You can download the latest iOS update now.
Apple released iOS 17.4 to the general public on Tuesday, more than a month after iOS 17.3 was released to the general public. The latest iOS update brings new features, including major changes for people in the European Union and new emoji, as well as bug fixes to your iPhone.
To download the update, go to Settings > General > Software Update, tap Install Now and follow the onscreen prompts.
Here’s what iOS 17.3 brings to your iPhone.Downloading other app stores in the EU
Apple introduced a significant change to Safari, the App Store and iOS with iOS 17.4, but only for people in Europe. With iOS 17.4, people in the EU can download an alternative app store and apps from outside the App Store. As CNET’s Katie Collins reports, this marks one of the largest changes to the App Store since its inception in 2008. People in the EU will also be given new default app controls, giving them more ways to customize their iPhone experience.
People in the EU have access to other app stores and more now.
Apple made these changes, which were announced in January, to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act.More options for in-app payments
Apple introduced more ways to make in-app payments with iOS 17.4. If you go to Settings > Privacy & Security, you’ll see an option called Contactless & NFC, or near-field communication. If you tap the new option, you’ll be taken to a mostly blank page that has a small disclaimer that says the page will show apps that have requested the ability to use contactless and NFC payments in the future. Apple announced these options alongside the changes for people in the EU, and there’s no word on whether this will be utilized by apps outside that region.At least 100 new emoji
Some of the new emoji in iOS 17.4 include a phoenix, a slice of lime and broken chains.
Apple introduced over 100 new emoji to iPhone users with iOS 17.4. Those emoji include heads shaking up and down or left and right, a phoenix and a slice of lime. These emoji were announced in 2023, and some Android devices, including the latest Samsung phones, already have them.Improved iMessage security against future threats
With iOS 17.4, your iMessage chats get a security boost to protect them from cyberattacks that involve quantum computing. According to CNET’s David Lumb, Apple said it hasn’t seen these kinds of cyberattacks yet, but the company wants to get ahead of the potential threat now. Podcasts can now show transcripts
You can now read a transcript of your favorite podcasts with iOS 17.4.
In iOS 17.4, you can read the transcripts of your favorite podcasts as you listen to them. To see the transcripts, go into the Podcasts app and start listening to a show, then tap the show’s banner across the bottom of your screen. Look at the bottom of the show’s title card and you’ll see a new button in the bottom left corner that looks like a speech bubble with quotes inside it. Tap this button and you’ll see the transcript of the show you’re listening to.
You can search within the transcript, too, so if someone mentions a book or movie title and you only remember part of it, you can search the part you do know and find the whole title.
