Apple Seeds iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 Release Candidate With Priority Notifications, Ambient Music and More

Apple today seeded the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming a week after Apple released the fourth betas.

Generic iOS 18
iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software Update.

With iOS 18.4, Apple is adding the Priority Notifications Apple Intelligence feature, which is designed to determine which of your notifications are the most important, highlighting them in an easy-to-see dedicated section on the Lock Screen.

The update includes a new Apple News+ Food section for ‌Apple News‌+ subscribers, plus it adds the Sketch style to Image Playground so you can generate images that look hand drawn. ‌Apple Intelligence‌ is also available in more languages, including French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified), along with localized English for Singapore and India.

There are new emoji characters, and a dedicated Vision Pro app that allows Vision Pro owners to find and download content, manage the headset, control guest experiences, and more, right from the iPhone.

Mail Categorization has expanded to the iPad, and there's a new Ambient Music feature for playing relaxing music from Control Center. There are a number of other smaller features too, with details available in our iOS 18.4 features guide.

Apple plans to release iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 in early April, and the RC represents the final version of the software that will be provided to the public should no issues be found.

Related Forums: iOS 18, iPadOS 18

Popular Stories

Aston Martin CarPlay Ultra Screen

Apple's CarPlay Ultra to Expand to These Vehicle Brands Later This Year

Sunday February 1, 2026 10:08 am PST by
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...
Apple Logo Black

Apple's Next Launch is 'Imminent'

Sunday February 1, 2026 12:31 pm PST by
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...
Apple MacBook Pro M4 hero

New MacBook Pros Reportedly Launching Alongside macOS 26.3

Sunday February 1, 2026 5:42 am PST by
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...
iOS 26

iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Tuesday February 3, 2026 7:47 am PST by
We are still waiting for the iOS 26.3 Release Candidate to come out, so the first iOS 26.4 beta is likely still at least a week or two away. Following beta testing, iOS 26.4 will likely be released to the general public in March or April. Below, we have recapped known or rumored iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.4 features so far. iOS 26.3 iPhone to Android Transfer Tool iOS 26.3 makes it easier...
14 inch MacBook Pro Keyboard

Apple Changes How You Order a Mac

Saturday January 31, 2026 10:51 am PST by
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...

Top Rated Comments

attohs Avatar
11 months ago
Please ? fix a bug, any bug. Stop throwing new bugs at me and just squash one. I beg you.
Score: 14 Votes (Like | Disagree)
diego.caraballo Avatar
11 months ago
18.4 “Rushed Edition”
Score: 9 Votes (Like | Disagree)
tywebb13 Avatar
11 months ago
build number for both is 22E239

here are builds of the other stuff released today

iPadOS 17.7.6 RC (21H423)
macOS 15.4 RC (24E246)
macOS 14.7.5 RC 5 (23H527)
macOS 13.7.5 RC 5 (22H527)
tvOS 18.4 RC (22L254)
audioOS 18.4 RC (22L254)
visionOS 2.4 RC (22O237)
watchOS 11.4 RC (22T250)
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sw1tcher Avatar
11 months ago

Bugs are very beneficial. Ohhhhh... you mean softwae bugs. Please enlighten us to a bug that's interfering with your daily usage.
Might not be a bug that affects you, but the no notification from Mail app (iOS 18.3.2) for incoming emails is annoying if you need to know when important work emails come in. Now I have to manually check every so often so I don't accidentally miss something.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255969944?sortBy=rank

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/mail-notification-sound-non-op.2449146/

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/18-3-2-ios-ipados-no-mail-notifications-or-updates.2452926/
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
ghostface147 Avatar
11 months ago
Jeez, Verizon’s network had me download the full build in like two minutes. Not bad for 7.3 gigs.
Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Shorty89 Avatar
11 months ago

App Updates is finally fixed (broken since 18.2) ….no longer crashes when large amounts of apps need updating
Never had that issue TBH. Have updated 25 apps once and went through ok for 16 pro max
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)