iOS 18.4 lands with more Apple Intelligence, Apple Vision Pro app

Apple has finalized and released its update for iOS 18.4, adding more Apple Intelligence changes alongside a new Apple Vision Pro app, CarPlay, Shortcuts tweaks, and a bunch of new emoji.

Following a beta testing cycle involving four developer betas and two release candidates, iOS 18.4 is now ready to be used by the general public. The build number, 22E240, is identical to the RC2's build, indicating they are the same content-wise.

As usual, the iPhone operating system benefits from many changes in its updates, with Apple Intelligence continuing to feature prominently.

Apple Intelligence

Arriving since the first beta build, Apple Intelligence was expected to get some considerable updates to Siri, though that seems to have been put off to a future release.

What arrived in iOS 18.4 is an expansion of its availability and localization support. This includes support for localized English in India and Singapore, as well as eight additional languages: Chinese (simplified), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish.

Along with the expanded usability, there were some important image-based updates. The lesser of them was the introduction of a new Sketch style to Image Playground, giving users more imaging options.

More important is Visual Intelligence's expansion to more devices from the original iPhone 16 range release. Under iOS 18.4, iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max users can set up the Action button to activate Visual Intelligence.

Visual Intelligence, Prioritize Notifications, and Control Center in iOS 18.4

Priority Notifications shifts important notifications to the iOS Lock Screen, with selections chosen by Apple Intelligence. This was tweaked in beta testing to enable users to change what app notifications get displayed.

Furthering user management of Apple Intelligence features, a dedicated Control Center section will display controls for features like Type to Siri, Talk to Siri, and Visual Intelligence.

Other smaller Apple Intelligence changes include AI summaries of App Store reviews, a faster animation for Type to Siri, and a prompt reminding users to use Genmoji.

Apple Vision Pro app

The Apple Vision Pro gains a new iOS app in this update, helping users get along with the headset from the start of ownership. The app provides instructions for using the device and offers essential information, such as its serial number.

The app also makes it easier to share the Apple Vision Pro experience, with it able to enable a Guest Mode for the headset. This eliminates most of the setup process for using the headset for guests, speeding up the time it takes to try it out.

Apple Vision Pro app in iOS 18.4

Users can also use the app to find new content, with the "Discover" section showcasing different apps, immersive videos, and games for the Apple Vision Pro. Spatial Gallery content is also viewable, allowing users to see spatial videos and photos in one convenient location.

CarPlay

Apple's in-car infotainment software, CarPlay, also gained a few changes in the betas. For a start, Apple added the option to display a third row of icons in the interface, but only on large screens.

A more important change spotted in the betas was one aimed at electric vehicles. As part of its EV Routing feature, the system will support North American Charging Standard (NACS) stations, which will let users more easily find compatible chargers on a route.

CarPlay also gains a Sports entitlement.

Shortcuts

There are many new additions to the Shortcuts app, which provides more ways to automate a user's apps and life.

The new shortcut commands include:

• Allow AV Adapter
• Set Audio Language
• Continue Watching Display
• Default Languages for Subtitles
• Download Cellular Quality
• Downloads Wireless Quality
• Purchase and Rental Quality
• Show Sports Scores
• Streaming Cellular Quality
• Streaming Wireless Quality
• Use Cellular Data for Streaming
• Use Cellular Data for Downloads
• Use Play History

Other iOS 18.4 changes

There were a lot of other changes affecting individual apps and services in iOS in the betas too.

Apple News+ gains a new feed for recipes, restaurant reviews, and kitchen tips. This does require an Apple News+ subscription for access.

The Wallet app changed its listing for Subscriptions and Payments to say Preauthorized Payments. Wallet users can also use Face ID to authenticate when viewing their savings account.

Messages gains a total of seven new emoji, as well as RCS updates for multiple carriers in the U.S. and France.

Aside from the Apple Intelligence additions, Control Center also has changes to the volume and brightness toggles. Focus Control gains up and down arrows in Control Center, and the cellular bars there also now reflect the actual carrier signal strength.

HomeKit users will soon have to update their Home architecture to continue getting HomeKit updates. Robot vacuums can be used with a service area cluster, and there's now support for Matter-enabled smoke detectors.

Find My has been enabled in South Korea for the first time.

Safari now shows recent searches to users when they open a new tab, so they could get back to what they previously researched quickly. Users can also disable their appearance in the tab to maintain privacy.

Also, Safari's preview for App Store links now show the whole app.

Meanwhile, the App Store has new options to pause updates and app installs.

How to install iOS 18.4

To install iOS 18.4 on an iPhone manually, open the Settings app, select General, then Software Update. With beta updates turned off, the final release version will appear unless it has already been installed.

Not everyone needs to do this manually. It's only if a user has set their iPhone not to automatically update.