Apple officially releases iOS 18.4 Beta 1 update for developers; Check out the new features and changes
Apple recently released an iOS 18.3.1 update to fix an issue allowing attackers to disable USB Restricted Mode, potentially compromising a locked iPhone. The company has already revealed that compatible iPhones will receive an iOS 18.4 update in April of this year.
Before the official release of this upcoming update, Apple has now rolled out the first developer beta of iOS 18.4.
Since iOS 18.4 Beta 1 is available now to developer beta testers, the public beta testers may also receive this update in the next few weeks. For now, let’s take a look at what new features are included in iOS 18.4 Beta 1.
iOS 18.4 Beta 1: New features and changes
Apple News+ Food
This update adds a new Apple News+ Food section that contains tens of thousands of curated recipes from top publishers. Those recipes are presented in a clear and clutter-free interface. Apple has also mentioned that with iOS 18.4, Apple News+ subscribers will have access to Apple News+ Food, a new section that features thousands of recipes as well as stories about restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more from worlds top food publishers including Allrecipes, Bon Appetit, Food & Wine, Good Food and Serious Eats.
Privacy Notifications
It includes a Privacy Notification feature that is part of Apple Intelligence. This feature automatically highlights important notifications with a unique design so that users can identify notifications that need attention.
New Image Playground style
Earlier Image Playground when launched with iOS 18.2 offered two image styles- Animation and Illustration but with iOS 18.4 Beta 1 update it also offers a third style called Sketch.
Apple Intelligence in more languages
There are new languages for Apple Intelligence support: French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, Chinese (simplified) and localized English for Singapore and India.
Genmoji change
The Genmoji button in the emoji keyboard is made larger. There is also a new pop-up that appears the first time when you use the feature: Create your own original emoji to add to Messages or use as a sticker.
New default app categories
You can now set a default Translate app in the US and elsewhere. In the EU, there is now support for setting a default Navigation app.
Ambient music
There are four new Control Center toggles added for Ambient Music- Chill, Productivity, Sleep, and Wellbeing. They can be added to the Control Center, assigned to your iPhone’s Action Button, and placed on your Lock screen. They are each assigned to a default Apple Music playlist, but you can customize it to any playlist in your Music library.
CarPlay Design update
iOS 18.4 Beta 1 is said to update the CarPlay interface to add a third row of app icons on the Home screen (only applied to certain cars).
Photos app list view
There is a new interface for editing your Album list.
Age Range during setup
When you set up a new iPhone from scratch with iOS 18.4, you will be prompted to pick the Age Range of the person who will use the device. This is done to set up parental controls and safety features.
- Child: 12 or younger
- Teen: 13 to 17
- Adult: 18 or older
Podcast Widgets
Apple has added new Library and Shows widgets from the Podcasts app. These can be added to your iPhone’s Home screen to easily play podcasts.
New Mail app comes to iPad
With iPadOS 18.4 beta 1, the new Mail app that debuted on iPhone with iOS 18.2 is now on iPad as well. The Mail app automatically organizes and sorts your email into 4 different categories- Promotions, Primary, Transactions, and Updates. iPadOS 18.4 update is also said to be released alongside iOS 18.4 in April.
Some other changes
- Apple has added two new shortcut actions for the Messages app: Open Conversation and Send Message
- There are two new Australian voices for Siri in iOS 18.4
- Apple has made a few design tweaks to Control Centre- a new picker for switching Focus modes, a new animation when adjusting volume, and new design for the Cellular data toggle
- In the Settings app, the camera App portion of the Camera control interface now gets its dedicated menu
- Japanese My Number Card Digital ID is also said to arrive in Apple Wallet in iOS 18.4
Other than this it is also revealed that a new Apple Vision Pro app will also be arriving soon to iPhone as part of iOS 18.4 and visionOS 2.4 in April.
