Apple releases iOS 17.4, the most important update ever for iPhone

On March 5, iOS 17.4 was officially released. This is the fourth major update to the operating system since its launch in September 2023. iOS 17.4 is an important upgrade, bringing major changes to iOS in Europe to comply with the Digital Markets Act (DMA). In addition, it also includes several new features such as emoji icons, battery cycle count display, podcast transcripts, etc.

Changes to Safari and App Store in the EU

As part of Apple's DMA compliance efforts, iOS 17.4 introduces three major changes: after updating to iOS 17.4, users in the EU can choose a default web browser; support for third-party web browser engines in the EU; support for non-App Store app marketplaces in the EU.

When first opening Safari, iPhone users in the EU will see a “Regarding your default browser” screen, allowing them to choose a browser of their choice. The EU requires Apple to prompt all users to make that choice. Tap “Continue,” and they will see a list of alternative browsers. Click here to go to the App Store and download. Otherwise, they can simply tap “Not now” at the bottom of the screen to make Safari their default browser. If they want to change it later, they can simply go to Settings to do so.

For countries in the EU region, the alternative browser list includes the 12 most popular browsers on the App Store and is displayed in random order.

As for third-party browser engines, browser developers are now allowed to release versions of their web browsers that don't use Apple's WebKit engine. For example, Google Chrome uses the Blink engine and Mozilla Firefox uses the Gecko engine.

There is currently no alternative app marketplace to the App Store launched in the EU.

Apple Podcasts

In iOS 17.4, Apple is introducing automatic transcripts in the Podcasts app. Listeners can now follow along with podcasts with highlighted text in sync with the audio in English, Spanish, French, and German. It’s a lot like the real-time lyrics in Apple Music, and it works pretty “smoothly.”

From the Now Playing window in the Podcasts app, in the bottom left corner, you'll see if a transcript is available and just tap to follow along. Otherwise, it's just grayed out. Apple automatically generates transcripts after each podcast episode, but podcasters can upload their own transcripts, and even download and edit the transcripts Apple creates.

In addition, in iOS 17.4, Apple added 118 new emojis such as mushrooms, phoenixes, lemons, and shaking heads; music recognition to add recognized songs to the Library; multilingual updates for Siri; enhanced security for iPhone at all locations; display battery cycle count, manufacturing date, and first use on iPhone 15 and 15 Pro; fix an issue with dual SIM users that causes the phone number to change from the primary number to the secondary number.