iOS 18.4 Public Beta 2: Your iPhone Could Get New Emoji and More Soon

Apple released the second public beta of iOS 18.4 on Tuesday, more than a month after the company released iOS 18.3 to the public. While that update rolled out some important fixes to all iPhones, the latest beta brings a handful of new features to developers and public beta testers, like new emoji and priority notifications. 

Read more: An Expert’s Guide to iOS 18

Since this is a beta, I recommend only downloading it on something other than your primary device. Because this isn’t the final version of iOS 18.4, the update might be buggy, and battery life may be short, so it’s best to keep those troubles on a secondary device.

Note that the beta isn’t the final version of iOS 18.4, so more features could land on your iPhone when it is released. Apple indicated in a news release that iOS 18.4 will be released to the public in April, but there’s no word on an exact date.

Here’s what could land on your iPhone with iOS 18.4 soon. And just a reminder that only developers and beta testers with an iPhone 15 Pro, Pro Max or the iPhone 16 lineup can access any Apple Intelligence features for now. If you have any other iPhone, you won’t have access to those features.

My new favorite emoji is here

Look at that emoji. The tired expression, the bags under its eyes, just great. I love it. And developers and public beta testers can use that emoji and more in the iOS 18.4 beta. 

There are eight new emoji you can find in the beta, including:

Google unveiled these emoji as part of Unicode 16.0 in September, and it looks like iPhones could get these in April when iOS 18.4 is released to the general public. You might see these emoji appear in Android devices this month, and you could see them online as a web font now.

Read more: iOS 18.4 Could Ship With My New Favorite Emoji Next Month

Priority Notifications with Apple Intelligence

Developers and beta testers with an Apple Intelligence-compatible iPhone will get a new feature called Priority Notifications with the iOS 18.4 beta. 

“Apple Intelligence can show you notifications that may be important in a separate section on the Lock Screen, so you can catch up on what you may have missed,” Apple writes in the feature’s description. “You can still swipe up to view all notifications.”

After I downloaded the update, priority notifications were turned off by default, but you can turn them on by going to Settings > Notifications > Prioritize Notifications and tapping the toggle next to Prioritize Notifications. Then you can select which applications to prioritize notifications from. So if you want to prioritize Messages and Mail, you can disable notifications from other apps, like Game Center.

Apple Intelligence in the Control Center and beyond

Developers and beta testers with an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone can now access Apple Intelligence features in more places with the iOS 18.4 beta.

The first place you can access these features is in your Control Center. To find these controls, swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to open your Control Center, tap the plus (+) sign in the top-left corner of your screen and tap Add a Control. There is a new section in this menu called Apple Intelligence & Siri, and it has three controls: Talk to Siri, Type to Siri and Visual Intelligence. Tap one or all of these to add them to your Control Center.

You can also now Visual Intelligence from your iPhone’s Action Button in the iOS 18.4 beta. Go to Settings > Action Button and you can assign Visual Intelligence to open when you press your Action Button. 

Sketch mode in Image Playground

Image Playground is the Apple Intelligence image generator. In the iOS 18.4 beta, Apple introduced a new art style called Sketch to the app. The new style creates a fully colored image that looks like a sketch you might see in someone’s notebook. However, there are still plenty of imperfections in these photos. 

Image Playground had two art styles before this update, one called Animation — which created 3D images — and the other called Illustration — which made cartoony images. 

Ambient music in Control Center

If you like playing music in the background while you work, do chores or relax, you can now easily access ambient music in your iPhone’s Control Center with the iOS 18.4 beta. 

To find these controls, swipe down from the top-right corner of your screen to open your Control Center, tap the plus (+) sign in the top-left corner of your screen, tap Add a Control and you should see a new section of controls called Ambient Music. There are four ambient music options: Sleep, Chill, Productivity and Wellbeing. Tap one (or all) of these controls to add them to your Control Center. Once the controls are in your Control Center, tap control, and it will start playing music.

You can also change the playlist for each control. To do so, go into your Control Center, tap the plus (+) sign in the top-left corner of your screen, tap the ambient sound control you want to edit and then tap the playlist to the right of Playlist. If you’re in the Chill control, for example, the default playlist is Laidback Lo-Fi. Once you’ve tapped the playlist, you’ll see more options, like Mellow Piano, Ambient Unwind or even the option From Library, which pulls from your music. Tap the playlist you want, and it will be assigned to that control. 

I love this addition to my iPhone because I always struggle with picking out a playlist at the beginning of my work day. Tapping the Productivity control makes it easy to play music when I’m waiting for my coffee to kick in and don’t want to make a musical decision yet. However, I do wish all these controls could be grouped into one control or widget.

This is also an interesting addition to your iPhone considering your phone can already be turned into a white noise machine with Background Sounds. It feels like Apple is trying to make your iPhone the first device you turn to when you need music to help you fall asleep or be more productive, potentially icing out other services offering similar playlists, like Spotify or YouTube. 

Subscriptions and Payment menu in Wallet

If you use your Wallet app for multiple subscriptions and payments, you can now see them all in one menu in the iOS 18.4 beta. Open Wallet, then tap the three dots (…) in the upper right corner of the screen to open the dropdown menu. Tap Subscriptions & Payments to see all your subscriptions and payment plans you use your Wallet app for. This also makes it easy to see a subscription you forgot you had so you can cancel it and save yourself some money. 

Recipes in Apple News

Apple News Plus costs $13 a month and gives you access to articles from major publications, puzzles and soon — recipes. 

In the iOS 18.4 beta, subscribers can access a new section in Apple News called Food, which is filled with recipes from publications like Food & Wine, Good Food and more. Subscribers can save recipes to their devices to access them offline later, and a new cook mode will display instructions on full screen so you can easily follow along with recipes while in your kitchen. 

The new Food section also has stories on restaurants, healthy eating tips and more, but let’s be honest — having access to all those recipes is a great addition. Apple’s inclusion of this feature is likely the tech giant trying to take on other publications’ cooking and recipe sections. 

The New York Times, for example, launched its Cooking section in 2014, and the Times said it had nearly 600,000 Cooking subscribers by 2020. The section isn’t included in the publication’s basic subscription plan, so you must either pay an extra $6 per month or subscribe to a more expensive plan to access this section. 

But Apple isn’t charging extra for access to recipes like the Times. That makes an Apple News Plus subscription more valuable to home cooks or anyone trying to become a better chef at no extra cost. 

More default app changes

When Apple released iOS 18.2 in December, that update let you change the default apps for things like messaging and calling. And with the iOS 18.4 beta, Apple is letting some people change more default apps.

One new default app category is Translation. With the beta, you can change your iPhone’s default translation app — Apple Translate — to another third-party app, like Google Translate.

And according to 9to5Mac, people in the European Union can also change their default navigation app. Apple Maps is the default for this category, but people in the EU can change it to another app, like Waze. 

Podcast changes

The iOS 18.4 beta also brings a few new updates to the Podcasts app. If you want to add a Podcast widget to your home screen, you now have more options, including Shows and Library. Choosing a Shows widget will play episodes from a particular show you follow, and choosing a Library widget will play episodes from a list you specify in your library. 

There are also two new settings in Podcasts in the latest beta, Podcasts Settings and Notification Settings. You can find these by opening the Podcasts app and tapping your profile image in the top-right corner of your screen. But these new settings don’t do anything in this beta no matter how many times you press them, so hopefully Apple adds functionality in a future update.

Siri, Apple Intelligence and iPhone Apps

With the iOS 18.4 beta, Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhones can use Siri to learn more about first-party apps on the iPhone. To access this, go into an app like Messages, Mail or Settings, then tap twice across the bottom of your screen to type requests to Siri. Siri will then show you a few suggestions based on the app you’re in. 

So if you’re in Phone, Siri will display “What can I do in Phone?” Tap this suggestion and you will get a list of actions you can do in the app, like make a call, a FaceTime call or strangely, open Phone. Thanks, Siri, I never would have thought I’d be able to open Phone after I opened Phone. 

Apple Intelligence coming to more people

One of the hurdles to accessing Apple Intelligence is having a compatible iPhone, but for many people around the world with an appropriate device, those features are still walled off. But that will change with iOS 18.4.

Apple wrote online that Apple Intelligence will be available in more languages, including Spanish, French and Japanese, when iOS 18.4 is released in April. The tech giant also wrote that people in the EU can access Apple Intelligence for the first time with the upcoming update. 

Those are a few of the new features developers, and public beta testers can try with the second public beta of iOS 18.4. There will likely be more betas before the OS is released to the public, so there’s plenty of time for Apple to change these features.

For more on iOS 18, here’s what you need to know about iOS 18.3.1 and iOS 18.3. You can also check out our iOS 18 cheat sheet.