Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming iOS 11.4 update to developers, a little under a week after releasing iOS 11.3, an update that introduced a wide range of new features like Battery Health for monitoring the status of your iPhone's battery, Business Chat in Messages, ARKit 1.5 with augmented reality improvements, new Animoji on iPhone X, Health Records from participating medical providers, and more.
Registered developers can download the new iOS 11.4 beta from Apple's Developer Center or over-the-air once the proper configuration profile has been installed from the Developer Center. It appears there's currently a bug preventing the beta profile from being downloaded, but it should be addressed soon.
It's not yet clear what new features will be included in the iOS 11.4 beta aside from the new ClassKit framework Apple introduced at its March event, but we are waiting on several features to be added to iOS 11, including iCloud Messages and AirPlay 2, functionality that has popped up in previous betas and then disappeared before release.
We don't yet know if any of these features will be introduced in iOS 11.4, but we'll update this post once we download the beta and discover what's new.
What's new in iOS 11.4 Beta 1: Messages on iCloud is present in the iOS 11.4 beta after being removed from iOS 11.3 ahead of its release, as are AirPlay 2 features. Apple TV devices are once again listed in the Home app, an AirPlay 2 option.
Stereo support for the HomePod is included, but the feature doesn't work properly as it requires unreleased HomePod software.
Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Last year, Apple launched CarPlay Ultra, the long-awaited next-generation version of its CarPlay software system for vehicles. Nearly nine months later, CarPlay Ultra is still limited to Aston Martin's latest luxury vehicles, but that should change fairly soon.
In May 2025, Apple said many other vehicle brands planned to offer CarPlay Ultra, including Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis.
In his Powe...
Thursday January 29, 2026 10:07 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple today confirmed to Reuters that it has acquired Q.ai, an Israeli startup that is working on artificial intelligence technology for audio.
Apple paid close to $2 billion for Q.ai, according to sources cited by the Financial Times. That would make this Apple's second-biggest acquisition ever, after it paid $3 billion for the popular headphone and audio brand Beats in 2014.
Q.ai has...
Sunday February 1, 2026 12:31 pm PST by Joe Rossignol
The calendar has turned to February, and a new report indicates that Apple's next product launch is "imminent," in the form of new MacBook Pro models.
"All signs point to an imminent launch of next-generation MacBook Pros that retain the current form factor but deliver faster chips," Bloomberg's Mark Gurman said on Sunday. "I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated...
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Apple recently updated its online store with a new ordering process for Macs, including the MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac mini, Mac Studio, and Mac Pro.
There used to be a handful of standard configurations available for each Mac, but now you must configure a Mac entirely from scratch on a feature-by-feature basis. In other words, ordering a new Mac now works much like ordering an...
Sunday February 1, 2026 5:42 am PST by Joe Rossignol
Apple is planning to launch new MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips alongside macOS 26.3, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
"Apple's faster MacBook Pros are planned for the macOS 26.3 release cycle," wrote Gurman, in his Power On newsletter today.
"I'm told the new models — code-named J714 and J716 — are slated for the macOS 26.3 software cycle, which runs from...
You guys will whine either way if it's released when they are obviously not ready yet.
You guys will defend no matter what... Apple messed up, this feature was announced almost a year ago. If it still needs this much work, they should have never announced it in the original iOS 11 keynote.
