iOS 18.4 Beta Coming Soon With These New Features for Your iPhone

[MacRumors]

iOS 18.3 is expected to be widely released next week, and that means the first iOS 18.4 beta for iPhones should be just around the corner.

Apple has previously implied that iOS 18.4 will be released in April, as that is when it promised to make Apple Intelligence available in even more languages.

Below, we outline what to expect from iOS 18.4 so far.

Apple Intelligence for Siri

Siri is expected to get several enhancements powered by Apple Intelligence on iOS 18.4. These upgrades will include on-screen awareness, deeper per-app controls, understanding of the user's personal context, and more.

Apple Intelligence requires an iPhone 15 Pro model or any iPhone 16 model.

Apple Intelligence in More Languages

Apple previously announced that a software update coming in April will make Apple Intelligence available in more languages, and that likely refers to iOS 18.4. Additional languages will include English (India), English (Singapore), Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese, but Apple said only some of these languages will be added in April, with the rest to follow throughout 2025.

Apple Intelligence is currently available in localized English in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., Ireland, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa.

Improved News Summaries

Examples of inaccurate Apple Intelligence notification summaries​

Apple Intelligence notification summaries for news apps are temporarily unavailable on iOS 18.3, after the feature inaccurately summarized some news stories.

Apple promised that improvements to notification summaries are coming in a future software update, so we will see if that happens in iOS 18.4.

Starting with iOS 18.3, summarized notifications have italicized text, which makes them stand out visually compared to regular notifications. In a future software update, though, hopefully the news summaries will actually become more accurate.

New Emoji

iOS 15.4, iOS 16.4, and iOS 17.4 all introduced new emoji, so there is a good chance that trend will continue with iOS 18.4.

Last year, the Unicode Consortium previewed the new emoji that should be coming with iOS 18.4, with new options including face with bags under eyes, fingerprint, leafless tree, root vegetable, harp, shovel, splatter, and more.

Default Map and Translation Apps in EU

In an October 2024 document related to the EU's Digital Markets Act, Apple revealed that it will allow iPhone and iPad users in the EU to set default navigation and translation apps starting in "spring 2025." That timing likely aligns with iOS 18.4.

For example, users should be able to choose Google Maps, Waze, or other options as their default navigation app, instead of Apple Maps. Likewise, they should be able to choose Google Translate, Microsoft Translator, or other options as their default translation app, instead of Apple's Translate app. These options will be added to the new "Default Apps" section in the Settings app on iPhones that was implemented in iOS 18.2.

Robot Vacuum Support in Home App

Apple's website continues to state that robot vacuum support will be added to the Home app in an unspecified iOS 18 update. When available, this feature will allow you to control key functions of your robot vacuum in the Home app, and with Siri voice commands.

Here is how Apple describes the feature:

The Home app now supports the core functionality of robot vacuum cleaners, such as power control, cleaning mode, vacuum, mop, and charge status. They can also participate in automations and scenes, and respond to Siri requests. So you can add them to your cleaning routines — or tell Siri to do some spot cleaning in the living room.

There were references to the feature added in iOS 18.3's code, but the functionality does not appear to be live yet. Perhaps it will come with iOS 18.4.

Article Link: iOS 18.4 Beta Coming Soon With These New Features for Your iPhone

 

[siriuset]

These incremental rollouts are getting tedious. Finish your product and then release it.

 

[ELman]

Great, new Emoji's and robot vacuum support for the U.S. I think the news summaries should be fix what was broken verses a new feature.

 

[carl76tr]

Anyone know whether this would let me drop the intrusive irobot app altogether?

 

[Zorn]

The mail categories features are also supposed to be coming to macOS & iPadOS in .4, surprised that one isn't mentioned in the article.

 

[Bradged]

I suspect they won’t fix the issue with news summaries, but they will manage to make sure the false news isn’t ascribed to proper news organisations. I’m also hoping the 18.4 beta will extend the hearing aid function to the UK, now the regulations have changed.

 

[Realityck]

More notifications with improved news summaries, hope that can be minimized. It’s irritating enough with Apple TV with sports announcements coming up and can’t stop them.

I do look forward to any Siri improvements.

 

[klasma]

The mail categories features are also supposed to be coming to macOS & iPadOS in .4, surprised that one isn't mentioned in the article.

The article is about iOS, not iPadOS or macOS.

You can be sure there will be separate articles for those.

 

[slomtbr]

… non AI Siri will be even dumber.

 

[switz]

A lot of these issues just disappear if you leave AI off.

The issues over the years appear in all varieties of Apple operating systems to often be cumulative. Like building a house on quick sand - one never gets above the first floor.

If Apple spent a full year adding zero new features and just got the operating system on each device category rock solid, then we might not have the customer dissatisfaction caused by all the nit picking problems and or avoidable bigger problems.

 

[9081094]

It’s a complete disaster and Timmy should make a public excuse to all of his loyal customers. Apple is falling behind on all fronts and they want to mask it with some new genmoij.

Why are all those Apple Intelligence features only available for their newest iPhones? Samsung has the same on device AI rolled out and WORKING. It’s also able to work on older devices as well.

A total embarrassment from Apple.

 

[klasma]

… non AI Siri will be even dumber.

“I can show you the results if you ask again after having purchased an iPhone 16.”

 

[klasma]

If Apple spent a full year adding zero new features and just got the operating system on each device category rock solid, then we might not have the customer dissatisfaction caused by all the nit picking problems and or avoidable bigger problems.

I agree in principle, but at this point they’ll need more than a year for that.

 

[Lioness~]

I am lucky, no Apple Intelligence on my mini, and Siri have been turned off a long time.
Another reason, why my mini is the best.
I have another app on my Mac's that have some writing tools that can be useful at times however.

 

[Bones402]

Apple just blowing smoke these days.

 

[krull1015]

Who cares about new emoji’s and vacuum support, can we just get a refined capable Siri that’s accurate and reliable. AI for the rest of us 😊

 

[citysnaps]

Looks good to me!

 

[WarmWinterHat]

Default Map and Translation Apps in EU

In the EU.....sigh..

 

[Realityck]

It’s a complete disaster and Timmy should make a public excuse to all of his loyal customers. Apple is falling behind on all fronts and they want to mask it with some new genmoij.

Why are all those Apple Intelligence features only available for their newest iPhones? Samsung has the same on device AI rolled out and WORKING. It’s also able to work on older devices as well.

A total embarrassment from Apple.

Because they want the AI to run locally in eight GB RAM not the cloud. So making recent iPhones with 6 GB ram ineligible. Yes IMHO it’s dumb because not every feature is that necessary to use in such efficient manner. It’s currently a all or nothing scenario.

 

[netsped]

They really messed up their AI release by limiting it to one language, the hype is gone now.

Too little too late.

 

[HQuest]

I only wish home automations would still run without a stupid pop up notification, if there is nothing classified as “security” on them, or if it is to lock/power off stuff. Why should it ask me if I want to lock the door and/or turn off lights if nobody is at home and the door is already in a locked state? Just silently do it as it used to do in iOS 15 (or 16, been a while since this new stupid behavior).

I understand the safety implications of opening a door automatically but hey, perhaps if there was an option to include or not a door into the automation… 🙄

 

[Hamsterhjulet]

Fingers crossed Apple Intelligence will be available across EU for the rest of us.

 

[cocky jeremy]

Soooo... nothing, basically?

 

[John_Blackthorne]

The Siri promises have all been wrong so far. It hasn't been any better.

I always try new things and almost none of them work.

 

[freedomlinux]

Starting with iOS 18.3, summarized notifications have italicized text, which makes them stand out visually compared to regular notifications. In a future software update, though, hopefully the news summaries will actually become more accurate.

I'm not convinced this is good enough? Putting text in italics doesn't feel like a clear enough indication that it is AI summarized. And how does that work with Accessibility for users with no/low vision?

News organizations should be livid that Apple is generating notifications under their name, but not using their words. Letting a third-party put words in your mouth & attribute them to you is an enormous reputational risk. IMO some categories of apps (ex: news) should be ineligible for summarization.