Everything New in iOS 18.4 Beta 1

Apple finally released the first beta of iOS 18.4 to developers for testing purposes, and while the beta is lacking some of the Apple Intelligence features we were hoping for, there are some notable new additions.

Priority Notifications - Apple Intelligence

There is a new Priority Notifications feature that can show you your most important notifications first. Priority Notifications is disabled by default, but it can be turned on by going to Settings > Notifications > Prioritize Notifications and tapping the toggle.

prioritize notifications ios 18 4
With the feature enabled, ‌Apple Intelligence‌ will show notifications that may be important in a dedicated section of the Lock Screen.

Image Playground Sketch Style

Image Playground now includes a Sketch style that joins the Animation and Illustration styles. Sketch was previously available for Image Wand, but now it is a third style that can be used in ‌Image Playground‌.

ios 18 4 image playground
Swap styles by tapping on the "+" button in the ‌Image Playground‌ app.

Apple also replaced the "Winter Holidays" theme with a new "Spring" theme.

New Apple Intelligence Languages

French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified), along with localized English for Singapore and India.

Apple News+ Food

iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 include a new Apple News Food section for ‌Apple News‌+ subscribers. The Food section features tens of thousands of recipes, stories about restaurants, tips for healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more.

ios 18 4 food news
Content will come from top food publishers such as Allrecipes, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Good Food, and Serious Eats.‌Apple News‌ editors will curate food-related stories, and there will be a dedicated Recipe Catalog section where new recipes are added regularly. An included cook mode provides step-by-step instructions, and users can save favorite recipes for offline access.

Ambient Music

iOS 18.4 includes a new Ambient Music option that can be added to Control Center. There are four different sound categories, including Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing.

ios 18 4 ambient music
Each category can be added to Control Center separately, and tapping one plays a random selection of sounds or music from that particular category.

You can't choose what's playing from Control Center, but if you play a category and then tap into the Dynamic Island at the top or access the Now Playing widget, you can skip songs and see the name of what's currently playing.

Mail Categorization for iPadOS 18.4

With iPadOS 18.4, an updated Mail app is available with categorization. The new Mail app organizes incoming emails into different sections. Important emails are displayed in the Primary category, with other emails organized into sections highlighting product orders, newsletters, deals, and social notifications.

Mail categorization was previously introduced for the iPhone in iOS 18.2.

Privacy Indication Dots

The small dots that show up on the ‌iPhone‌'s menu bar when the camera or microphone is in use have been moved to the left and are now more apparent thanks to a black background.

new siri indicator dot ios 18 4

Siri Voices

There are two new Australian voices for Siri.

ios 18 4 australian siri voice

Genmoji

The Genmoji icon for the Emoji keyboard now says "‌Genmoji‌" instead of just featuring a multi-colored smiley face. The change should make it more obvious where users go to create a ‌Genmoji‌ character.

ios 18 4 genmoji

Apple Maps

In the Apple Maps Settings, there is a new option to set a Preferred Language.

ios 18 4 maps preferred

Podcasts Widget

There are new Library and Shows widgets that can be added to the Home Screen on an ‌iPhone‌ or iPad. The Library widget features saved content, while the Shows option displays shows that you are subscribed to.

ios 18 4 podcast widgets
In the Podcasts app, if you tap on your profile picture, there are new options for Podcasts Settings and Notification Settings.

Cellular Control Center Toggle

The Cellular toggle in the Control Center now shows your cellular signal strength represented in bars.

ios 18 4 cellular signal control center

Shortcuts Actions

Apple added a new Shortcuts action to open a specific conversation in the Messages app.

ios 18 4 shortcuts open conversation

CarPlay

Some CarPlay users are seeing a third row of ‌CarPlay‌ icons on the ‌Home Screen‌ rather than just two rows.


Default Apps

There is a new option to set a different Translation app as the default in the Default Apps section of the Settings app. In the EU, there is also an option to choose a different Navigation app.

ios 18 4 translate default app

Notification Center

The animation when swiping out of the Notification Center is now smoother.

Wi-Fi Calling Issue

Apple's developer notes for the update say that Wi-Fi Calling might not work for US Cellular customers in iOS 18.4. Apple says that users should revert to iOS 18.3 to enable Wi-Fi Calling.

Japan 'My Number Card' Support in Wallet

The iOS 18.4 beta appears to include integration for Japanese "My Number Card" Digital IDs in the Wallet app. Apple said last year that it would be adding support for the ID cards in spring 2025.

More than 100 million Japanese residents have My Number Card IDs.

MDM Changes

For enterprise and education users, Apple made some updates to Mobile Device Management. MDM can disable ‌Apple Intelligence‌ reports, Mail smart replies, Safari summarize content, and the Idle Reboot feature that causes iPhones to restart after inactivity.

There are also options for preventing the modification of default calling and messaging apps, and there is a feature that allows a nearby ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌ to be used to sign into a Mac with an Apple Account.

Vision Pro App and Guest Setup

For Vision Pro owners, Apple has designed a Vision Pro app for managing the headset. It's designed to help users find content and learn about new features, so it includes tools for downloading apps and visionOS content, a tips page, and a My Vision Pro section for setting up Personalized Spatial Audio and getting information like headset serial number.

vision pro app iphone
Guest setup can now be managed on an ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌ linked to a Vision Pro, making it easier for Vision Pro owners to let others test their headset. There are controls for limiting what apps a guest is able to use, and an AirPlay mode for guiding the guest through Vision Pro experiences. When a guest user puts on the Vision Pro, a prompt to enable Guest Mode will appear on the headset owner's device.

The Vision Pro app isn't in this beta, but it will be coming in a later iOS 18.4 beta.

New Emojis

There are no new emoji in the current beta, but iOS 18.4 code confirms a future beta will add new characters. New emoji will include bags under eyes, fingerprint, leafless tree, root vegetable, harp, shovel, and splatter.

iOS 18.4 Release Date

Apple plans to release iOS 18.4 to the public in April.

Related Roundups: iOS 18, iPadOS 18
Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

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Top Rated Comments

Kylo83 Avatar
20 weeks ago
Very underwhelming update, I guess the whole Apple team are to being working on Apple intelligence and Siri updates
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
miq Avatar
20 weeks ago
Forget this ‘AI Notification’ rubbish, just let me receive a maximum of ONE notification per app until I view/action it. Like Android has allowed for countless years now. It’s not that difficult!
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dr McKay Avatar
20 weeks ago

CarPlay

Some CarPlay users are seeing a third row of CarPlay icons on the Home Screen rather than just two rows.
That would be nice, I test drove a car the other week that had a 15 inch touchscreen on it, when I connected via CarPlay it was the exact same interface as my existing cars 6.5inch screen, everything seemed huge and it seemed like a colossal waste of screen real estate.
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
mxrider88 Avatar
20 weeks ago

There was a glitch (at least, it looked like a glitch) where in some instances on Dynamic Island phones, the privacy dots would appear allllll the way to the right, touching the top right border of the screen.

One way to see it for yourself is to start a Voice Memo recording, then return to the Home Screen. The orange dot will appear all the way to the right, appearing as if it’s partially cut off.
Yep, been there for years.
Apple employees clearly use android at home. I can’t otherwise explain how this wasn’t fixed after 25 minutes.
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sleeptodream Avatar
20 weeks ago
Two new Australian voices for Siri? That’s all I needed to know. Sign me up.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Anonymous123 Avatar
20 weeks ago

Privacy Indication Dots

The small dots that show up on the iPhone's menu bar when the camera or microphone is in use have been moved to the left
I think you mean moved to the right? Previously it was inside the Dynamic Island.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)