Apple today seeded the release candidates of its upcoming iOS 17.4 and iPadOS 17.4 updates to developers. The release candidates come one week after the fourth seed of the betas.
The developer beta and release candidate builds are available to developers who opt into the betas by going to “Settings” -> “Software Update,” then tapping on the “Beta Updates” option and turning on the iOS 17 Developer Beta. An Apple ID associated with a developer account is required to download and install the beta.
Full release notes for iOS 17.4 are as follows:
Emoji
- New mushroom, phoenix, lime, broken chain, and shaking heads emoji are now available in the emoji keyboard
- 18 people and body emoji add the option to face them in either direction
Apple Podcasts
- Transcripts let you follow an episode with text that highlights in sync with the audio in English, Spanish, French and German
- Episode text can be read in full, searched for a word or phrase, tapped to play from a specific point and used with accessibility features such as Text Size, Increase Contrast, and VoiceOver
This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:
- Music recognition lets you add songs you have identified to your Apple Music Playlists and Library, as well as Apple Music Classical
- Siri has a new option to announce messages you receive in any supported language
- Stolen Device Protection supports the option for increased security in all locations
- Battery Health in Settings shows battery cycle count, manufacture date, and first use on iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models
- Call Identification displays Apple-verified business name, logo, and department name when available
- Business updates in Messages for Business provide trusted information for order status, flight notifications, fraud alerts or other transactions you opt into
- Apple Cash virtual card numbers enable you to pay with Apple Cash at merchants that don’t yet accept Apple Pay by typing in your number from Wallet or using Safari AutoFill
- Fixes an issue where contact pictures are blank in Find My
- Fixes an issue for Dual SIM users where the phone number changes from primary to secondary and is visible to a group they have messaged
As usual, MacTrast and Apple both warn users to not install any betas or release candidates on their daily driver iPhone or iPad. Instead, only install betas and release candidates on a device set aside for testing purposes.