Apple has released the first developer beta of iOS 18.4. While it’s missing some of the most impressive Apple Intelligence features, it includes a ton of other new features and changes. Head below for our full roundup of everything new in iOS 18.4…
iOS 18.4 beta 1 details
iOS 18.4 beta 1 is available now to developer beta testers. The update features the 22E5200s. Apple hasn’t released iOS 18.4 to public beta testers yet, but we expect that to change sometime next week.
What’s new in iOS 18.4 beta 1?
Apple News+ Food
iOS 18.4 beta 1 adds a new Apple News+ Food section with thousands of curated recipes from top publishers. Those recipes are presented in a clear and clutter-free interface.
Apple says:
Coming with iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in April, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that will feature tens of thousands of recipes — as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more — from the world’s top food publishers, including Allrecipes, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Good Food, and Serious Eats.
More details:
Priority Notifications
iOS 18.4 includes the new Priority Notifications feature that Apple unveiled last year as part of Apple Intelligence. The feature automatically highlights important notifications with a unique design, making it easier to find notifications that require your attention.
More details:
New Image Playground style
When Image Playground first launched with iOS 18.2, it offered two of the three promised image styles: Animation and Illustration. iOS 18.4 beta 1 adds the third and final style: sketch.
Read more:
Apple Intelligence in more languages
There are new languages for Apple Intelligence support: French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified) — as well as localized English for Singapore and India.
Genmoji change
Apple has made the Genmoji button in the emoji keyboard significantly larger. There’s also a new popup that appears the first time you use the feature: “Create your own original emoji to add to Messages or use as a sticker.”
New default app categories
With iOS 18.4 beta 1, Apple continues to expand the number of default app categories that users can customize. You can now set a default Translate app in the United States and elsewhere. In the European Union, there’s now support for setting a default Navigation app.
Read more:
Ambient music
iOS 18.4 beta 1 adds four new Control Center toggles for Ambient Music:
- Chill
- Productivity
- Sleep
- Wellbeing
These can be added to Control Center, assigned to your iPhone’s Action button, and placed on your Lock Screen. They are each assigned to a default Apple Music playlist, but you can customize it to any playlist in your Music library.
Read more:
CarPlay design update
As spotted by my friend Jace on Threads, iOS 18.4 updates the CarPlay interface to add a third row of app icons on the Home screen. This change only applies to certain cars.
New Mail app comes to iPad
With iPadOS 18.4 beta 1, the new Mail app that first debuted on the iPhone with iOS 18.2 is now on iPad. The Mail app can now automatically organize and sort your emails into four different categories:
- Promotions: Marketing emails and coupons
- Primary: Personal and time-sensitive emails
- Transactions: Confirmations and receipts
- Updates: News and social media notifications
Read more:
Apple Vision Pro updates (coming soon)
Apple announced that a new Apple Vision Pro app is coming soon to the iPhone as part of iOS 18.4 and visionOS 2.4 in April.
Once available, this app will appear on your iPhone automatically after you update your iPhone to iOS 18.4 and your Apple Vision Pro to visionOS 2.4. If you don’t have an Apple Vision Pro, you can download this app from the App Store to explore the Discover page and learn more about the spatial computing platform.
iOS 18.4 also adds new accommodations for the Guest User feature on Apple Vision Pro. This feature will be available in a future update to iOS 18.4 and visionOS 2.4.
Read more:
Photos app list view
In the Photos app, there’s a new interface for editing your Albums list.
Age Range during setup
When you set up a new iPhone from scratch with iOS 18.4, you’ll be prompted to pick the “Age Range” of the person who will use the device. Apple says this information will “help iPhone set up parental controls and safety features.”
- Child: 12 or younger
- Teen: 13 to 17
- Adult: 18 or older
Apple has added new Library and Shows widgets from the Podcasts app. These can be added to your iPhone’s Home screen to easily play episodes from a list in your library or play episodes from a show you follow.
More iOS 18.4 beta 1 tidbits
In addition to those changes, there are a handful of smaller changes included in iOS 18.4 beta 1.
- Apple has added two new Shortcuts actions for the Messages app: “Open Conversation” and “Send Message.”
- There are two new Australian voices for Siri in iOS 18.4.
- Apple has made a few design tweaks to Control Center, including a new picker for switching Focus modes, a new animation when adjusting volume, and a new design for the Cellular Data toggle.
- In the Settings app, the “Camera App” portion of the Camera Control interface now gets its own dedicated menu.
- As spotted by Aaron Perris on X, Japanese “My Number Card” Digital ID coming to Apple Wallet in iOS 18.4.
We’ll have much more on everything new in iOS 18.4 soon. In the meantime, spot any changes in today’s release of iOS 18.4 beta 1 or iPadOS 18.4 beta 1? Let us know in the comments below, on Twitter @9to5Mac, and on Threads @9to5Mac. Stay tuned for our full hands-on coverage with the new releases right here at 9to5Mac today and throughout the rest of the week.
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