- iOS 18.4 Dev Beta is here
- The great Siri update is not
- There are some remarkable and possibly useful additions
Apple released its first developer Beta to iOS 18.4, and it lacks the biggest and probably most requested Apple Intelligence update: the new and much smarter and more useful SIRI.
A big warning here: No one encourages you to install a developer -beta on your best iPhone. These updates are intended for developers and ultra-herds like me who are desperate to try the very latest things. So downloaders, be careful.
Still, the exclusion of what should be Apple Intelligence’s coronation function is worrying. Apple started its AI trip almost a year ago and has been rolling Apple Intelligence features since the summer and through September with the release of the iPhone 16 lineup. Since then there have been several updates, but Siri has been frustrating behind. Sure that there have been less improvements as more app attention, but full system cognition and the ability to participate in a conversation way connecting the requests to everything iPhone knows about you is still missing.
As far as I can tell, Siri is on iOS 18.4 Dev beta 1 unchanged. Siri can still easily open the camera app on the command but if I ask it to open the camera and Take a picture, it ends only the first task. When I ask it to analyze my calendar and e emails to see if I have too much going on, it has no idea what I am going on.
What you get
iOS 18.4 (and iPados 18.4) is not devoid of improvement. The update brings a new news+ food episode that Apple notes in a release on the update will include “Tens of thousands of recipes – as well as stories of restaurants, healthy eating, kitchen and more – from the world’s best food publishers, includes AllRecipes, Bon Apptit, Food & Wine , Good Food and Serious Eats. Apple says it will arrive in April for Apple News+ subscribers.
Image Playground gets a small update in the form of a new illustration style: Sketch that delivers a visual output that looks more like, says a colored pencil sketch.
The update also promises the new Vision Pro app, a kind of tool, control and information update that gives you a clearer iPhone connection to the powerful and expensive mixed reality laptop, which also gets Apple Intelligence.
Although this beta does not bring a wealth of Apple Intelligence updates, its release marks an extension of kinds. Apple Global Head of Marketing Greg Joswiak tweeted on X that Apple’s brand of AI is expanding to eight more languages on iPhone, Mac and iPad. Vision Pro Apple Intelligence update will arrive in April.
Apple Intelligence continues to roll out to more languages and more platforms! It will expand to eight more languages across iPhone, iPad and Mac and will be ready to arrive at Apple Vision Pro in April. Developers can start exploring these new opportunities today.February 21, 2025
I’m sure there are quite a few other bug fixes and updates, big and small, in iOS 18.4, but it’s hard to get really excited without the full Apple Intelligence-Infunded version of Siri. It’s like getting a creamy donut, biting it and finding the cream missing; There’s just an empty cavity.
Apple certainly has one or two more larger iOS 18 updates to go before calling us all Cupertino for WWDC 2025 to speak iOS 19 and the next big Apple Intelligence update. If Apple finally wants to deliver what Siri will finally be before then, it should better get moving.
