen, so your heart slows down.

Circulatory system gallery:

• Magnified red blood cells
• A diagram of the human heart
• Blood vessels in the body
• A blood pressure check
• Doctors use stethoscopes to listen to heart and lung sounds
• A diagram of the circulatory system

The circulatory system is centred on the heart , an amazing organ that constantly works to pump blood around blood vessels in every part of the body. Blood carries all the things, like oxygen , that cells need to thrive and keep us healthy.

The heart is made up of four different blood-filled areas, and each of these areas is called a chamber . There are two chambers on each side of the heart. One chamber is on the top and one chamber is on the bottom.

The two chambers on top are called the atria . (If you're talking only about one, call it an atrium.) The atria are the chambers that fill with the blood returning to the heart from the body and lungs. The heart has a left atrium and a right atrium.

The two chambers on the bottom are called the ventricles . The heart has a left ventricle and a right ventricle. Their job is to squirt out the blood to the body and lungs. Running down the middle of the heart is a thick wall of muscle called the septum . The septum's job is to separate the left side and the right side of the heart.

The atria and ventricles work as a team — the atria fill with blood, then push it into the ventricles. The ventricles then squeeze, pumping blood out of the heart. While the ventricles are squeezing, the atria refill and get ready for the next contraction.

The blood moves through many tubes called arteries and veins, which together are called blood vessels . These blood vessels are attached to the heart. The blood vessels that carry blood away from the heart are called arteries . The ones that carry blood back to the heart are called veins .

The human body needs a steady supply of blood to keep it working right. Blood delivers oxygen to all the body's cells. To stay alive, a person needs healthy, living cells. Without oxygen, these cells would die. If that oxygen-rich blood doesn't circulate as it should, a person could die.

Remember that your heart is a muscle. In order for it to be strong, you need to exercise it. How do you do it? By being active in a way that gets you slightly out of breath, like skipping, dancing, or playing tennis or football. Try to be active every day for at least 30 minutes.

Words to know for the circulatory system:

Aorta - the main artery in mammals that carries blood from the left ventricle of the heart to all the branch arteries in the body except those in the lungs. Arteries - a blood vessel that is part of the system carrying blood under pressure from the heart to the rest of the body. Atrium - one of the upper chambers of the heart that takes blood from the veins and pumps it into a ventricle. Capillaries - an extremely narrow thin-walled blood vessel that connects small arteries arterioles with small veins to form a network throughout the body. Carbon dioxide - a heavy, colourless, odourless gas. Cells - the cell is the basic unit of life. Some organisms are made up of a single cell, like bacteria, while others are made up of trillions of cells. Human beings are made up of cells, too. Circulatory - relating to the circulation of the blood. Complex - made up of many interrelated parts. Contractions - a tightening or narrowing of a muscle, organ, or other body part. Nutrients - a substance that provides nourishment. Organ - a complete and independent part of a plant or animal that has a specific function. Oxygen - a colourless, odourless gas that is essential for plant and animal respiration. Perish - to come to an end or cease to exist. Pulse - the regular expansion and contraction of an artery, caused by the heart pumping blood through the body. Transporting -  to carry somebody or something from one place to another. Veins - a blood vessel that carries blood to the heart. Waste - unwanted or unusable remains, or by-products.

Related Videos

Just for fun...

• Try some circulatory games and puzzles
• Complete a heart and circulatory system quiz
• Download free circulatory system quizzes, puzzles and memory games from Curiscope
• A heart to print out and label
• Try the heartbeat calculator
• Play the Blood Typing game and find out more about blood types

Best kids' books about the circulatory system and the heart

Find out more

• A kids' guide to the heart and blood
• Watch BBC Teach video about the circulatory system
• Download a factsheet and worksheet about blood and the circulatory system and find out how and why people donate blood
• Heart and Circulatory system quiz
• The role of blood in the circulatory system
• See inside the human body and find out more about the circulatory system
• Watch a medical video of how the chambers of the heart contract and relax to push blood through the circulatory system
• Watch a BBC Bitesize video about how our circulatory system keeps us alive

See for yourself

• Watch a cartoon that describes  how the heart works
• See exactly how your heart pumps blood throughout your body

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Circulatory System

Worksheet to practice key concepts about the circulatory system.

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Human Heart Primary Resource

Learn all about the human heart….

This Science primary resources explains the function of the human heart and how it works. How does the heart pump blood around the body? Why is it so important? How strong is the human heart?

In our National Geographic Kids Science primary resource, pupils will learn about the anatomy of the human heart and its role within the circulatory system. They will also discover fascinating facts about the human heart.

The teaching resource can be used in study group tasks for discussion about the heart and the biology of the human body. It could be used as a printed handout for each pupil to review and annotate, or for display on the interactive whiteboard for class discussion.

Activity: Ask children to draw and colour a diagram of the heart inside the human body. Ask them to label the different parts of the heart, and include labelled images of veins and arteries to show where the blood is flowing from and to. As a fun practical experiment, ask the pupils to try and feel their own pulse. In pairs, they could even have a go at recording each other’s heart rate per minute.

N.B.  The following information for mapping the resource documents to the school curriculum is specifically tailored to the  English National Curriculum  and  Scottish Curriculum for Excellence . We are currently working to bring specifically tailored curriculum resource links for our other territories; including  South Africa ,  Australia  and  New Zealand . If you have any queries about our upcoming curriculum resource links, please email:  [email protected]

This Science primary resource assists with teaching the following Key Stage 1 Science (Year 1) objective from the National Curriculum :

Pupils should be taught to:

• identify, name, draw and label the basic parts of the human body and say which part of the body is associated with each sense 

National Curriculum Key Stage 1 Science (Year 2) objective :

• find out about and describe the basic needs of animals, including humans, for survival (water, food and air)
• describe the importance for humans to exercise, eating the right amounts of different types of food, and hygien e

National Curriculum Upper Key Stage 2 Science (Year 6) objectives :

• identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood
• recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function

This Science primary resource assists with teaching the following Sciences First level objectives from the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence :

• By researching, I can describe the position and function of the skeleton and major organs of the human body and discuss what I need to do to keep them healthy

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Sciences Second level objectives :

• I have explored the structure and function of sensory organs to develop my understanding of body actions in response to outside conditions

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Sciences Third level objectives :

• I have explored the structure and function of organs and organ systems and can relate this to the basic biological processes required to sustain life

Scottish Curriculum for Excellence Sciences Fourth level objectives :

• I can explain how biological actions which take place in response to external and internal changes work to maintain stable body conditions

Download primary resource

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Circulatory system.

Your heart pumps blood to every nook and cranny in your body. The average heart beats approximately 72 times each minute. It weighs nine to eleven ounces in females and just an ounce or two more in males. In your lifetime, your heart will beat approximately 2.5 billion times.

Many children are aware of their heart. They can feel it beating in their chest. They can feel it race after recess on the playground and they can feel it jump when they're startled. This is the perfect place to start a unit on the circulatory system.

Teaching the Circulatory System to Your Young Students

While the heart is the center of the circulatory system, it's not alone. You have arteries, veins and of course, the blood that courses through them. Teaching the circulatory system can be fun. Watching children become more aware of their bodies and engaged in how it works can be an enriching experience. The circulatory system can be a single unit or it can be part of a larger unit on health and/or the human body.

Teacher Planet offers a variety of teaching resources to help make teaching the circulatory system simple and enjoyable. You'll find lesson plans, activities, worksheets and additional teaching resources all designed to help you bring the circulatory system alive in your classroom.

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Circulatory System Lesson Plan and Worksheets

Subject: Biology

Age range: 7-11

Resource type: Lesson (complete)

Last updated

30 May 2022

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A lesson plan and worksheets on the circulatory system to go with the Year 6 Animals including Humans unit. There is a PDF and an editable version of the worksheets. You can find more planning and teaching resources for the Year 6 Animals including Humans unit on the Save Teachers’ Sundays website.

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Please don't teach students that blood is blue!!!

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Year 6: Animals, including humans

This list consists of lesson plans, activities and video clips to support the teaching of Animals, including humans at Year Six. It contains tips on using the resources, suggestions for further use and background subject knowledge. Possible misconceptions are highlighted so that teachers may plan lessons to facilitate correct conceptual understanding. Designed to support the new curriculum programme of study it aims to cover many of the requirements for knowledge and understanding and working scientifically. The statutory requirements are that children are taught to:

• identify and name the main parts of the human circulatory system, and describe the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood

•  recognise the impact of diet, exercise, drugs and lifestyle on the way their bodies function

•  describe the ways in which nutrients and water are transported within animals, including humans.

Visit the primary science webpage to access all lists.

The Circulation Game

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: Jeans for Genes

A common misconception about circulation is that there is a  'single loop', with the arteries carrying blood from the heart to the body (where oxygen is deposited and waste collected) and the veins carry blood from the body to the heart (where it is cleaned and re-oxygenated).

The correct model is that of the ‘double loop’ or dual circulation with blood from the left side of the heart going to a point in the body and returning to the right side of the heart, where it is pumped to the lungs and then to the left side of the heart where it is pumped around the body.

A great way of demonstrating circulation is to carry out a whole class simulation with children. Children represent red blood cells as they move around a classroom-sized simulation of the human body simulating the dual circulation of blood.  They may give oxygen to the organs then go back to the right side of the heart and flow to the lungs to get more oxygen. Then they flow to the left side of the heart to be pumped around the body.

This activity goes on to look at sickle cell anaemia and how this affects those with the inherited condition. There is also a diagram of the circulatory system to colour and label.

The Human Body Game

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: Siemens

This resource contains Inside The Human Body is a high quality interactive simulation which allows children to take a look at the parts of ciculatory system and and explore the functions of the heart, blood vessels and blood.

Heart Beaters (Ages 9-11)

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: Wellcome Trust

The working of their heart muscles can be improved through exercise. Sports people who exercise regularly maintain a low resting heart rate and also have a fast recovery rate after exercise. One definition of a person’s ‘recovery rate’ is the difference between their heart rate when they have just stopped a strenuous activity (one where they are out of breath) and their heart rate 1 minute later. The healthier the heart, the more it will slow down in the first minute after exercise.

This resource contains 3 complete lessons and background knowledge to work scientifically investigating how and why our bodies change and recover after exercise.

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: Teachers TV

A series of videos which look at the connections between health and diet by exploring whether a fictional snack bar should be banned, licensed or endorsed. This video is a fictional video conference between the marketing executive and the developer of the new 'Fruit Munchy Square' where the ingredients of a snack bar are discussed. Children could go on to compare different snack bars’ nutritional value and debate whether to ban, licence or endorse the product.

What affects your heart rate?

Quality Assured Category: Careers Publisher: Royal Society

This resource provides a set of videos and a practical investigation aimed at supporting working scientifically in the classroom and relating it to real world experiences. In the first video Professor Brian Cox joins a teacher to find out how to set up and run an investigation to find out how exercise affects heart rate. He then joins the class carrying out their experiment, who look at variation in heart rate across the class before and after exercise, as well as how long it takes their heart rate to return to normal. In the other videos Brian Cox visits a sports scientist, analysing the heart rate of athletes and scientists measuring how exercise affects climbers at high altitudes. 

Animals, including humans: being human

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: Hamilton Trust

A series of lessons all about the human body. They include activities in which children explore the structure of the heart and lungs and learn about the double circulation of blood through the lungs and the rest of the body. Lesson ideas also include investigating how exercise affects pulse rate and finding out why is exercise good for humans.

Human Species

This resource contains six activities that link to Animals including humans. These activities are designed for use with mixed age groups classes of Year 5 and 6, but the activities linked to the Year 6 curriculum can be used in a Year 6 only class.  These include:

• identifying the impact of healthy and unhealthy diet and lifestyle choices on the human body; including looking at diet, exercise, and drugs.
• exploring our circulatory system through investigating the effect of exercise on our heart rate, as well as looking at how nutrients and water are transported around our body through our blood stream.

A Healthy Lifestyle

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: Reach Out CPD

This short film aimed at improving the subject knowledge of primary teachers on the topic of keeping healthy. It follows Sonia Cullington of WOW Fitness as she speaks about healthy eating and living. She looks at an everyday shopping list and discusses how they may or may not form part of a healthy balanced diet. Members of Sonia’s gym reflect on their improved understanding of the science of food and exercise and how it has had a positive impact on their lives.

Year 6 - Starters for Science* Suitable for Home Learning*

Quality Assured Category: Science Publisher: STEM Learning

Starters for science provides the key learning, key vocabulary and 4 easy to run activities for each topic in Y6. These sheets may be sent home, so children can carry on learning science whilst self-isolating, or they can be used in class. There are further sheets for other year groups here.

Introducing Apple Intelligence, the personal intelligence system that puts powerful generative models at the core of iPhone, iPad, and Mac

New Capabilities for Understanding and Creating Language

Image Playground Makes Communication and Self‑Expression Even More Fun

Genmoji Creation to Fit Any Moment

New Features in Photos Give Users More Control

Siri Enters a New Era

A New Standard for Privacy in AI

ChatGPT Gets Integrated Across Apple Platforms

Text of this article

June 10, 2024

PRESS RELEASE

Setting a new standard for privacy in AI, Apple Intelligence understands personal context to deliver intelligence that is helpful and relevant

CUPERTINO, CALIFORNIA Apple today introduced Apple Intelligence , the personal intelligence system for iPhone, iPad, and Mac that combines the power of generative models with personal context to deliver intelligence that’s incredibly useful and relevant. Apple Intelligence is deeply integrated into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia. It harnesses the power of Apple silicon to understand and create language and images, take action across apps, and draw from personal context to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks. With Private Cloud Compute, Apple sets a new standard for privacy in AI, with the ability to flex and scale computational capacity between on-device processing and larger, server-based models that run on dedicated Apple silicon servers.

“We’re thrilled to introduce a new chapter in Apple innovation. Apple Intelligence will transform what users can do with our products — and what our products can do for our users,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Our unique approach combines generative AI with a user’s personal context to deliver truly helpful intelligence. And it can access that information in a completely private and secure way to help users do the things that matter most to them. This is AI as only Apple can deliver it, and we can’t wait for users to experience what it can do.”

Apple Intelligence unlocks new ways for users to enhance their writing and communicate more effectively. With brand-new systemwide Writing Tools built into iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, users can rewrite, proofread, and summarize text nearly everywhere they write, including Mail, Notes, Pages, and third-party apps.

Whether tidying up class notes, ensuring a blog post reads just right, or making sure an email is perfectly crafted, Writing Tools help users feel more confident in their writing. With Rewrite, Apple Intelligence allows users to choose from different versions of what they have written, adjusting the tone to suit the audience and task at hand. From finessing a cover letter, to adding humor and creativity to a party invitation, Rewrite helps deliver the right words to meet the occasion. Proofread checks grammar, word choice, and sentence structure while also suggesting edits — along with explanations of the edits — that users can review or quickly accept. With Summarize, users can select text and have it recapped in the form of a digestible paragraph, bulleted key points, a table, or a list.

In Mail, staying on top of emails has never been easier. With Priority Messages, a new section at the top of the inbox shows the most urgent emails, like a same-day dinner invitation or boarding pass. Across a user’s inbox, instead of previewing the first few lines of each email, they can see summaries without needing to open a message. For long threads, users can view pertinent details with just a tap. Smart Reply provides suggestions for a quick response, and will identify questions in an email to ensure everything is answered.

Deep understanding of language also extends to Notifications. Priority Notifications appear at the top of the stack to surface what’s most important, and summaries help users scan long or stacked notifications to show key details right on the Lock Screen, such as when a group chat is particularly active. And to help users stay present in what they’re doing, Reduce Interruptions is a new Focus that surfaces only the notifications that might need immediate attention, like a text about an early pickup from daycare.

In the Notes and Phone apps, users can now record, transcribe, and summarize audio. When a recording is initiated while on a call, participants are automatically notified, and once the call ends, Apple Intelligence generates a summary to help recall key points.

Apple Intelligence powers exciting image creation capabilities to help users communicate and express themselves in new ways. With Image Playground, users can create fun images in seconds, choosing from three styles: Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. Image Playground is easy to use and built right into apps including Messages. It’s also available in a dedicated app, perfect for experimenting with different concepts and styles. All images are created on device, giving users the freedom to experiment with as many images as they want.

With Image Playground, users can choose from a range of concepts from categories like themes, costumes, accessories, and places; type a description to define an image; choose someone from their personal photo library to include in their image; and pick their favorite style.

With the Image Playground experience in Messages, users can quickly create fun images for their friends, and even see personalized suggested concepts related to their conversations. For example, if a user is messaging a group about going hiking, they’ll see suggested concepts related to their friends, their destination, and their activity, making image creation even faster and more relevant.

In Notes, users can access Image Playground through the new Image Wand in the Apple Pencil tool palette, making notes more visually engaging. Rough sketches can be turned into delightful images, and users can even select empty space to create an image using context from the surrounding area. Image Playground is also available in apps like Keynote, Freeform, and Pages, as well as in third-party apps that adopt the new Image Playground API.

Taking emoji to an entirely new level, users can create an original Genmoji to express themselves. By simply typing a description, their Genmoji appears, along with additional options. Users can even create Genmoji of friends and family based on their photos. Just like emoji, Genmoji can be added inline to messages, or shared as a sticker or reaction in a Tapback.

Searching for photos and videos becomes even more convenient with Apple Intelligence. Natural language can be used to search for specific photos, such as “Maya skateboarding in a tie-dye shirt,” or “Katie with stickers on her face.” Search in videos also becomes more powerful with the ability to find specific moments in clips so users can go right to the relevant segment. Additionally, the new Clean Up tool can identify and remove distracting objects in the background of a photo — without accidentally altering the subject.

With Memories, users can create the story they want to see by simply typing a description. Using language and image understanding, Apple Intelligence will pick out the best photos and videos based on the description, craft a storyline with chapters based on themes identified from the photos, and arrange them into a movie with its own narrative arc. Users will even get song suggestions to match their memory from Apple Music. As with all Apple Intelligence features, user photos and videos are kept private on device and are not shared with Apple or anyone else.

Powered by Apple Intelligence, Siri becomes more deeply integrated into the system experience. With richer language-understanding capabilities, Siri is more natural, more contextually relevant, and more personal, with the ability to simplify and accelerate everyday tasks. It can follow along if users stumble over words and maintain context from one request to the next. Additionally, users can type to Siri, and switch between text and voice to communicate with Siri in whatever way feels right for the moment. Siri also has a brand-new design with an elegant glowing light that wraps around the edge of the screen when Siri is active.

Siri can now give users device support everywhere they go, and answer thousands of questions about how to do something on iPhone, iPad, and Mac. Users can learn everything from how to schedule an email in the Mail app, to how to switch from Light to Dark Mode.

With onscreen awareness, Siri will be able to understand and take action with users’ content in more apps over time. For example, if a friend texts a user their new address in Messages, the receiver can say, “Add this address to his contact card.”

With Apple Intelligence, Siri will be able to take hundreds of new actions in and across Apple and third-party apps. For example, a user could say, “Bring up that article about cicadas from my Reading List,” or “Send the photos from the barbecue on Saturday to Malia,” and Siri will take care of it.

Siri will be able to deliver intelligence that’s tailored to the user and their on-device information. For example, a user can say, “Play that podcast that Jamie recommended,” and Siri will locate and play the episode, without the user having to remember whether it was mentioned in a text or an email. Or they could ask, “When is Mom’s flight landing?” and Siri will find the flight details and cross-reference them with real-time flight tracking to give an arrival time.

To be truly helpful, Apple Intelligence relies on understanding deep personal context while also protecting user privacy. A cornerstone of Apple Intelligence is on-device processing, and many of the models that power it run entirely on device. To run more complex requests that require more processing power, Private Cloud Compute extends the privacy and security of Apple devices into the cloud to unlock even more intelligence.

With Private Cloud Compute, Apple Intelligence can flex and scale its computational capacity and draw on larger, server-based models for more complex requests. These models run on servers powered by Apple silicon, providing a foundation that allows Apple to ensure that data is never retained or exposed.

Independent experts can inspect the code that runs on Apple silicon servers to verify privacy, and Private Cloud Compute cryptographically ensures that iPhone, iPad, and Mac do not talk to a server unless its software has been publicly logged for inspection. Apple Intelligence with Private Cloud Compute sets a new standard for privacy in AI, unlocking intelligence users can trust.

Apple is integrating ChatGPT access into experiences within iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia, allowing users to access its expertise — as well as its image- and document-understanding capabilities — without needing to jump between tools.

Siri can tap into ChatGPT’s expertise when helpful. Users are asked before any questions are sent to ChatGPT, along with any documents or photos, and Siri then presents the answer directly.

Additionally, ChatGPT will be available in Apple’s systemwide Writing Tools, which help users generate content for anything they are writing about. With Compose, users can also access ChatGPT image tools to generate images in a wide variety of styles to complement what they are writing.

Privacy protections are built in for users who access ChatGPT — their IP addresses are obscured, and OpenAI won’t store requests. ChatGPT’s data-use policies apply for users who choose to connect their account.

ChatGPT will come to iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and macOS Sequoia later this year, powered by GPT-4o. Users can access it for free without creating an account, and ChatGPT subscribers can connect their accounts and access paid features right from these experiences.

Availability

Apple Intelligence is free for users, and will be available in beta as part of iOS 18 , iPadOS 18 , and macOS Sequoia  this fall in U.S. English. Some features, software platforms, and additional languages will come over the course of the next year. Apple Intelligence will be available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and iPad and Mac with M1 and later, with Siri and device language set to U.S. English. For more information, visit apple.com/apple-intelligence .

Press Contacts

Cat Franklin

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Jacqueline Roy

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Apple Media Helpline

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