Apple is beta testing iOS 18.4 at the current time, and while the update doesn't have the Apple Intelligence Siri features we were hoping for, there are a number of new additions that are worth knowing about.
Priority Notifications - Apple Intelligence
There is a new Priority Notifications feature that can show you your most important notifications first. Priority Notifications is disabled by default, but it can be turned on by going to Settings > Notifications > Prioritize Notifications and tapping the toggle.
With the feature enabled, Apple Intelligence will show notifications that may be important in a dedicated section of the Lock Screen.
Image Playground Sketch Style
Image Playground now includes a Sketch style that joins the Animation and Illustration styles. Sketch was previously available for Image Wand, but now it is a third style that can be used in Image Playground.
Swap styles by tapping on the "+" button in the Image Playground app.
Apple also replaced the "Winter Holidays" theme with a new "Spring" theme.
New Apple Intelligence Languages
French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified), along with localized English for Singapore and India.
Apple News+ Food
iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 include a new Apple News Food section for Apple News+ subscribers. The Food section features tens of thousands of recipes, stories about restaurants, tips for healthy eating, kitchen essentials, and more.
Content will come from top food publishers such as Allrecipes, Bon Appétit, Food & Wine, Good Food, and Serious Eats.Apple News editors will curate food-related stories, and there will be a dedicated Recipe Catalog section where new recipes are added regularly. An included cook mode provides step-by-step instructions, and users can save favorite recipes for offline access.
Ambient Music
iOS 18.4 includes a new Ambient Music option that can be added to Control Center. There are four different sound categories, including Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing.
Each category can be added to Control Center separately, and tapping one plays a random selection of sounds or music from that particular category.
You can't choose what's playing from Control Center, but if you play a category and then tap into the Dynamic Island at the top or access the Now Playing widget, you can skip songs and see the name of what's currently playing.
Mail Categorization for iPadOS 18.4
With iPadOS 18.4, an updated Mail app is available with categorization. The new Mail app organizes incoming emails into different sections. Important emails are displayed in the Primary category, with other emails organized into sections highlighting product orders, newsletters, deals, and social notifications.
Mail categorization was previously introduced for the iPhone in iOS 18.2.
Privacy Indication Dots
The small dots that show up on the iPhone's menu bar when the camera or microphone is in use have been moved to the left and are now more apparent thanks to a black background.
Siri Voices
There are two new Australian voices for Siri.
Genmoji
The Genmoji icon for the Emoji keyboard now says "Genmoji" instead of just featuring a multi-colored smiley face. The change should make it more obvious where users go to create a Genmoji character.
Photos
In the Photos app, there are now options to filter your library by images that were shared with you by others or by those that are not included in an album, which is useful for separating out content that you've organized into albums.
Apple also added an option to view your album list by key photo.
In the Photos Settings, there is a new Show Recently Viewed & Shared toggle that will show or hide the Recently Viewed and Recently Shared albums from the Utilities list.
Type to Siri
When you use Type to Siri to ask Siri a question, the keyboard is now collapsed down when Siri answers. To type another request, you need to tap on the Siri bar to bring it back up. There is also a toggle to activate Type to Siri with the side button, which would normally cause Siri to listen for a voice command. This feature is not working as intended in beta 1.
Back Tap
If you have the Back Tap Accessibility option turned on, there is now a notification when a double tap or triple tap action is performed.
Apple Maps
In the Apple Maps Settings, there is a new option to set a Preferred Language.
Passwords
In the Passwords app, verification codes for two-factor authentication have a countdown circle so you can tell when a new code is going to be generated... Click here to read rest of article
Article Link: All of the New Features in iOS 18.4 So Far