Missing Image Playground app on my Mac mini after macOS 15.2 update

For everyone scratching their head—I had the same problem. The only issue was that my device language was EN-US while the language used in Siri was EN-UK. I've changed the Siri language to EN-US (basically, both need to be the same), and voila! There will be a button saying 'Get Apple Intelligence.' Click on it, and you'll eventually get the intelligence features, including Image Playground. It takes a while, around 15-30 minutes.

Hope this helps!

You know, I have macOS Sequoia v15.2 installed on my U.S. M4 Mac Mini Pro and there is no Image Playground application present. I have selected Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri > Get Apple Intelligence to see if that magically installs the missing Image Playground. That Get Apple Intelligence takes about 30 minutes before it switches from In Progress to Downloading. A real dog…

And the above finally installed Image Playground. It also automatically enabled every single application in my Applications folder to use Apple Intelligence including Microsoft Autoupdate and Script Editor. No fun undoing that nonsense.

Apple Intelligence on Mac OS 15.2 is NOT automatic as advertised  -  after installing the OS upgrade, you must separately install those features (Image Playground, etc.) via the Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri. It can take a while, but eventually works.

Something I've discovered that might help: No only will Image Playground only show up in the Applications folder after upgrading to macOS 15.2 once you've gone through the waitlist procedure for Apple Intelligence, it will remain invisible to accounts that AREN'T signed to an Apple account that has AI enabled.

Example: My system has two user accounts, my normal user account (without admin privileges, which is signed in to my Apple account and has AI enabled) and an admin account (which typically isn't signed in to my Apple Account). I found that Image playground appears for my normal user account but not the admin account.

What is System Settings > General > Region set to?

What country are you in?

It should be in the Applications folder.

Try typing "image playground" in Finder Search.

I had a similar problem. What I did is a Spotlight search for Image Playground, and there were options to enable.

Image Playground is not available as a separate download. I resized its window without issue.

Try booting into Safe Mode then restart normally. Sometimes that will fix anomalies.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

Image Playground is not in the App Store. It's part of macOS Sequoia 15.2.

The only thing I can suggest is reinstall Sequoia while in Safe Mode.

Start up your Mac in safe mode - Apple Support

As quoted from this newsroom article Apple Intelligence now features Image Playground, Genmoji, and more - Apple

"The experience is integrated right into Messages, making it easier than ever to create images for conversations, as well as into apps like Freeform, Keynote, and many others. Image Playground is also available as a brand-new dedicated app."

Image playground missing two days ago on my IMac (MI running Sequoia 15.2) but present on my 26 Pro. Then yesterday it appeared on my iMac M1 with the playground even installed and in my tray. Today, however, it is missing AGAIN on my Mac. (Sequoia 15.2) but still fine on my 16 Pro. So what’s the deal?!!

I have the same issue on an M2 generation machine. I'm in the U.S. and my region is set correctly. I just updated to macOS 15.2, and Image Playground has not appeared in the Applications folder. I hope a reinstall of Sequoia isn't necessary, as I'm not going to jump through that hoop just for this app.

I don't know what the issue may be. Image Playground is included with Sequoia 15.2 on my M3 iMac & M2 MacBook Air. The only Mac it isn't included with is an Imac Pro running 15.2, which is as it should be.