Siri Takes Center Stage in iOS 18.4
Apple appears to be approaching the release of its next beta version, targeting substantial enhancements for its virtual voice assistant.
The tech giant has been gradually introducing Apple Intelligence, with initial features debuting in iOS 18.1, such as writing assistance, comprehensive system summaries, and a feature for managing photo organization.
In the upcoming beta iteration, Apple is set to evaluate several innovative functionalities related to Siri. One notable addition is an app intent system that offers contextual support for on-screen commands issued to Siri. Developers were already encouraged by Apple to prepare this new functionality starting with iOS 18.2.
On Threads this past Friday, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman hinted at the imminent release of the beta:
“I anticipate that the first beta for iOS 18.4 will launch sometime between mid-next week and early following week—so expect it very soon.”
Additionally, preparations are underway for expanding Apple Intelligence’s language capabilities within iOS 18.4. The update aims to incorporate support for languages including Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
Moreover, there is a strong possibility of integrating the Unicode 16 update into this release; this would introduce seven novel emoji symbols like root vegetable emojis and various expressive characters such as a face with bags under eyes and assorted objects like shovels and harps.
In late January of this year , Apple made public its release of iOS 18.3 that concentrated primarily on advancing features associated with Apple Intelligence—this encompassed improvements in visual intelligence capabilities while addressing user concerns over notification summaries alongside setting up default activation for these smart features.
