Second Release Candidate of iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 Available for Testing

Apple has issued a second release candidate (RC) build of iOS 18.4 and ipadOS 18.4, a day after releasing a 2nd RC build of MacOS Seqouia 15.4. Earlier in the week Apple introduced the first RC builds of these system software versions.

iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 gain some new features and improvements to Apple Intelligence, Photos app, various bug fixes, and iPad gains the Mail Categories feature on iPhone which hasn’t been well received by everyone but you can always disable it if you don’t like it. There’s also a new feature to play Ambient Music from Control Center, and the inclusion of new Emoji icons like a face with bags under its eyes.

With a second release candidate and accompanying release notes being made available today, it is likely that the final versions of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, and macOS Sequoia 15.4 will debut next week.

How to Install iOS 18.4 / iPadOS 18.4 RC 2

Assuming you’re in the beta program, finding the second release candidate build is easy:

1. Open the “Settings” app on your iPhone or iPad
2. Go to “General”, and then go to “Software Update”
3. Choose to “Download and Install” iOS 18.4 / iPadOS 18.4

Your device will have to restart to finish installation.

iOS 18.4 RC 2 Release Notes

Release notes included with RC 2 are:

Apple Intelligence (All iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max)
– Priority notifications appear at the top of your notifications, highlighting important notifications that may require your immediate attention
– Sketch is now available as an additional style option in Image Playground, allowing you to create gorgeous sketch drawings
– Apple Intelligence features support 8 additional languages and 2 additional English locales, including English (India, Singapore), French (France, Canada), German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Japanese (Japan), Korean (South Korea), Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Spain, Latin America, US)

Apple Vision Pro App
– The new Apple Vision Pro app, automatically installed for users with Apple Vision Pro, helps you discover new content, spatial experiences, and quickly access information about your device

Apple News+
– Recipes from some of the world’s best recipe publishers are now available on Apple News+
– Recipe Catalog allows you to browse or search to find the perfect dish and save it to your Saved Recipes
– Cooking mode lets you easily follow step-by-step directions
– The Food section also includes stories about restaurants, kitchen tips, healthy eating, and more

Photos
– New filters to show or hide items that are not contained in an album, or synced from a Mac or PC, in the Library view in Photos
– Reorder items in the Media Types and Utilities collections in Photos
– Consistent filtering options in all collections, including the ability to sort by oldest or newest first in Photos
– Option to sort albums by Date Modified in Photos
– Ability to disable “Recently Viewed” and “Recently Shared” collections in Photos Settings
– Hidden photos are no longer included for import to Mac or a PC if Use Face ID is enabled in Photos settings

This update also includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:
– Safari recent search suggestions help you quickly get back to previous search topics when starting a new query
– Setup Assistant streamlines steps parents need to take to create a Child Account for a kid in their family, and enables child-appropriate default settings if parents prefer to complete setting up a Child Account later
– Screen Time App Limits persist even after a child uninstalls and reinstalls an app
– App Store includes summaries for user reviews so you can get helpful insights from other users at a glance
– Pause and resume of an app download or update on App Store without losing progress
– New widgets for Podcasts including a Followed Shows widget to track your favorite shows and a Library widget to get to your most used sections, such as Latest Episodes, Saved, and Downloaded
– Ambient Music offers the ability to instantly play music from Control Center, giving access to a set of hand-curated playlists that offer soundtracks for daily life
– Apple Fitness+ Collections can now be added to Library
– Matter-compatible robot vacuum cleaners can be controlled in the Home app as well as be added to scenes and automations
– Support for 10 new system languages including Bangla, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu

Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit:
https://support.apple.com/100100

It is highly probable that iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, macOS Sequoia 15.4, along with updates to watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS, will all launch to the general public in the near future, possibly next week.