Apple Already Testing iOS 19.4 After Delaying Personalized Siri Features

[MacRumors]

A subset of Apple's software engineers started internal development of iOS 19.4 last month, according to the MacRumors visitor logs.

iOS 19.4 is expected to be released in March or April next year, so the software update is still nearly a year away. However, Apple develops both "Fall" and "Spring" versions of iOS each year, with our website's analytics logs indicating that both iOS 19.0 and iOS 19.4 are in active development within the company.

The start of iOS 19.4 development comes after Apple delayed its personalized Siri features until some point "in the coming year."

Apple first previewed the personalized Siri features during its WWDC 2024 keynote last June. The enhancements were initially expected to launch with iOS 18.4 a month ago, but they are now expected to arrive at some point during the iOS 19 cycle. Many well-connected Apple reporters and observers believe the features will not be available until 2026, so it is quite possible that they will launch as part of iOS 19.4 next year.

On the other hand, The New York Times last month said that Apple plans to roll out the revamped Siri this fall, but this report is an outlier for now. In this case, the features could debut as part of iOS 19 in September, or in iOS 19.1 in October.

All in all, the personalized Siri features should be available by iOS 19.4 at the latest, and the company is now working on that version.

Whenever they launch, the Siri upgrades will include understanding of a user's personal context, on-screen awareness, and deeper per-app controls. For example, during its WWDC 2024 keynote, Apple showed an iPhone user asking Siri about their mother's flight and lunch reservation plans based on info from the Mail and Messages apps.

The promised Siri upgrades will be powered by Apple Intelligence, which has faced a rocky rollout. Apple was hit with class action lawsuits in the U.S. and Canada over its delayed personalized Siri features, and the company recently complied with the National Advertising Division's recommendation to remove "available now" wording from the Apple Intelligence web page. Apple also had to disable notification summaries for news apps after some of the summaries generated false information, and it has yet to re-enable the feature.

Article Link: Apple Already Testing iOS 19.4 After Delaying Personalized Siri Features

 

[0xjf]

They’re already delaying it to iOS 19.4 before iOS 19 is even out 😂😂😂😂😂

 

[sniffies]

Eleventh time's the charm 🤞

 

[MacUser16.]

Apple is cooked 🥀 lil pluh needs to step it up

 

[turbineseaplane]

However, Apple develops both "Fall" and "Spring" versions of iOS each year, with our website's analytics logs indicating that both iOS 19.0 and iOS 19.4 are in active development within the company.

No wonder things never get fixed and bugs go unaddressed.

 

[nfl46]

What a mess. They have a year head start testing it and will still miss their deadline of Spring 2026. Lol.

 

[Hank001]

I will party when they release 19.9.9

 

[Joe Rossignol]

They’re already delaying it to iOS 19.4 before iOS 19 is even out 😂😂😂😂😂

This is standard for Apple.

iOS 18.0 and iOS 18.4 were also in development concurrently.

Fall and Spring releases are worked on simultaneously, and then Apple fills in the gaps with .1, .2., .3, .5., etc.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Fall and Spring releases are worked on simultaneously, and then Apple fills in the gaps with .1, .2., .3, .5., etc.

Yeah .... about that...

 

[sully54]

cant wait to see how they spin the delay of these features while promising new ones in the same keynote.

 

[guzhogi]

I really wish Apple would announce their big, new features when they're ready, or at least putting the last proverbial spit & polish on it. Waiting months, if not years, for features is tiresome and annoying. Makes them looks bad.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I really wish Apple would skip a year between releases. Sure, put out bug/security fixes in between, but take its time to get all the features ready and tested to go. With the move to Swift, SwiftUI, and Metal languages, maybe rewrite all the core libraries and frameworks and other base code in those languages, like they did with Core Data > Swift Data, rebuild the OS using the updated libraries/frameworks, and then redo first party apps. Try to standardize the codebases between the various OSes (macOS, iPadOS, iOS, etc.), so that users have a consistent experience, and developers have an easier job porting apps between the OSes.

 

[contacos]

I'd like to know how many people would use it, even if it was working better. Maybe I am just getting old but I feel like people have gotten used to using an iPhone a certain way over all these years, it's very hard to break habits. Also Apple AI isn't really that much in your face, you need to look for it. On Samsung One UI for example, there is a whole section dedicated to "Samsung AI" to properly explain you all the features and how to enable them. Tying everything to "Siri" and it's awful reputation was their first mistake. Also, why is it allot nothing. Mabye I just want to use a certain feature like rewrite but not everything else.

 

[spazzcat]

Things that are not happening ...

 

[UliBaer]

So they usually develop "a year ahead", have beta cycles and still produce these bug infested releases? 🤔

 

[jarman92]

No idea what Apple is planning, but if they're holding the delayed Siri features until 2026 then claiming they're arriving "in the coming year" is incredibly misleading, at best. Like maybe one can argue that Apple meant "year" as in "iOS version year" or "next 12 months," but neither is really the common understanding of "the coming year."

 

[JSchlik]

Honestly, I would not have upgraded from my 13PM to 16PM if this stuff was not ready. I feel lied to. Yes, companies lie all the time but I thought apple was different

 

[GioGiusi]

Just a terrible way to approach software, no matter how big you are. Ultimately, it means certain things simply CANNOT be changed from 18.0 to 18.1 to 18.2 to 18.3, because 18.4 is already based on a version of the software from before 18.0 even took shape.

Sometimes you come across things that you could fix, or that you realize would be better to overhaul than to patch, and you when you just do it, the whole thing is better as a result. You can't do that when it would break someone else's branch, and its just a terrible way to work. Nothing significant ever gets done. The really GOOD work, the best work I've ever done, is that work that I decide to start at 2 AM because redoing something would be better than a patch, and then spend the next few days doing.

 

[Octavius8]

Hahaha. We know it will never be ready. Apple has capability. They just buy and kill competitors. They time they just push the rope around the neck by themselves and can’t undo it.
Even BASIC stuff can’t be done in iPhone: edit a mistyped number in the phone app, play Spotify o radio station as a wake alarm, etc. iPhone is soooooo restricted that apple intel. Is just not compatible.

 

[Octavius8]

Buy an iPhone and keep it 3 or 4 years. They are the same and do the same thing. Nothing new in hardware nor in IOS. Is just frozen in time. Just Mac OS is decent.

 

[iPhoneFan5349]

What a mess. They have a year head start testing it and will still miss their deadline of Spring 2026. Lol.

They never said it was coming in 2026 nor 2025 did they? People said it was coming until 2027 lmao.

 

[iPhoneFan5349]

Hahaha. We know it will never be ready. Apple has capability. They just buy and kill competitors. They time they just push the rope around the neck by themselves and can’t undo it.
Even BASIC stuff can’t be done in iPhone: edit a mistyped number in the phone app, play Spotify o radio station as a wake alarm, etc. iPhone is soooooo restricted that apple intel. Is just not compatible.

Yeah. I think my next phone is going to be android. Although I will need to stick with the iPhone for my data.

 

[iPhoneFan5349]

Just a terrible way to approach software, no matter how big you are. Ultimately, it means certain things simply CANNOT be changed from 18.0 to 18.1 to 18.2 to 18.3, because 18.4 is already based on a version of the software from before 18.0 even took shape.

Sometimes you come across things that you could fix, or that you realize would be better to overhaul than to patch, and you when you just do it, the whole thing is better as a result. You can't do that when it would break someone else's branch, and its just a terrible way to work. Nothing significant ever gets done. The really GOOD work, the best work I've ever done, is that work that I decide to start at 2 AM because redoing something would be better than a patch, and then spend the next few days doing.

If only you could cut and paste coddn

 

[svish]

Think the initial version will be mainly about the redesign and later versions may have the Apple Intelligence features. Also it is not surprising to see Apple testing various versions of the software

 

[kirbyrun]

our website's analytics logs indicating that both iOS 19.0 and iOS 19.4 are in active development within the company

I've never understood why Apple employees working on the company's secret goodies would use their testing devices to visit sites like MacRumors, knowing that the logs would spill the beans as to what's being worked on and when. Just weird for such a culture of secrecy.

 

[bluecoast]

I’m looking forward to apple’s new annual tradition of delaying Apple intelligence features from their x.4 releases.