All of the New Features in iOS 18.4 So Far

Apple is beta testing iOS 18.4 at the current time, and while the update doesn't have the Apple Intelligence Siri features we were hoping for, there are a number of new additions that are worth knowing about.

iOS 18

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
Priority Notifications can also be set up on a per-app basis, with toggles available in the same sections of the Settings app.

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

Visual Intelligence for iPhone 15 Pro Models

Visual Intelligence is now available on the iPhone 15 Pro and ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro Max, marking the first time that Apple has made the feature available on an iPhone that's not an iPhone 16.

Apple Visual Intelligence

Since the ‌iPhone 15‌ Pro models do not have a Camera Control button, ‌Visual Intelligence‌ can be activated via the Control Center or with the Action Button.

Visual Intelligence Action Button

Apple added a new Action Button option that activates ‌Visual Intelligence‌, and it can be used as an alternative to the Camera Control button for ‌Visual Intelligence‌ on the ‌iPhone 16‌ models.

ios 18 4 visual intelligence action button

Control Center Apple Intelligence Section

In the Control Center, there's now an Apple Intelligence section. It includes the Type to ‌Siri‌ option that was in the now-removed ‌Siri‌ section, along with new options for activating ‌Siri‌ and using ‌Visual Intelligence‌.

ios 18 4 control center apple intelligence

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.

New Emoji

There are new emoji characters in iOS 18.4, including bags under eyes, fingerprint, leafless tree, root vegetable, harp, shovel, and splatter.

iOS 18

Vision Pro App

If you have a Vision Pro headset, you'll see a Vision Pro app on your ‌iPhone‌ after installing iOS 18.4. The Vision Pro app helps you discover and download content on the Vision Pro.

vision pro app
There are dedicated sections for Immersive Video, 3D movies, and more, with options to download apps directly to the Vision Pro without having to use the headset. Apple also added a dedicated My Vision Pro section with a user guide and tips for using the device.

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.

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

Photos

In the Photos app, there are now options to filter your library by images that were shared with you by others or by those that are not included in an album, which is useful for separating out content that you've organized into albums.

photos filters ios 18 4
Apple also added an option to view your album list by key photo.

The Recently Deleted section of the ‌Photos‌ app now has one-tap options to delete all photos and to recover all photos.

ios 18 4 deleted album
In the ‌Photos‌ Settings, there is a new Show Recently Viewed & Shared toggle that will show or hide the Recently Viewed and Recently Shared albums from the Utilities list.

Type to Siri

When you use Type to ‌Siri‌ to ask ‌Siri‌ a question, the keyboard is now collapsed down when ‌Siri‌ answers. To type another request, you need to tap on the ‌Siri‌ bar to bring it back up. There is also a toggle to activate Type to ‌Siri‌ with the side button, which would normally cause ‌Siri‌ to listen for a voice command. This feature is not working as intended in beta 1.

ios 18 4 siri accessibility toggle

Back Tap

If you have the Back Tap Accessibility option turned on, there is now a notification when a double tap or triple tap action is performed.

ios 18 4 back tap notification

App Store Review Summaries

Apple now provides summaries of an app's customer reviews to get a quicker overview of what people think of it.

app store review summaries

Pause App Store Downloads

When you download an app from the App Store, you can now pause the download right from the update list in the ‌App Store‌ rather than having to do it from the Home Screen icon for the app. Before now, you could only stop and restart an installation entirely from the ‌App Store‌, with no option for stopping it entirely.

ios 18 4 app store pause download
Pausing and resuming works for both new downloads and app updates.

Apple Maps

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

ios 18 4 maps preferred

Passwords

In the Passwords app, verification codes for two-factor authentication have a countdown circle so you can tell when a new code is going to be generated.

ios 18 4 password countdown

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.

Mac Setup

There is a new feature that allows a nearby ‌iPhone‌ or ‌iPad‌ to be used to sign into a Mac with an Apple Account for setting up a new Mac. macOS Sequoia 15.4 is also required.

Control Center Toggles

The Cellular toggle and the Wi-Fi toggle in the Control Center now show your cellular or Wi-Fi signal strength represented in bars.

ios 18 4 cellular signal control center
The Brightness and Sound toggles in Control Center have been tweaked slightly and will now change color when the sliders are lowered below the position of the icons.

ios 18 4 control center icons
The Focus option in Control Center now has two small arrows that serve as a visual indicator that there are more options that can be accessed.

Shortcuts Actions

There are multiple new actions for Apple apps in the Shortcuts app, most of which are for changing app settings.

ios 18 4 safari settings
In Maps, for example, there are actions for things like avoid busy roads, avoid tolls, volume level, directions on radio, and more. In Safari, you can use AutoFill information, toggle on pop-up blocking, close tabs, change search engine, and change the tab bar configuration, among other options.

There are Settings actions for Maps, Safari, Reminders, Calendar, Apple TV, Books, Notes, Voice Memos, and Weather.

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

ios 18 4 shortcuts open conversation

Safari

When you long press on an ‌App Store‌ link in Safari, there is a new design for ‌App Store‌ link previews.
app store safari links 18 4

When you open up a new Safari tab and then tap the address bar, Safari shows a list of your recent searches. In the current public version of iOS, iOS 18.3.1, search history is not displayed. There is an option to disable recent searches by opening the Settings app, going to Safari, and toggling off Show Recent Searches.

ios 18 4 safari search

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.

Camera Control

Additional camera apps that can be selected for the Camera Control feature on ‌iPhone 16‌ models are now listed in a Camera App section rather than directly in the main Camera Control menu.

camera control ios 18 4 menu

Safari Connection Security

In Safari, you can tap into the details on a website to see the certificate through a new Connection Security Details interface to ensure the site is secure.

ios 18 4 connection security

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. Note that this is applicable to those who have US Cellular as their carrier, it does not mean all cellular users in the United States.

Robot Vacuum HomeKit Support

In iOS 18.4, HomeKit supports robot vacuums, a feature that Apple promised would come in iOS 18. Adding a vacuum to the Home app requires a vacuum with Matter support, and that requires robot vacuum manufacturers to implement Matter. Not all Matter-enabled robot vacuums will be able to be added to ‌HomeKit‌ right away.

Wallet

In the Wallet app, there is a new menu that includes Orders, Settings, and Subscriptions and Payments. It can be accessed by tapping on the three dots in the upper right corner, which used to be just for package tracking.

ios 18 4 wallet app
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.

Find My

Find My support has been added in South Korea.

Release Date

iOS 18.4 will be released in early April alongside iPadOS 18.4 and ‌macOS Sequoia‌ 15.4.

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

Popular Stories

apple watch ultra 2 new black

Apple Watch Ultra 3 Finally Coming After Two-Year Hiatus

Monday June 16, 2025 8:45 am PDT by
Apple will finally deliver the Apple Watch Ultra 3 sometime this year, according to analyst Jeff Pu of GF Securities Hong Kong (via @jukanlosreve). The analyst expects both the Apple Watch Series 11 and Apple Watch Ultra 3 to arrive this year (likely alongside the new iPhone 17 lineup, if previous launches are anything to go by), according to his latest product roadmap shared with...
iPhone 17 Pro Blue Feature Tighter Crop

iPhone 17 Pro Launching in Three Months With These 12 New Features

Saturday June 14, 2025 5:45 pm PDT by
The iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone 17 Pro Max are three months away, and there are plenty of rumors about the devices. Below, we recap key changes rumored for the iPhone 17 Pro models as of June 2025:Aluminum frame: iPhone 17 Pro models are rumored to have an aluminum frame, whereas the iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 Pro models have a titanium frame, and the iPhone X through iPhone 14 Pro have a...
apple wallet drivers license feature iPhone 15 pro

iPhone Driver's Licenses: These 17 U.S. States Offer Them or Will Later

Thursday June 19, 2025 11:28 am PDT by
In select U.S. states, residents can add their driver's license or state ID to the Wallet app on the iPhone and Apple Watch, providing a convenient and contactless way to display proof of identity or age at select airports and businesses, and in select apps. Unfortunately, this feature continues to roll out very slowly since it was announced in 2021, with only nine U.S. states and Puerto...
iOS 18

Apple Releases iOS 18.6 Public Beta

Wednesday June 18, 2025 10:24 am PDT by
Apple today seeded the first betas of upcoming iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 updates to public beta testers, with the betas coming just a few days after Apple provided the betas to developers. Testers who have signed up for beta updates through Apple's beta site can download iOS 18.6 and iPadOS 18.6 from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update. When the...
iOS 26 on Three iPhones

Apple Says iOS 26 Won't Be Available on These iPhone Models

Tuesday June 10, 2025 6:58 am PDT by
Apple this week revealed that iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer. That means that iOS 18 is the end of the road for the iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, and iPhone XR, which were all released in 2018. However, those devices will continue to receive security updates for at least a few more years. iOS 26 is compatible with the following iPhone models: iPhone 16e iPhone...
new iphone lockscreen ios 26

iOS 26: Five Changes Coming to Your iPhone Lock Screen

Tuesday June 17, 2025 8:46 am PDT by
With iOS 26, Apple has made some additions to the iPhone Lock Screen that aim to make it more customizable than ever. Of course, things can always change before the software makes its way to the general iPhone-owning public, but here are five new things iOS 26 can do on the Lock Screen as of the current developer beta. Widgets Top or Bottom In iOS 18, the row of widgets on your Lock...
apple watch ultra snow

6 Features Coming to the Apple Watch Ultra 3

Tuesday February 25, 2025 9:00 am PST by
The Apple Watch Ultra 3 is expected to launch later this year, arriving two years after the previous model with a series of improvements. While no noticeable design changes are expected for the third generation since the company tends to stick with the same Apple Watch design through three generations before changing it, there are a series of internal upgrades on the way. By the time the ...
ios 26 call holding

iOS 26 Beta is Hiding a New Ringtone — Here's What It Sounds Like

Thursday June 19, 2025 7:25 pm PDT by
Apple is hiding a new ringtone within iOS 26. The new ringtone is an alternative version of the existing Reflection ringtone, which has been the default ringtone since the iPhone X was released in 2017. It was discovered within the code for the first developer beta of iOS 26, but it remains hidden, so you will not find it in the list of ringtones available in the Settings app for now. It...
Craig Federighi No

John Gruber Reacts to Apple Declining His Interview After His Criticism

Wednesday June 18, 2025 8:10 pm PDT by
Every year between 2015 and 2024, at least one Apple executive agreed to be interviewed by Daring Fireball's John Gruber for a special WWDC episode of his podcast, The Talk Show. Last year, for example, Apple's software engineering chief Craig Federighi, marketing chief Greg Joswiak, and top AI researcher John Giannandrea joined Gruber on stage at the California Theatre in San Jose to discuss...

Top Rated Comments

Dark_Omen Avatar
17 weeks ago
IOS needs more advanced AI features. That’s all that matters right now. Not new emojis. Not Genmoji or image playground. Nobody cares about that stuff, unless you’re eight years old.

I should be able to open an “Apple Intelligence” app on my phone, type to it, speak to it, and it should be able to cross reference commands and questions through multiple apps at the same time. It should be able to translate voice calls and texts in real time. It should be able to translate and draft notes better than it does.

At this point, how can something already be so behind, yet, it’s brand new.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Parowdy Avatar
16 weeks ago
As a European using Apple Intelligence for the very first time using the 18.4 dev beta, I understand the disappointment.


using ChatGPT yields a response not about Siri

and tapping the feedback button crashed Siri for the first 10 times.

But this, this is shameful


Interestingly I still have the indicators in the DI. Anyway, at least it’s entertaining.



Edit: there is a new animation when skipping through a video for example in fullscreen safari videos

Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image

Attachment Image
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
DanteHicks79 Avatar
16 weeks ago
When will Apple finally admit that they can't deliver on the AI promise they made last year? We're now almost six months past 18 first being available, and hardly any of the features they touted are actually integrated.

They took the Cities Skylines 2 approach with this os version: we'll deliver what we promised once we actually figure out how to do it.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
thefrost Avatar
16 weeks ago
At this point, all the Apple Intelligence stuff will move into iOS 19.
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
17 weeks ago
Does ambient music require an Apple Music subscription?
Score: 4 Votes (Like | Disagree)
0049190 Avatar
16 weeks ago
We’ve gone from annual iOS updates to monthly updates. By the time iOS 18 is finished iOS 19 will be out and we’ll all go through the same merry-go-round for another year. It seems pointless to continue with the annual WWDC iOS announcement.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)