iOS 18.4 Brings Enhanced Apple Intelligence, New Vision Pro App, and More

iOS 18.4 Release Overview

Apple has officially released iOS 18.4, bringing a plethora of new features and enhancements to the iPhone operating system. The update includes significant improvements in Apple Intelligence, the introduction of a new Apple Vision Pro app, updates to CarPlay, and numerous additions to the Shortcuts app.

Key Features

Apple Intelligence

• Localization Support: Expanded support for localized English in India and Singapore, along with eight additional languages: Chinese (simplified), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish.
• Visual Intelligence: Now available on iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max, allowing users to activate it via the Action button.
• Priority Notifications: Important notifications are displayed on the iOS Lock Screen, with user-customizable settings for which app notifications are shown.
• Control Center Integration: A dedicated section in Control Center for features like Type to Siri, Talk to Siri, and Visual Intelligence.
• Miscellaneous Enhancements: AI summaries of App Store reviews, a faster animation for Type to Siri, and a Genmoji usage prompt.

Apple Vision Pro App

• New iOS App: Provides setup instructions, essential information (like serial numbers), and a Guest Mode for easy sharing of the Apple Vision Pro experience.
• Content Discovery: The 'Discover' section offers curated apps, immersive videos, and games. Spatial Gallery content is also viewable within the app.

CarPlay

• Third Row of Icons: Option to display an additional row of icons on large screens.
• EV Routing: Support for North American Charging Standard (NACS) stations to help users find compatible chargers on a route.
• Sports Entitlement: New feature for sports enthusiasts.

Shortcuts App

• New Commands: A range of new shortcut commands, including Allow AV Adapter, Set Audio Language, Continue Watching Display, and more.

Other Changes

• Apple News+: New feed for recipes, restaurant reviews, and kitchen tips (requires Apple News+ subscription).
• Wallet App: 'Preauthorized Payments' listing and Face ID authentication for viewing savings accounts.
• Messages: Seven new emoji and RCS updates for multiple carriers in the U.S. and France.
• Control Center: Updated volume and brightness toggles, Focus Control with up/down arrows, and cellular bars reflecting actual carrier signal strength.
• HomeKit: Requirement to update Home architecture for continued HomeKit updates, support for Matter-enabled smoke detectors, and robot vacuum service area clusters.
• Find My: Enabled in South Korea for the first time.
• Safari: Recent searches displayed when opening a new tab (with an option to disable this feature), and full App Store link previews.
• App Store: Options to pause updates and app installs.

Installation

To manually install iOS 18.4, users can open the Settings app, navigate to 'General' > 'Software Update', and download the update if it is not already installed. Devices set to automatically update will receive the update without manual intervention.