Apple Seeds Second Public Betas of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4

Apple today seeded the second public betas of upcoming iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4 updates, allowing public beta testers to try out the new features in the software ahead of its public launch. The public betas come a day after Apple provided the beta updates to developers.

iOS 18
Public beta testers can download the updates from the Settings app on each device after opting into the beta through Apple's public beta testing website.

The new software for iPhone and iPad includes Priority Notifications, an Apple Intelligence feature designed to show you your most important notifications first, plus it adds a new Sketch style for Image Playground on all ‌Apple Intelligence‌ devices.

There is a new Apple News+ Food section for ‌Apple News‌+ subscribers that aggregates recipes, food stories, and tips for healthy eating, plus an Ambient Music feature for playing chill music from Control Center. On the ‌iPad‌ and Mac, the new updates introduce Mail Categorization, a feature that was previously limited to the ‌iPhone‌.

In beta 2, Apple added new emoji characters and debuted the Vision Pro app for ‌iPhone‌. The update also brings Visual Intelligence to the iPhone 15 Pro Max.

An outline of all of the new features in iOS 18.4 can be found in our iOS 18.4 features guide.

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

Popular Stories

Home Hub Command Center with Dome Base Feature

Apple Working on All-New Operating System

Saturday August 16, 2025 6:45 am PDT by
Apple is developing an all-new operating system codenamed "Charismatic," according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple smart home hub concept This is likely Apple's long-rumored "homeOS" operating system. In a report this week, Gurman said both Apple's rumored smart home hub in 2026 and tabletop robot in 2027 will run the new operating system. He said the software platform will blend...
iOS 26 Feature

Here's Everything New in iOS 26 Beta 7

Monday August 18, 2025 11:59 am PDT by
The seventh developer beta of iOS 26 is now available. While we are now in the later stages of the iOS 26 beta cycle, there are still some changes. Below, we outline everything new that we have found in iOS 26 beta 7 so far. Redesigned Blood Oxygen Feature The seventh developer betas of iOS 26 and watchOS 26 include a redesigned Blood Oxygen feature on Apple Watch Series 9, Apple Watch ...
Generic iOS 18

iOS 18.6.2 Update Coming Soon for iPhones

Tuesday August 19, 2025 9:29 am PDT by
Apple's software engineers are testing iOS 18.6.2, according to the MacRumors visitor logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions. Yesterday, an anonymous source with a proven track record said iOS 18.6.2 was incoming, but the update was not present in our logs at that time. Last year, the same anonymous source claimed that iOS 17.5.2 was in the pipeline, but Apple ...
airpods pro 2 green

Apple Releases New Beta Firmware for AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4

Tuesday August 19, 2025 11:25 am PDT by
Apple today provided developers with updated beta firmware for the AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4, allowing them to test the new AirPods features in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS Tahoe. The firmware is only available to developers at the current time, and a device running iOS 26, iPadOS 26, or macOS 26 is required to install the update. The firmware has a build number of 8A5343a, up from 8A5324b. ...
iPhone 16

No iPhone 18 in 2026, Another Report Claims

Monday August 18, 2025 7:34 am PDT by
Apple is expected to delay the launch of its base iPhone 18 model until spring 2027, marking a major shift in the company's long-established release cycle, according to South Korea's ETNews. The report claims that Apple has informed some of its suppliers that the iPhone 18 will not be part of the September 2026 iPhone lineup. Instead, the company will unveil only higher-end models in the...
Apple Watch Ultra 2 Complications

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Just Weeks Away: Eight Reasons to Upgrade

Wednesday August 20, 2025 6:44 am PDT by
We're only weeks away from Apple's annual iPhone event – rumored to take place on September 9 – and along with the new iPhone 17 series, we're going to get a new version of the Apple Watch Ultra for the first time since 2023. By the time the Ultra 3 is unveiled, it will have been two years since the previous model arrived. The intervening period has left plenty of room for enhancements,...
Apple Card iPhone 16 Pro Feature

Apple Card Turns Six With Big Change Ahead

Tuesday August 19, 2025 2:26 pm PDT by
Tomorrow marks the sixth anniversary of the Apple Card becoming widely available in the U.S., following a more limited preview period. Apple's credit card can be managed in the iPhone's Wallet app, with key benefits including color-coded spending summaries, no fees, and Daily Cash cash back paid out daily. Apple Card holders can also open a high-yield savings account. The anniversary...
iPhone 17 Pro in Hand Feature Lowgo

iPhone 17 Pro Max's Internal Design With Metal Battery Allegedly Leaks

Friday August 15, 2025 9:13 am PDT by
Alleged images of the iPhone 17 Pro Max's internal design have surfaced, offering a potential look inside the device before it is announced by Apple next month. The images were shared by the account "yeux1122" this week, in a blog post on the Korean platform Naver. The account aggregates Apple rumors and leaks, so it is likely not the original source of the images, and it is unclear if they...

Top Rated Comments

AF_APPLETALK Avatar
24 weeks ago

How did you find that? And how did you solve it?
You'll need to open Activity Monitor, switch to the Disk tab, and search for "corespotlightd" and have a look at how much data's getting written by that process.

I had an absurd amount one time I checked, like 800+ GB. I also noticed that my computer would feel physically hot even when there was no reason for it to.

To disable, you have to also disable SIP. Simply unchecking all of the spotlight options, or disabling in through other means won't stop the spotlight process.

https://cleanmymac.com/faq/how-to-turn-off-spotlight-search-on-mac

Supposedly it'll probably go away if you also reinstall the OS from scratch, but I'm a developer and have signing keys all over my machine for a bunch of different projects, so that's a nightmare.


I’m also interested in this, and if it’s happening on external SSDs like the Samsung T5/T7, or on NVMes inside a Thunderbolt case.
There's a way to move the spotlight index to another volume (other than the boot), so theoretically yes. Basically this bug seems to just write and rewrite stuff to the spotlight index over and over again, as fast as it can, which is AWFUL for the life of your SSD. Especially when the storage is soldered/integrated like they are on most Macs.

I hate having SIP disabled, but I can't afford spotlight trashing the SSD in my MBP. I disabled and switched to Raycast.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
nitromaxx Avatar
24 weeks ago

Just updated my ipad pro m4 and now my internet is broken. No lan, no wlan no hotspot is working.
Now I can’t even fall back on my backup, as it is in the cloud! ?
Yes, I have done the usual, toggle wifi on/off, turned ipad off…
Anybody?

Edit: after some searching found a post from a different update. They suggested deleting incompatible certificates and VPN profiles. In my case that was NordVPN. Deleted it and instantly the wifi-connection was restored.
But I did learn something: keep a backup on the device, not only in the cloud!
This happened to me too on my iPhone 12 PM. I was wracking my brain trying to figure out what went wrong, tried restoring with my MacBook, but since there was no internet service on the phone I couldn’t remove Activation Lock to do the restore, spent some time being mad that I was gonna have to buy a new phone because I wanted the 12 to last until Sept and the 17s, then I also found something that mentioned VPNs. Removed the NordVPN profiles and instant success. I even tried letting the app install the profiles again and it broke it again. I don’t know enough to know whether the fault lies with Apple or NordVPN, but it would be nice to have a fix.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
AF_APPLETALK Avatar
24 weeks ago
Will 15.4 finally fix the spotlight bug that writes hundreds of gigabytes of data to my SSD every day? Seriously, I had to disable SIP to completely kill the corespotlightd process, absolutely absurd.
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Dualica 01 Avatar
24 weeks ago
Just updated my ipad pro m4 and now my internet is broken. No lan, no wlan no hotspot is working.
Now I can’t even fall back on my backup, as it is in the cloud! ?
Yes, I have done the usual, toggle wifi on/off, turned ipad off…
Anybody?

Edit: after some searching found a post from a different update. They suggested deleting incompatible certificates and VPN profiles. In my case that was NordVPN. Deleted it and instantly the wifi-connection was restored.
But I did learn something: keep a backup on the device, not only in the cloud!
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)