iOS 18.4 public beta now available, here’s everything new – 9to5Mac

iOS 18.3 launched almost a month ago, leaving a long gap afterward with no new software. But the first iOS 18.4 public beta is finally here, and it brings a lot of big and small changes for iPhone. Here’s what’s new in today’s release.There are four new Apple Intelligence upgrades and changes available in the first iOS 18.4 beta:The only big new AI features we’re still waiting on are Siri upgrades, which I’ll address further down.Subscribe to 9to5Mac on YouTube for more videosApple News+ is getting better in iOS 18.4 with a major expansion into food and recipe features.Inside the News app, News+ subscribers can access a dedicated Food hub for finding “tens of thousands” of recipes. There are also stories on restaurants and other food-related news. Recipes themselves are presented in a beautiful new interface that makes it easy to follow along.If you regularly use recipes from the web, you know how nice a change this will be. A recipe interface that’s free from the clutter of intrusive ads is huge. There’s also a nice device integration that lets you start a timer with just a tap in the recipe itself.There’s a new Ambient Music feature in Control Center that lets you choose from four different ‘mood’ soundtracks:Each option is set by default to a specific Apple Music playlist, but you can also edit which playlist is triggered—choosing from preset options or your own creation. Each control can be added not only to Control Center, but also your iPhone’s Action button or Lock Screen.iOS 18.4 was expected to bring three major Siri upgrades: onscreen awareness, personal context understanding, and new in-app actions. But unfortunately none of these are currently supported in beta 1.It’s possible Apple will add some of these Siri changes in future iOS 18.4 betas. However, Mark Gurman seems to believe they’ve been delayed into iOS 18.5 instead.What are your favorite iOS 18.4 public beta features? Let us know in the comments.FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.Check out 9to5Mac on YouTube for more Apple news:Ryan got his start in journalism as an Editor at MacStories, where he worked for four years covering Apple news, writing app reviews, and more. For two years he co-hosted the Adapt podcast on Relay FM, which focused entirely on the iPad. As a result, it should come as no surprise that his favorite Apple device is the iPad Pro.

Source: https://9to5mac.com/2025/02/24/ios-184-public-beta-now-available-heres-everything-new/