Four brand new features in iOS 18.4 that you can't miss

Priority messages

Although Apple has postponed the release of a "more personalized" version of Siri indefinitely, iOS 18.4 will introduce one new Apple Intelligence feature. The update will add Priority Messages, a feature that automatically highlights your most important messages.

"Apple Intelligence can show you notifications that might be important in a separate section on the lock screen so you can catch up on what you missed. You can still swipe up to see all notifications," Apple describes the feature.

You can manage Priority Notifications through the Settings app, including adding or removing certain apps from the list for priority sorting.

Please note that Apple Intelligence is supported on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, and all iPhone 16 models.

Priority notifications (photo: 9to5Mac)

Background music

One of the most interesting features of iOS 18.4 is background music. The update adds four new toggles to the Control Center that allow you to launch background music with a single tap:

• Wellness.
• Relaxation
• Productivity
• Sleep

These switches can be added to the Control Center, assigned to an iPhone action button, and placed on the lock screen. Each is associated with a default playlist in Apple Music, but you can customize it to any playlist in your music library. Playback is controlled through a simplified Now Playing interface with buttons for play/pause, skip, volume, and AirPlay control.

Start background music with one touch (photo: 9to5Mac)

New emojis

iOS 18.4 beta 2 adds seven new emojis for iPhone users:

• Face with bags under eyes
• Fingerprint
• Leafless tree
• Root vegetable
• Harp
• Shovel
• Splash

New emojis will appear in iOS 18.4 (photo: 9to5Mac)

Apple News+ Food

The Apple News app has a new feature called Apple News+ Food, available with iOS 18.4. This feature brings together thousands of selected recipes from leading publishers. The recipes are presented in a clear and user-friendly interface with filtering capabilities, integration with the Clock app, and more.

With the new Food feature, users can find stories handpicked by Apple News editors and browse, search, and filter through tens of thousands of guides in the Recipe Catalog - with new ones added daily. The beautifully designed format makes it easy to read ingredients and instructions, and the new cooking mode displays step-by-step instructions on the entire screen.

Users can also save their favorite recipes for future use and access them offline.

The recipes are presented in a clear and user-friendly interface (photo: 9to5Mac)

You may also be interested in:

• What to expect from the upcoming iOS 19 update
• Which iPhone models will get iOS 19 support