Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Independent UK
The Independent UK
Technology
Andrew Griffin

iOS 18.4: Apple releases new iPhone software update along with new features for almost all its products

Apple has released updates for almost all of its products, and users have been urged to update them.

New software is available for the iPhone, iPad, Apple TV and Vision Pro. An update for the Apple Watch was briefly available but was then rescinded.

Each of the updates brings new features. But they also have security updates and other big fixes that mean users have been advised to install them as quickly as possible even if they do not want the new features.

For the iPhone, iOS 18.4 bring a host of new updates. Chief among them is an update for Apple Intelligence: priority notifications, which uses AI to try and spot important messages and push it higher in the list.

It also adds new emoji – including a face with bags under its eyes – as well as changes to the Photos app and the option to play “Ambient Music” from the control centre.

The update for the Mac is numbered Sequoia 15.4, and largely updates the computers so they are in line with the iPhone and iPad. They get the email sorting features that arrived to the phone last year, and the “Quick Start” tool that lets a new device be set up by holding an old one nearby is now also available.

Perhaps the most significant update comes to what is probably Apple’s most niche product: the Vision Pro. With VisionOS 2.4, the headset will now get Apple Intelligence, which brings tools such as notification summaries, as well as other changes such as a gallery app that will collect spatial content together.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.