Apple has released iOS 17.4 with new emoji, a CarPlay update, and more

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Apple has Certain The final version of iOS 17.4 will be released, bringing the software update officially out of beta. iOS 17.4 is full of changes including new emoji characters, podcast transcripts, virtual Apple Cash card numbers, and more. The update also addresses the regulatory requirements of the EU Digital Markets Act with support for competing app marketplaces and other changes where appropriate.

summary

iOS 17.4 emoji adds new ways to say yes or no, break boundaries, rise from the ashes, or just say lemons are better than lemons. There's also a mushroom that looks less out of Mario World and more out of a grocery store.

New emoji characters are also available in macOS 14.4 on Mac, watchOS 10.4 on Apple Watch, and iPadOS 17.4 on iPad. For Apple Vision Pro owners, it appears in VisionOS 1.1.

CarPlay in iOS 17.4 includes a new way to present Apple Maps data on cars with secondary instrument cluster displays.

Before iOS 17.4, the Home screen displayed street-level directions while the instrument cluster showed an overview of your route as you navigated.

Starting with iOS 17.4, cars with instrument cluster displays can switch the main display between street level view and track view. Switching modes toggles the display that appears on any screen.

This effectively means that turn-by-turn directions can now appear behind the wheel instead of in overview mode. Most CarPlay apps use a single display with a toggle switch to switch between views.

Other changes include auto-generated transcripts in Apple Podcasts, a new setting to protect stolen devices, a setting to ignore double-tapping on Apple Watch when using Vision Pro, and more.

Release notes

Emoji

• New mushroom, phoenix, lemon, broken chain and shaking heads emojis are now available in the Emoji Keyboard
• 18 people and body emojis add the option to face them in any direction

Apple Podcast

• Transcripts allow you to follow an episode with text that appears in sync with audio in English, Spanish, French, and German
• You can read the entire episode transcript, search for a word or phrase, tap to play from a specific point, and use it with accessibility features like text size, contrast increase, and VoiceOver

This update includes the following improvements and bug fixes:

• Recognize Music lets you add songs you've selected 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 to increase security in all locations
• Battery status in Settings shows battery cycle count, manufacturing date, and first use on iPhone 15 and iPhone 15 Pro models
• Call ID displays the Apple-verified company name, logo, and department name when available
• Business updates in messages provide businesses with reliable information for order status, flight notifications, fraud alerts, or other transactions you have signed up for
• Virtual Apple Cash card numbers enable you to pay with Apple Cash at merchants that don't yet accept Apple Pay by typing your number from Wallet or using Safari AutoFill
• Fixes an issue with contact images appearing blank in Find My
• Fixes an issue for dual SIM users where the phone number changes from primary to secondary and is visible to the group they have messaged

Availability

iOS 17.4 for iPhone is now available to everyone. Changes resulting from the DMA are only offered in the European Union.