Apple has today released iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 to the public; bringing new functionality for VoiceOver and braille users; several enhancements to Apple Intelligence, including priority notifications and expanded language support; as well as new emoji characters, a new "Ambient Music" feature in Control Center, Mail categorization for iPadOS, and more. Apple has also released iOS 15.8.4 and iOS 16.7.11 for older devices unable to run iOS 18. New features and changes for VoiceOver and braille users iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 include the following new features and changes for VoiceOver and braille users: * It is now possible to change when, and if, VoiceOver speaks the type of the control currently in focus, such as heading, link, button, etc. This setting can be found in Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Verbosity > Controls, and allows you to choose whether control types are spoken before or after the contents of the control, or not at all. * You can now perform an indefinite double-tap and hold on a braille display, useful when, for example, recording an audio message in the Messages app or trying to fast forward or rewind a podcast or other audio material. To do this, double-press Space with dots 3-6-7-8; press this key combination once more to release the hold. * Performing a three-finger swipe down at the top of a page in Safari will no longer immediately refresh the page when the gesture is first performed, with VoiceOver instead instructing you to "Scroll up again to refresh." If you are scrolling up rapidly through multiple pages, VoiceOver may not speak this instruction, instead playing the "Boundary reached" sound. * Similar to macOS, VoiceOver on iOS and iPadOS now announces the positions of items when navigating a bulleted list, E.G. "2 of 2." There is currently no way to change this behavior. Resolved VoiceOver and Braille Bugs For VoiceOver and braille users, our experience is that the following accessibility bugs have been resolved or meaningfully improved in iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4: * VoiceOver no longer speaks the term <https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/voiceover-speaks-term-collapsed-stack-eve n-individual-notifications-causing-uncertainty> "Collapsed stack" as part of a notification. * When on the Home Screen, pressing Space with S on a braille display connected to an iPhone 16 Pro has been improved to move focus to the status bar. <https://www.applevis.com/bugs/ios/iphone-16-pro-pressing-space-s-does-not-a ctivate-status-bar-using-braille-display> It may be worth noting that the Status Bar command seems to only work from the Home Screen most of the time, but not while in most applications. New VoiceOver Bugs We are currently aware of two new bugs in these releases: * When resizing a control for a HomeKit accessory to 1x1 in Control Center, the displayed options are unlabeled. <https://applevis.com/bugs/ios/when-you-resize-individual-home-controls-1x1- grid-size-control-centre-they-lose-their> * On devices with Apple Intelligence, when opening a message in the Mail app, VoiceOver focus may not automatically be placed in the message content; instead being placed on the 'More Summary Options' button. The presentation of this issue is not consistent. If you notice any further changes, improvements, or regressions in your use of iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4, please post a comment below with your findings. iOS 18.4 release notes This update introduces a new Sketch Style option in Image Playground, recipes in Apple News+, and enhancements to better organize and filter your library in Photos. This release includes other features, bug fixes, and security updates for your iPhone. Apple Intelligence (All iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max) * Priority notifications appear at the top of your notifications, highlighting important notifications that may require your immediate attention * Sketch is now available as an additional style option in Image Playground, allowing you to create gorgeous sketch drawings * Apple Intelligence features support 8 additional languages and 2 additional English locales, including English (India, Singapore), French (France, Canada), German (Germany), Italian (Italy), Japanese (Japan), Korean (South Korea), Portuguese (Brazil), Simplified Chinese, and Spanish (Spain, Latin America, US) Apple Vision Pro App * The new Apple Vision Pro app, automatically installed for users with Apple Vision Pro, helps you discover new content, spatial experiences, and quickly access information about your device Apple News+ * Recipes from some of the world’s best recipe publishers are now available on Apple News+ * Recipe Catalog allows you to browse or search to find the perfect dish and save it to your Saved Recipes * Cooking mode lets you easily follow step-by-step directions * The Food section also includes stories about restaurants, kitchen tips, healthy eating, and more Photos * New filters to show or hide items that are not contained in an album, or synced from a Mac or PC, in the Library view in Photos * Reorder items in the Media Types and Utilities collections in Photos * Consistent filtering options in all collections, including the ability to sort by oldest or newest first in Photos * Option to sort albums by Date Modified in Photos * Ability to disable “Recently Viewed” and “Recently Shared” collections in Photos Settings * Hidden photos are no longer included for import to Mac or a PC if Use Face ID is enabled in Photos settings This update also includes the following enhancements and bug fixes: * Safari recent search suggestions help you quickly get back to previous search topics when starting a new query * Setup Assistant streamlines steps parents need to take to create a Child Account for a kid in their family, and enables child-appropriate default settings if parents prefer to complete setting up a Child Account later * Screen Time App Limits persist even after a child uninstalls and reinstalls an app * App Store includes summaries for user reviews so you can get helpful insights from other users at a glance * Pause and resume of an app download or update on App Store without losing progress * New widgets for Podcasts including a Followed Shows widget to track your favorite shows and a Library widget to get to your most used sections, such as Latest Episodes, Saved, and Downloaded * Ambient Music offers the ability to instantly play music from Control Center, giving access to a set of hand-curated playlists that offer soundtracks for daily life * Apple Fitness+ Collections can now be added to Library * Matter-compatible robot vacuum cleaners can be controlled in the Home app as well as be added to scenes and automations * Support for 10 new system languages including Bangla, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Odia, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, and Urdu Some features may not be available for all regions or on all Apple devices. For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit: https://support.apple.com/100100 https://applevis.com/blog/apple-releases-ios-184-ipados-184-bringing-enhance ments-voiceover-braille
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