iOS 18.1 Beta 4 ― Bug Fixes, Changes, and Improvements

[Hedkandi]

I actually came from 18.0 RC straight to 18.1 DB4. Not sure if this matters.

There are more people "applying", so presuming that is the hold up.
First 18.1 download, it took 30 mins, without hassling to get to intelligence.
The latest beta 4 as others have pointed here, Siri took a while to do the download thing.
It's just a waiting game.

 

[Populus]

Quick question: the new Siri experience is only available for Apple Intelligence devices? Even the new glowing animation?

I think this could be a good and informative article, @arn just to know what new iOS 18.1 features are exclusive to A17/M1 and up.

 

[TimFL1]

Has something changed with RCS in 18 RC/18.1 Dev Beta? I can in-line reply in RCS group texts, but only other iPhones can see them.

That could just be the iOS 17 enhancements kicking in. Apple added iMessage-enhancements to MMS groups with iOS 17, where these features work (but only for other iMessage enabled users in the MMS group):
- Tapbacks (sent as text for non-iMessage users)
- inline replies (only visible to iMessage users)
- Edit messages (sends as correction text for non-iMessage users)
- Message effects (only visible to iMessage users, others get a "Sent with XYZ Effect" text)

Send a group text message on your iPhone or iPad - Apple Support

Stay connected to the conversations that matter the most. Learn how to start a group text message with your friends, family, and coworkers.

support.apple.com

Are there any other improvements to RCS on 18.1B4?

I‘m particularly curious about these open issues:
- RCS refuses to work on certain wifi networks (it worked on these up until 18.0B4)
- iOS is very aggressive about downgrading to SMS (RCS doesn‘t persist across network changes, when you e.g. toggle wifi off it switches to SMS for a few seconds, something that didn’t happen up until B4)
- RCS fails to send or activate without any visible reason (full 5G and very good speed, RCS just doesn‘t show up or sends for eternity whereas iMessage and co. just blaze through sending messages).
- RCS groups allow iOS users to send SMS/MMS when RCS is unavailable, downgrading them to MMS (which causes issues on the Android side, where RCS groups always stay RCS and you end up with a new MMS group for these messages).

 

[adrianlondon]

On older phones like mine, iOS 18.1 runs pretty much the same as 18.0.

Luckily, 18.0 ran well, hence 18.1 is also running well.

 

[macmus12]

I stopped recevieng imessages notification.

 

[Pearsey]

how does 18.1 beta 4 work on the 16 pro series? i was thinking about waiting until beta 5 to jump in

I’ve been using it solidly since last night and today. Very impressed with the battery stability and over all speed and smoothness.

It’s an improvement from 18.

 

[James6s]

how does 18.1 beta 4 work on the 16 pro series? i was thinking about waiting until beta 5 to jump in

I updated my 15PM when it became available a few days ago and it’s awesome! Performance, speed, smoothness & battery life have been spot on! I’d recommend anyone to update as it’s better than iOS 18.0. The 16 Pro will run it perfectly! 😄

 

[Dj64Mk7]

I restored from an iCloud backup of my 14 to my new 16 Pro earlier, after updating the 16 pro to 18.1 beta and I’ve had many different issues that I was not even having on 18.1 on my 14.

The biggest ones include:

- certain apps hanging and refusing to work, until the phone is restarted several times (mainly settings and Safari right now)
- repeated crashes when trying to adjust photographic styles in settings
- inability to customize watch faces in the Apple Watch app, because a few seconds after I click on one, I get taken back to the previous screen
- icons are not showing up correctly in spotlight suggestions or in the settings app
- notification badges are back on, even though I had them all off for years including now
- can’t access location services settings on watch, and the watch doing that weird thing where it discharges even though it says it's charging.

One more extremely strange thing to add to the list:

- typing the letter “S” (as in Settings or Safari) into Spotlight Search causes the interface to crash and reload, every single time, and the only way to launch an app that starts with S is to type the middle of the word, after that letter.


I don’t even know how much of this I should file feedback on, because it just seems like a combination of beta/iCloud backup weirdness? But I also don’t know what to do about it, since I already erased my old iPhone, though I still have it, and I really don’t want to factory reset again.

 

[gwhizkids]

Quick question.
I'm giving my 15PM to my wife now that I have my 16PM.
The 15 has 18.1b4 on it and my wife's current phone has 18. Her account is not signed up for the beta updates.
How would I go about using her current backup of 18? Will the 15PM with 18.1 allow her to use the phone with a non beta account?
Do I have to downgrade the 15PM to 18?

You need to downgrade the phone or have your wife get on the beta. Those are the options.

 

[gwhizkids]

There are more people "applying", so presuming that is the hold up.
First 18.1 download, it took 30 mins, without hassling to get to intelligence.
The latest beta 4 as others have pointed here, Siri took a while to do the download thing.
It's just a waiting game.

I don’t think that is the issue. Orders have had problems, resolved then and been admitted in minutes.

Is the device set to the right language /regions?

 

[gwhizkids]

One more extremely strange thing to add to the list:

- typing the letter “S” (as in Settings or Safari) into Spotlight Search causes the interface to crash and reload, every single time, and the only way to launch an app that starts with S is to type the middle of the word, after that letter.


I don’t even know how much of this I should file feedback on, because it just seems like a combination of beta/iCloud backup weirdness? But I also don’t know what to do about it, since I already erased my old iPhone, though I still have it, and I really don’t want to factory reset again.

The “s” thing may be happening to you (and at least one other). It is not happening to me.

Of course you should file feedback even if it’s “beta/icloud backup weirdness “ Don’t you think they should be aware of that?

 

[papbot]

I had seen in the ios 18 thread multiple posts about a message under the Battery setting of “Update Finishing in Background”. I never checked my previous phone’s battery settings but my new 16 that I set up yesterday on 18.1 has this message. Does that ever go away?

 

[DeanL]

I wonder if the 18.1 beta activates the 45w charging. Can anyone confirm?

I ordered a Plugable USB-C vmeter and will test tomorrow. Stay tuned.

how does 18.1 beta 4 work on the 16 pro series? i was thinking about waiting until beta 5 to jump in

I restored my 16 PM right away to 18.1 to restore the data from my 15P PM that was on 18.1.
So far, it's working perfectly.

 

[ideal.dreams]

how does 18.1 beta 4 work on the 16 pro series? i was thinking about waiting until beta 5 to jump in

Installed it on my 16 PM yesterday afternoon and it seems pretty decent so far. Some minor bugs but no major battery drain that I can pick up on so far and performance seems solid.

 

[mrgreeneyes]

I accidentally downloaded iOS 18.1 beta on my iPhone 15 pro max
It did not install, how do I remove it from my iPhone?

 

[xraydoc]

I’ve been using it solidly since last night and today. Very impressed with the battery stability and over all speed and smoothness.

It’s an improvement from 18.

Good enough for a daily driver? I've been wanting to play with some of the Apple Intelligence features (I have full access to Microsoft Copilot through work and it actually works quite well). Yes, I know any Beta version will have bugs... but there's bugs and there's bugs.

 

[slomtbr]

Quick question: the new Siri experience is only available for Apple Intelligence devices? Even the new glowing animation?

I think this could be a good and informative article, @arn just to know what new iOS 18.1 features are exclusive to A17/M1 and up.

On iOS, the requirement is 8GB of RAM, which is why the 15 Pro and Pro Max are included.

 

[Pearsey]

Good enough for a daily driver? I've been wanting to play with some of the Apple Intelligence features (I have full access to Microsoft Copilot through work and it actually works quite well). Yes, I know any Beta version will have bugs... but there's bugs and there's bugs.

Mine is.

 

[drak22]

Okay folks... got my iPhone 16 Pro today and immediately went to update it to iOS 18.1 beta 4 (iPhone17,1_18.1_22B5045h_Restore.ipsw) via the Apple Devices app and it failed with an Unknown Error 10.

The 16 Pro then went into recovery mode and when connected to the Apple Devices app, it prompts me that it needs to download an update from Apple, but that update fails with Unknown Error 75.

Any ideas? I've swapped USB-C cables without success.

Update: seeing if iOS 18.0 (22A3354) ipsw will work. Does not work either - Unknown Error 10

I tried the new Apple app for Windows, and I thought it was impossible, but Apple managed to make an even worse app. If iTunes was bad, the new one is a real piece of junk, besides being incomplete. I have it uninstalled and I still use iTunes, which also keeps updating more than this app. iTunes notified me of an update on the same day of the iOS 18 release, with which I suppose it will have received support for both iOS 18 and the new models. Try iTunes, maybe it will work for you. With 3utools you shouldn't have any problems either.

 

[Pearsey]

I accidentally downloaded iOS 18.1 beta on my iPhone 15 pro max
It did not install, how do I remove it from my iPhone?

Settings
General
iPhone storage

 

[Populus]

On iOS, the requirement is 8GB of RAM, which is why the 15 Pro and Pro Max are included.

Yeah, I know that, but that’s not what I was asking (thank you anyways)

My question is: which of the features fall into the Apple Intelligence category? Which of the features coming with iOS 18.1 are Apple Intelligence exclusive? Will there be any 18.1 features for all devices? Will the new, smarter Siri, be available only to Apple Intelligence enabled devices? Even the glowing edge?

 

[xraydoc]

Mine is.

Good to know, thanks.

 

[greg624]

The “s” thing may be happening to you (and at least one other). It is not happening to me.

Of course you should file feedback even if it’s “beta/icloud backup weirdness “ Don’t you think they should be aware of that?

I guess I’m the one other cause it’s happening to me too on my 16 pro max lol. It wasn’t doing that on my 15

 

[SpitUK]

Is it not in the UK, not getting the waitlist prompt?

 

[Paddle1]

Yeah, I know that, but that’s not what I was asking (thank you anyways)

My question is: which of the features fall into the Apple Intelligence category? Which of the features coming with iOS 18.1 are Apple Intelligence exclusive? Will there be any 18.1 features for all devices? Will the new, smarter Siri, be available only to Apple Intelligence enabled devices? Even the glowing edge?

It wouldn't make much of an article so far since all of the features except for call recording require Apple Intelligence. You get the same old Siri when AI is disabled.