Perplexity’s January Updates: What’s New and Why It Matters
If you’ve been using Perplexity lately, you might’ve noticed things feeling a bit smoother around the edges. January brought some genuinely useful upgrades that aren’t just polish for polish’s sake. We’re talking better reasoning models, a redesigned iPad experience, and smarter ways to keep your research context intact. Let me walk you through what landed and how it actually helps your workflow.
Advanced Reasoning Models: GPT-5.1 and GPT-5.1 Thinking
OpenAI’s GPT-5.1 models are now available for Perplexity Pro and Max subscribers, offering more advanced reasoning and conversational style than their predecessors. This isn’t just incremental tweaking either. These models handle multi-step problems with better precision.
For developers debugging complex logic, you get cleaner explanations of edge cases. Researchers synthesising arguments across multiple papers will notice the reasoning flows more naturally. Content creators hunting for angles on a topic? The conversational quality means less “stiff AI” and more actual back and forth.
GPT-5.2: Purpose-Built for Serious Work
GPT-5.2 landed alongside GPT-5.1 and it’s specifically tuned for tasks requiring deeper multi-step reasoning. The benchmarks that matter most here are coding-focused ones like SWE-Bench Pro, but the real-world payoff is broader.
Software engineers will feel the difference immediately when asking it to debug or architect systems. Analysts breaking down complex datasets or building financial models get more reliable intermediate steps. If you’re the type who needs the model to show its working properly (not just the answer), this one’s for you.
Seedream 4.5: Image Generation That Knows What You Mean
Bytedance’s new image generation model Seedream 4.5 is now selectable in your account preferences. It’s got three things working in its favour: cinematic imagery, smarter instruction following, and stronger spatial understanding.
Product designers mocking up interfaces can generate backgrounds that actually match their creative direction. Marketing teams building campaign assets get less “AI weirdness” when layering objects. The spatial understanding bit means if you’re asking for something in the foreground and something in the background, it actually understands depth.
iPad App Redesigned for Real Multitasking
Perplexity rebuilt its iPad app from the ground up to handle iPadOS properly. This means native multitasking support and Stage Manager integration. If you’ve been trying to use Perplexity on iPad before and found it felt mobile-ish, that changes now.
Researchers can now have a paper open in one window and ask Perplexity questions about it in another. Content strategists can draft briefs in Notes while referencing research simultaneously. It’s the difference between an app that tolerates iPad and an app designed for how iPad users actually work.
Preserve Context When Opening Links in Comet
Here’s a quality-of-life update that solves an actual annoyance. When you open links from Perplexity answers in Comet (the AI browser), your original conversation thread now stays accessible in the Comet Assistant sidebar.
Before this, you’d click a source, jump to a new tab, lose your thread context, and have to manually switch back. Now you keep both your research trail and the source material visible. Investigators doing deep-dive research get this instantly. Journalists verifying claims across multiple sources save about five minutes of tab management per session.
Enhanced Memory Learns What You Actually Care About
Perplexity’s memory system got an upgrade across web, iOS, and Android. It now distils your previous searches into topics you’re genuinely interested in, making answers more personalised.
This isn’t spooky surveillance memory. It’s more like: you research sustainable materials three times, and next time you ask about manufacturing, it suggests eco-friendly angles without you having to prompt it. For people researching travel, it learns your preferences. For professionals tracking industry trends, it picks up on what matters to your beat. You control it all through settings, so it’s not a forced experience.
Comet for Android: The AI Browser on Mobile
Comet, positioned as the world’s most powerful AI browser, is now available on Android. This gives mobile users the same research-with-AI-assistance setup that iOS users have had.
If you’re checking facts on the go, comparing prices across retailers, or fact-checking claims you see on social media, Comet lets you ask questions about what’s on screen directly. It’s less “browser that happens to have AI” and more “AI that handles browsing efficiently”.
Why These Updates Matter Right Now
The through-line here isn’t flashy features. It’s practical friction reduction. Better reasoning models mean fewer follow-up questions. Context preservation means fewer alt-tabs. Image generation that understands spatial relationships means less regenerating. A redesigned iPad app means actual productivity instead of compromise.
If you’re running on browser tabs and vibes, these updates let you run on a bit less chaos.
Start Exploring
These features are live now for Pro and Max subscribers, with some features available on the free tier. Head to perplexity.ai to test drive the new models, check out the updated iPad experience, or simply notice how your next research session feels a touch more intentional. Give feedback too. That’s what makes these tools actually useful rather than just new.
