We have been hearing that Apple has been working on its latest update to iOS for a while now, which will bump it up from version iOS 11.3 to iOS 11.4. For those who have been following the update, you’ll be pleased to learn that you can now get your hands on the update as it is now live and available for download.
The update weighs in close to 300MB so you’ll probably want to make sure that you’re connected to WiFi and a power source before downloading it, lest you burn through your data cap. With the latest update, there are going to be some new features, such as Messages in iCloud and also AirPlay 2.
Starting with Messages, this basically stores all your messages which includes iMessage and SMS across all your devices (assuming they’re connected using the same Apple ID) on iCloud. This is meant to help make it faster to sync up messages when you switch from device to device, such as your iPhone to your iPad to your Mac computer.
This also means that when you get a new device, you’ll be able to see all your messages including older ones, whereas before it would only show the latest messages. It syncs deleted messages and threads and also stores your attachments in iCloud which can help free up native storage. Note that this is an opt-in feature which means that you’ll have to enable it manually on every Apple device you own.
Also since it will be syncing your attachments, if you use iMessage frequently to send photos and videos, it will count towards your iCloud storage so if you’re only using the free 5GB tier, it might be time to consider an upgrade to avoid the risk of running out of space.