The fourth big update of iOS 18.4 update, iOS 18.4, is now available to all users with iPhone Xr and newer models. The iOS 18.4 update brings several new features and changes.
Apple started testing the iOS 18.4 update beta in the latter half of February, introducing several features like ambient music and more. During this testing phase, Apple released a total of four beta versions and two release candidate builds before the public release.
Today, Apple has also released iPadOS 18.4, tvOS 18.4, macOS Sequoia 15.4, macOS Sonoma 14.7.5, macOS Ventura 13.7.5, and visionOS 2.4. Apple initially published the watchOS 11.4 on its website, but did not release it on the device and quickly removed it from the website as well.
The iOS 18.4 update comes with build number 22E240, which is the same as the build number of the second release candidate released late last week.
The update size varies depending on the device as well as the current update. Regardless, ensure you download the update using WiFi.
What’s New in iOS 18.4 Update
Now, let’s look into the exciting part of the iOS 18.4 update, which is new features and changes. It introduces a bunch of interesting changes and some much-awaited features. Here’s the full changelog.
Apple Intelligence (All iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)
- Priority notifications appear at the top of your notifications, highlighting important notifications that may require your immediate attention.
- Sketch is now available as an additional style option in Image Playground, allowing you to create gorgeous sketch drawings.
- Apple Intelligence features support 8 additional languages and 2 additional English locales, including English (India, Singapore), French (France, Canada), German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Japanese (Japan), Korean (South Korea), Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Spain, Latin America, US).
Apple Vision Pro App
- The new Apple Vision Pro app, automatically installed for users with Apple Vision Pro, helps you discover new content, spatial experiences, and quickly access information about your device.
Apple News+
- Recipes from some of the world’s best recipe publishers are now available on Apple News+.
- Recipe Catalog allows you to browse or search to find the perfect dish and save it to your Saved Recipes.
- Cooking mode lets you easily follow step-by-step directions.
- The Food section also includes stories about restaurants, kitchen tips, healthy eating, and more.
Photos
- New filters to show or hide items that are not contained in an album, or synced from a Mac or PC, in the Library view in Photos.
- Reorder items in the Media Types and Utilities collections in Photos.
- Consistent filtering options in all collections, including the ability to sort by oldest or newest first in Photos.
- Option to sort albums by Date Modified in Photos.
- Ability to disable “Recently Viewed” and “Recently Shared” collections in Photos Settings.
- Hidden photos are no longer included for import to Mac or a PC if Use Face ID is enabled in Photos settings.
Additional Enhancements and Bug Fixes
This update also includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:
- Safari recent search suggestions help you quickly get back to previous search topics when starting a new query.
- Setup Assistant streamlines steps parents need to take to create a Child Account for a kid in their family and enables child-appropriate default settings if parents prefer to complete setting up a Child Account later.
- Screen Time App Limits persist even after a child uninstalls and reinstalls an app.
- App Store includes summaries for user reviews so you can get helpful insights from other users at a glance.
- Pause and resume an app download or update on the App Store without losing progress.
- New widgets for Podcasts, including a Followed Shows widget to track your favorite shows and a Library widget to get to your most used sections, such as Latest Episodes, Saved, and Downloaded.
- Ambient Music offers the ability to instantly play music from Control Center, giving access to a set of hand-curated playlists that offer soundtracks for daily life.
- Apple Fitness+ Collections can now be added to Library.
- Matter-compatible robot vacuum cleaners can be controlled in the Home app as well as be added to scenes and automations.
- Support for 10 new system languages including Bangla, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu.
How to Download the iOS 18.4 Update
The iOS 18.4 update is now available to everyone. If you own an eligible iPhone, you can update your device to the latest version. To update your device, go to Settings > General > Software Update. Before installing the update, make sure to back up your device.
If you’ve already installed the second release candidate of the iOS 18.4 update, you won’t receive the update since both builds are the same.
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