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March 30, 2025
The long-awaited update to iOS 18.4 finally brings Apple Intelligence to Germany. After months of delay, iPhone users can now utilize the diverse AI features of the package, which were already available in other regions. The update, expected in early April, is currently available as a Release Candidate.
Apple Intelligence offers a range of intelligent features designed to enrich everyday iPhone use. These include intelligent writing tools that enable summarizing and rewriting texts in various Apple apps. The "Priority Notifications" feature uses AI to distinguish important notifications from unimportant ones, providing more clarity. The "Image Playground" app allows the creation of AI-generated images from photos and texts. With "Genmoji," users can create their own emojis via text descriptions. The Photos app receives new features for creating retrospectives and removing distracting objects from images. On iPhone 16 models, including the iPhone 16e and 15 Pro, Live Image Recognition (Visual Intelligence) is also available, reminiscent of Google Lens. On the 15 Pro models, this function can be triggered via the Action button.
The notification summarization feature, which caused confusion in the past due to errors, is currently paused.
Siri also receives a new full-screen animation with the update. Functionally, however, the voice assistant remains unchanged. For more complex queries, the chatbot ChatGPT from OpenAI is now also available in Europe. Using ChatGPT via Siri does not require an additional account, but the number of queries per day is limited. Users are informed beforehand that their request will be forwarded to OpenAI and data will be transmitted to the third-party provider.
Apple Intelligence requires appropriate hardware: The AI package is compatible with the iPhone 15 Pro (Max), the iPhone 16 series (including the 16e), all iPads and Macs with an M1 processor or newer, and the new iPad Mini.
As in previous years, Apple is also introducing new emojis with iOS 18.4. Which of the emojis proposed by the Unicode Consortium, such as a fingerprint, a face with tear sacs, a harp, or root vegetables, will ultimately be implemented remains to be seen.
iOS 18.4 contains numerous other new features and bug fixes. Thanks to Matter support, the Home app adds support for robot vacuums. A dedicated Vision Pro app allows users of the headset to find and download content, manage the device, and access other features. New shortcuts for "Ambient Music" with the options "Chill," "Productivity," "Sleep," and "Well-being" can be added to the Control Center, assigned to the Action button, or placed on the lock screen.
The iPhone mirroring feature announced at WWDC 2024 is still not available in Europe. Apple attributes this to "regulatory uncertainties" due to the Digital Markets Act. It is suspected that Apple fears having to open this feature to third-party providers, especially Android smartphones.
The final versions of iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, macOS 15.4, visionOS 2.4, tvOS 18.4, and watchOS 11.4 are expected to be released in early April.
