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iOS 11.4 Public Beta 4 Released - Public Release Coming Soon

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Good morning. Do you know where your beta is?

Anthony Karcz

It's been just a week since Apple released iOS 11.4 Public Beta 3 and here we are at Public Beta 4. As history has shown, that means Apple is just about ready to put the finishing touches on this version of iOS and release it to the public.

What's New?

Despite a rather lengthy download this time around, there's basically nothing new in the fourth Public Beta release of iOS 11.4. But what have we seen so far?

Stream all the Things!

HomePod streaming and Apple TV multi-room streaming have been tweaked throughout the beta in concert with the beta software for each device. Homepod is also getting Calendar support as of Public Beta 3 (the better to compete with Google Home). We'll see if it makes it all the way to release.

Fourth Time is the Charm?

Messages in the Cloud was included in iOS 11.3, but still didn't make it to the public release. Why? No clue. The feature has been rock solid since it came back for me then and it's been stable all throughout iOS 11.4. Here's hoping this super convenient feature is available to all soon.

Bug Hunt

The other focus in iOS 11.4 has been on resolving music playback and other backend iOS issues. The only other new feature you'll see from a user perspective is, if you have an iPhone 8 or 8 Plus, you'll get a new (Product) RED wallpaper.

Waiting for iOS 12

Additional rumors are dropping about the new iPhone X Plus and the iPhone 8 successor every day, which can only mean we're getting close to convention time. iOS 12 will be revealed this summer, with the iOS Public Beta starting soon after. The focus on these final releases of iOS 11 will be on getting it as stable as possible.

In the meantime, iOS 11.4 Public Beta 4 is now available for your downloading and testing needs. Head to Settings > General > Software Update on your enrolled iOS device and click Download and Install to get started.

How To Start Testing

Did you delete your beta profile after iOS 11.3 was released? Need to get signed up? Head over to https://beta.apple.com/ and sign in with your enrolled Apple ID (or create a beta account if you don't have one already) and follow the steps. They're fairly self-explanatory, but if you get stuck, check out my How To Install Apple Public Betas guide (to be honest, you should check it out anyway for helpful reminders of things to watch out for when beta testing).

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