Apple released the third public beta of iOS 18.4 on March 11, more than a month after the company released iOS 18.3 to the public. While that update rolled out some important fixes to all iPhones, the latest beta brings a handful of new features to developers and public beta testers, like new emoji and a recipes section in Apple News.
It looks so tired, and I love it.
Look at that emoji. The tired expression, the bags under its eyes, just great. I love it. And developers and public beta testers can use that emoji and more in the iOS 18.4 beta.
There are eight new emoji you can find in the beta, including:
Google unveiled these emoji as part of Unicode 16.0 in September, and it looks like iPhones could get these in April when iOS 18.4 is released to the general public. You might see these emoji appear in Android devices this month, and you could see them online as a web font now.
Read more: iOS 18.4 Could Ship With My New Favorite Emoji Next Month
Developers and beta testers with an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone will get a new feature called Priority Notifications with the iOS 18.4 beta.
“Apple Intelligence can show you notifications that may be important in a separate section on the Lock Screen, so you can catch up on what you may have missed,” Apple writes in the feature’s description. “You can still swipe up to view all notifications.”
After I downloaded the update, priority notifications were turned off by default, but you can turn them on by going to Settings > Notifications > Prioritize Notifications and tapping the toggle next to Prioritize Notifications. Then you can select which applications to prioritize notifications from. So if you want to prioritize Messages and Mail, you can disable notifications from other apps, like Game Center.
Developers and beta testers with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone can now access Apple Intelligence features in more places with the iOS 18.4 beta.
The first place you can access these features is in your Control Center. To find these controls, swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to open your Control Center, tap the plus (+) sign in the top-left corner of your screen and tap Add a Control. There is a new section in this menu called Apple Intelligence & Siri, and it has three controls: Talk to Siri, Type to Siri and Visual Intelligence. Tap one or all of these to add them to your Control Center.
Is the astronaut reaching into the painting? Where’s their left hand?
Image Playground is the Apple Intelligence image generator. In the iOS 18.4 beta, Apple introduced a new art style called Sketch to the app. The new style creates a fully colored image that looks like a sketch you might see in someone’s notebook. However, there are still plenty of imperfections in these photos.
Image Playground had two art styles before this update, one called Animation — which created 3D images — and the other called Illustration — which made cartoony images.
If you like playing music in the background while you work, do chores or relax, you can now easily access ambient music in your iPhone’s Control Center with the iOS 18.4 beta.
To find these controls, swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to open your Control Center, tap the plus (+) sign in the top-left corner of your screen, tap Add a Control and you should see a new section of controls called Ambient Music. There are four ambient music options: Sleep, Chill, Productivity and Wellbeing. Tap one (or all) of these controls to add them to your Control Center. Once the controls are in your Control Center, tap control, and it will start playing music.
You can also change the playlist for each control. To do so, go into your Control Center, tap the plus (+) sign in the top-left corner of your screen, tap the ambient sound control you want to edit and then tap the playlist to the right of Playlist. If you’re in the Chill control, for example, the default playlist is Laidback Lo-Fi. Once you’ve tapped the playlist, you’ll see more options, like Mellow Piano, Ambient Unwind or even the option From Library, which pulls from your music. Tap the playlist you want, and it will be assigned to that control.
I’ll eat that entire pan of “Cinnamon Toast” cake bars.
The new Food section also has stories on restaurants, healthy eating tips and more, but let’s be honest — having access to all those recipes is a great addition. Apple’s inclusion of this feature is likely the tech giant trying to take on other publications’ cooking and recipe sections.
The New York Times, for example, launched its Cooking section in 2014, and the Times said it had nearly 600,000 Cooking subscribers by 2020. The section isn’t included in the publication’s basic subscription plan, so you must either pay an extra $6 per month or subscribe to a more expensive plan to access this section.
But Apple isn’t charging extra for access to recipes like the Times. That makes an Apple News Plus subscription more valuable to home cooks or anyone trying to become a better chef at no extra cost.
Read more: Become a Master Chef at Home With Apple News Food
With the iOS 18.4 beta, if you have a Vision Pro headset connected to your iPhone, you’ll get a new Vision Pro app.
You can set your Podcasts widget to just play episodes of your favorite show.
The iOS 18.4 beta also brings a few new updates to the Podcasts app. If you want to add a Podcast widget to your home screen, you now have more options, including Shows and Library. Choosing a Shows widget will play episodes from a particular show you follow, and choosing a Library widget will play episodes from a list you specify in your library.
There are also two new settings in Podcasts in the latest beta, Podcasts Settings and Notification Settings. You can find these by opening the Podcasts app and tapping your profile image in the top-right corner of your screen. But these new settings don’t do anything in this beta no matter how many times you press them, so hopefully Apple adds functionality in a future update.
Watch this: iOS 18.4 Public Beta Adds Cool Features (but Not for Siri)
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