- By Prateek Levi
- Mon, 24 Feb 2025 02:35 PM (IST)
- Source:JND
The iOS 18.4 Beta 1 update was released by Apple last Friday and boasts of new features encompassing those powered by Apple Intelligence- Apple's Artificial Intelligence (AI) Suite. The update comes with Priority Notifications, a feature that Apple previewed at WWDC 2024 in June during the introduction of iOS 18 but was not released then. This new feature analyses notifications and picks out the ones it considers most important, which are then displayed in a different section on the iPhone's lock screen.
What Is New This Time?
According to Apple, the Priority Notifications feature on iPhone uses on-device AI to analyze notification content and assess its importance, all while ensuring privacy. When enabled, only prioritized notifications are shown, though users can swipe up to view all notifications.
This feature is disabled by default but can be activated by going to Settings > Notifications > Prioritize Notifications.
Another update feature to look out for is the new Ambient Music option in the Control Center. It randomly selects sounds from four categories: Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing. Currently, the functionality is limited as users cannot choose the tracks that are being played, but they can still see the tracks and skip them if they like through the music player in the Dynamic Island.
The company announces a new "Sketch" style added to the Image Playground app, alongside the existing Animation and Illustration styles. Previously available in Image Wand, it is now also accessible in Image Playground, offering users three style options to choose from.
As anticipated the update caters to Apple Intelligence and includes more languages and locales. The languages included now are Chinese (Simplified), English (India, Singapore), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish. We also have the new text for Genmoji in the emoji keyboard, the preferred language option in Apple Maps, the new Library and Shows Widget for home screen customization, and you will also have the option to set a default translation app.