iOS 18.4 Beta 4: Key Features and Updates

Apple's iOS 18.4 Beta 4 introduces a range of exciting features, enhancing user experience across various functionalities. From notification management to CarPlay upgrades and a dedicated Vision Pro app, this beta version offers a glimpse into the future of iOS.

Key Features:

  1. Priority Notifications: Apple Intelligence now prioritizes notifications based on user habits, minimizing distractions. This feature promises to streamline notification management, allowing users to focus on what matters most.
  2. Apple News+ Food: Subscribers gain access to a dedicated Food section within the News app, offering recipes, restaurant reviews, and healthy eating tips.
  3. Image Playground Sketch Style: The Image Playground app expands its creative tools with the addition of Sketch style, providing users with more artistic options for image manipulation.
  4. Redesigned CarPlay: The updated CarPlay interface offers smoother integration with infotainment systems and supports three rows of apps on larger screens, improving accessibility and usability. For more on CarPlay enhancements, check out Android Auto 14.0 Beta updates.
  5. Expanded Language Support for Apple Intelligence: Apple Intelligence now supports additional languages, including Brazilian Portuguese, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and localized English for Singapore and India.
  6. Control Center Updates: A dedicated Apple Intelligence section in the Control Center provides quick access to Siri and Visual Intelligence, streamlining interactions with these features. This aligns with trends in AI personalization, as discussed in One UI 7: AI and Personalization Redefined.
  7. Ambient Music: The Control Center now features Ambient Music, allowing users to play mood-based music for relaxation, sleep, productivity, or well-being.
  8. Vision Pro App: A dedicated Vision Pro app on iOS simplifies management of the spatial computer, enabling app downloads, Guest Mode customization, and settings adjustments directly from the iPhone. This complements the discussion of Gemini replacing Google Assistant in the context of evolving AI interactions.
  9. New Emojis: Seven new emojis, including a face with bags under the eyes, a leafless tree, a fingerprint, a root vegetable, a shovel, a harp, and splatter, are added to the emoji keyboard.
  10. Visual Intelligence Upgrades: iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 users can now customize the Action Button to access Visual Intelligence, Apple's object recognition tool.

Additional Updates and Bug Fixes:

  • Genmoji icon redesign.
  • Nearby Interaction for real-time distance measurement using Ultra Wideband.
  • Fixes for notification bugs, Siri suggestions in non-English languages, and issues with Apple Vision Pro and StoreKit.

The stable release of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia is expected in early April.