Apple surprised many by releasing the latest iPhone software update early: having teased that iOS 18.4 would be released in early April, the general release dropped on March 31. Here’s all you need to know.
Note that I’ll be updating this post over the coming week and will make a final assessment on Tuesday, April 8.
Apple iPhone 16 series
Who Is It For And How Do You Get It?
Apple iOS 18.4 is for everyone with compatible iPhones. That means all iPhones from the iPhone XR, iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max released in 2018 and all subsequent iPhones, including the second- and third-generation iPhone SE models as well as the latest iPhone 16e.
To get it, open the iPhone Settings app, click on General, then choose Software Update. Next, you want Download and Install, and the software will download from there.
What It’s About
There’s a lot in this update. Read full details here. In essence, there’s a series of new features for iPhone 16 users, and iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro Max owners in the form of Apple Intelligence enhancements.
Apple Intelligence is also being rolled out for eight more languages. There are new emoji, eight of them, too. There’s a new Apple Vision Pro app for owners of the headset, improvements to the Photos app and a marked focus on food in News+.
Apple iOS 18.4 Security
Oh my, there are a lot of security issues here—62 vulnerabilities in total. If that sounds like it’s a lot, it’s because it is. Some are minor, some are serious. They include problems with WebKit, which is at the heart of the Safari browser and the iPhone Kernel, which is key to the iOS system itself.
Fellow Senior Contributor Kate O’Flaherty has more on these issues here at Forbes.
Initial Reactions
Apart from some loud press reactions claiming that battery life has been ruined for some users, the majority of reactions has been pretty positive, with comments such as one user who said, “probably one of the much better IOS 18 updates we’ve had so far… and I’ve actually noticed better battery performance,” for instance.
In fact, most negatives seemed to be more about minor things, such as taking a long time to install (well, it is a big download, weighing 3.76GB on some iPhones).
Apple iOS 18.4 Initial Verdict: Update
Because of the numerous security issues and relatively positive reactions, this is a definite update verdict for now. Please check back next week for the final verdict.
