Apple's iOS 18.4 public beta drops with new features you'll want to try

Kerry Wan/ZDNET

Kicked off on Tuesday, Apple's first public beta of iOS 18.4 enhances a host of features in clever ways. But those of you expecting another AI-powered overhaul to Siri may be disappointed.

What's inside?

On the plus side, the new beta adds more in the realm of Apple Intelligence. You can now enable Priority Notifications, which prompt the built-in AI to show them at the top of your notification stack. To activate this, go to Settings, select Notifications, tap Prioritize Notifications, and then turn on the switch for Prioritize Notifications.

The Image Playground now includes a third style called Sketch, joining the Animation and Illustration styles that were already available. Accessing Genmoji is easier thanks to a new button that says "Genmoji."

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Plus, Apple Intelligence now supports French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified), as well as the localized English language in India and Singapore.

Of course, you'll need the right type of device to access Apple Intelligence. That means any iPhone 16 model, an iPhone 15 Pro, an iPhone 15 Pro Max, any iPad with an A17 Pro or M1 or later chip, or any Mac with an M1 or later chip. Yes, Apple has also released public betas for iPadOS 18.4 and macOS 15.4, which offer many of the same enhancements found in iOS 18.4.

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Next up, Apple News+ has cooked up a new Food section for subscribers seeking recipes, healthy eating tips, and other food-related information. A new Ambient Music option accessible through Control Panel lets you choose different sound categories such as Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing. Tapping one of the four then plays music in that style.

The beta adds new widgets for the Podcasts app. The Library widget displays all saved episodes from your podcast library, while the Shows widget will show you all the episodes from a specific show. For CarPlay users, you'll now see an extra row of icons on the screen, but only if your display is large enough. And for people who need to translate languages, you're now able to set a default translation app.

What's not included?

On the minus side, though, the new beta doesn't include any significant improvements to Siri. Based on past reports, iOS 18.4 was expected to add on-screen awareness to Siri, allowing it to field questions about the current screen. The voice assistant was also supposed to start working with third-party apps to expand its repertoire.

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Since this is the first public beta, we may still see some tweaks to Siri before iOS 18.4 is officially released. However, the major updates likely won't appear for a couple of months.

In a news item posted last Friday, Apple said that "Apple Intelligence will continue to expand with new features in the coming months, including more capabilities for Siri." With a reference to the coming months, that means the next round of Siri enhancements probably won't arrive until the official release of iOS 18.5 in late April or May.