Apple has already pushed out four pre-release seeds of iOS 13.4 and iPad 13.4 to developers and public testers. Those builds have shown that iOS/iPadOS 13.4 will bring not only improvements to existing features and functionality but also introduced new user-facing changes.
But when will the public be able to download and consume this latest update?
History has already shown us that Apple tends to favor releasing four to five pre-release seeds of updates to major versions of its software. When an initial major release is in testing, such as iOS 13.0, then it’s not unusual to see more than ten beta builds being shipped during the testing period. However, for updates to major versions, which is what iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 are, we tend to see around four or five releases.
With that in mind, it’s reasonable to assume that we have one pre-release seed to go before Apple deems iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 ready for public consumption; barring any major glitches or serious show-stopping issues in that final beta build, of course. Interestingly, this will likely be the last major feature-packed update to the iOS 13 software prior to iOS 14 being announced at this year’s WWDC – whatever form that conference will take. How Apple will announce that is yet to be seen as it is looking increasingly likely that the company will be forced to cancel WWDC 2020 due to public health recommendations relating to mass gatherings and the spread of COVID-19.
As far as iOS 13.4 and iPadOS 13.4 go, we expect a fairly imminent release after the next beta build is pushed out into the testing community. Apple would have liked to announce the new iPhone 9 and then push out iOS 13.4 in order to compliment that device, but it looks as though the timelines for those plans have also been scuppered due to the aggressive spread of COVID-19 on a global scale.
(Image: iOS 13.4 introduces a tweak to the Apple Card UI to show more information)
Right now, we know that iOS 13.4 is close, meaning that compatible iPhone owners are close to getting their hands on new Memoji stickers, the new CarKey API that will function with compatible vehicles, a number of UI updates, changes to data downloading and streaming in the TV app, and, of course, the highly-anticipated iCloud Folder Sharing functionality. As always, as soon as it’s out, we’ll give you all of the details.