Apple will officially release their latest version of their operating system, iOS 11.4, with support for iMessages in the Cloud, an updated release of AirPlay, and various other enhancements.
This release slated for release this afternoon will update the software on your iPhone and iPad.
Let’s get down to the new features
Messages in iCloud
This concept was first announced way back in 2017 at the WWDC conference, which is a new way of keeping conversations up-to-date across multiple Apple devices. So therefore if you send a message from your iPhone it will be shown as sent on your iPad. Messages are no longer stored locally on the device but stored in the cloud. These messages stored on Apple servers have end-to-end encryption and therefore are completely safe from prying eyes. No more snooping by the FBI 🙂
The other benefit is that users that find it useful to store all their conversations now don’t have to worry about purchasing devices with large memory capacities. As these messages can contain large amounts of data such as pictures, video and audio clips. This data, uploaded to the Apple cloud servers, will store the data, and the device will only have a reference to it.
AirPlay 2
AirPlay now allows the user to stream their music, podcasts, or videos, to multiple devices in the home, all at once. Allowing you to move from one room to another and be able to play the same content. This coupled with Siri allows her to control the content and volume just by waking her up. A few manufacturers are jumping onboard to support AirPlay 2, namely Pioneer, Sonos, Denon, and Bose. It works well with the HomePod speaker system too.
How to upgrade to the latest
You can update to the latest iOS by heading to your Settings section, finding General and then hitting Software Update.
This update started its release at 3:00 am this morning. So it should be available on your device as of the date of this blog entry.
