A few days ago, Apple launched the stable version of iOS 18.4, which expanded Apple Intelligence to more countries, added priority notifications, Visual Intelligence, Sketch option in Image Playgrounds, etc. Now, the iOS 18.5 Developer Beta 1 has been released for developers and testers. The beta arrived fairly quickly, just two days after the stable iOS 18.4 update.
Overall, the update isn’t as big as iOS 18.4. However, the iOS 18.5 update focuses on bug fixes. There are also some changes to the Apple Mail app and Apple Care information page. The rest of the update is just bug fixes. MacRumors has tested the beta version thoroughly, and they report some important changes.
Changes to the Mail app: In the upper right corner of the Mail app, Apple has added some new options. If you tap the three dots icon, you can toggle “Contact Photos” on and off directly from here. You also get the option to turn off the “Group by sender” option.
While you can find both of these options on iOS 18.4, the toggles aren’t easily accessible. You have to open the Settings app, then go into “Apps,” find the Mail app, and then toggle the options from within it. You still have the option to do this from the Settings app, but doing it directly via the mail app is more convenient.
Apple Care Information: There are changes to the Apple Care information page. Open the Settings app and go into the General menu. From here, you’ll find the “Apple Care and Warranty” option. Once you open it, you can now see a banner that shows the Apple Care logo. You also get an option to learn more about the coverage and benefits you’ll get from Apple Care. Earlier, this banner wasn’t present.
Apple has also added an easier way to get information about your Apple Care coverage. Go to your Apple Account and tap on a device in your list. There’s a new option that you can tap, and it’ll give you information on your current coverage. If you have a renewing plan with Apple, you can also tap on “Manage Plan” from here.
These two changes are minor but practical additions. There are a couple of bug fixes as well. On the iOS 18.5 developer beta 1, the bug with the Vision Pro app is fixed. You can use the app to download apps and games or browse the App Store. The Vision Pro app was used to launch with a blank screen before it was downloaded from the app store. The app will now launch normally.
There are also bug fixes with Writing Tools (An Apple Intelligence feature) and the StoreKit. These fixes are more for developers than consumers. There was a bug that earlier resulted in isEligibleForIntroOffer(for:) function returning “false” if the user wasn’t signed in.
