Not every iOS 18 addition has to be monumental to be useful. An new capability in iOS 18.4 that gives you greater control over App Store downloads proves that.
Specifically, the release candidate version of the iOS 18.4 beta features the ability to pause app downloads and resume them at a later time. That means the feature will be a part of the wider iOS 18.4 release expected to arrive in April.
Pausing app downloads probably hasn't been a part of your iOS wish list. It certainly wasn't on mine. Yet, it's a definite improvement over the current method of managing app downloads, and I can think of a number of situations where you'll be glad to have this new tool at your disposal.
Why pausing app downloads is a good addition
Let's say you go to download an app where the connectivity is, for lack of a better word, crappy, and you don't want that download tying up what little network connection you have. Or you're downloading an app but need to leave the warm embrace of wi-fi and don't want the download eating into your data allotment. Or you've noticed that the download is a lot bigger — and therefore, a lot more time-consuming — than you had first realized.
Before iOS 18.4, you had one option — cancel that download and try again some other time. That's not particularly convenient.
But iOS 18.4's version of the App Store replaces that stop button with one that merely pauses the download. You are able to resume your download later with losing any of the progress you've already made to get that app onto your iPhone.
Like I said, this is not a game-changing addition to the iPhone experience. But it does make managing your apps a lot more convenient than it was before.
How pausing app downloads works
Here's an example of the iOS 18.4 addition in progress. I tried downloading Call of Duty: Mobile on an iPhone running an earlier version of iOS 18. That's a 3.42GB download, though, which will require a lot more time than a busy boy like myself can manage right now. If I want to tackle that download later, my only option is to hit the stop button of the circle charting the progress of the download.
Now, let's switch over to a phone running iOS 18.4. That Call of Duty: Mobile file size hasn't gotten any smaller, so I've decided to pull the plug on downloading it now. Instead of that stop button, though, there's now a pause button. Even better, once I hit pause, a resume button appears that allows me to pick things up where I left off.
In many ways, this is the best kind of iOS addition — it's simple, intuitive and, once you know that it's there, you can make great use of it.
More App Store changes
Apparently, pausing app downloads isn't the only change to the App Store app that iOS 18.4 ushers in. The new software is also supposed to bring AI-generated summaries of customer reviews to select apps. The review summaries are suppose to appear in the Ratings & Reviews section of App Store listings just below the average user rating.
I say "supposed to" because, to date, I haven't seen any of these summaries — not even on an Apple Intelligence-supporting iPhone 15 Pro running iOS 18.4. And believe me, I looked, figuring that Apple would roll out the feature to popular apps like TikTok, Threads and ChatGPT first. Alas, none of those entries had any summaries in their Ratings & Reviews section.
In theory, a quick summary of reviews should be a helpful addition when you're trying to decide whether to download something from the App Store. There are a lot of user reviews to sort through, some more descriptive than others, so getting a quick rundown of pros and cons can be a time-saver.
That assumes that Apple's AI-generated summaries are accurate, though, and that hasn't always been the case with some of the Apple Intelligence features. I've had great luck with summaries that appear at the top of message threads in Mail, for example, but summaries of news notifications proved so off the mark that Apple withdrew the feature.
Which side of the divide will App Store review summaries fall on? Once they start showing up on my iOS 18.4-equipped iPhones, I'll be able to let you know.
iOS 18.4 outlook
In addition to these App Store changes, iOS 18.4 delivers a surprising number of useful features. I've written before about how the new ambient music controls can help you focus or relax, and if you've got an iPhone 15 Pro, you can now use the Visual Intelligence feature that used to be restricted to iPhone 16 models.
iOS 18.4 is missing some promised features, too, most notably the Siri enhancements that were supposed to be part of Apple Intelligence in iOS 18. Now it sounds as if those are getting pushed back, possibly to 2026. That's a big black eye for Apple no matter how you want to spin it.
But in terms of regular functionality most iPhone users can enjoy, iOS 18.4 is really giving things a boost. Because even small changes can make a big difference when it comes to improving how your iPhone works.
More from Tom's Guide
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
