​iOS 11.4 Public Beta 1iOS 11.4 Public Beta 1

The first public beta for iOS 11.4 has landed, and here's what it contains.

Must read: iOS 11.3: Tips, tricks, and how to fix the biggest annoyances[1]

Interestingly, the two main features in iOS 11.4 public beta 1 are features that were dropped from the iOS 11.3 release.

First up there's Messages in Cloud, a feature that synchronizes messages between devices across multiple devices. Delete a message on one device, and it's gone on all the others. While newer messages will be stored on the device, older messages will be offloaded to iCloud to save on storage space.

Another feature that makes a return is AirPlay 2.

AirPlay 2 is an update to the AirPlay wireless standard that Apple has been using since 2010. The new update adds multi-room audio, HomeKit integration, and a raft of other audio related improvements. AirPlay 2 debuted almost a year ago at WWDC 2017, and while it was present in early betas of iOS 11.3 and tvOS 11.3, it was later removed.

Also in the iOS 11.4 public beta is the HomePod stereo pairing is here, but since this requires an as yet unreleased HomePod update, there's no way to test it.

Also, the release includes support for Apple's new ClassKit framework, allowing developers to add support for the upcoming Schoolwork app to their own apps.

If you want access to the public beta, you need to sign up. You can do that here[2]. Before you go any further, you might want to take a look at my list of precautions and caveats[3] related to running beta software

Read more from our friends at ZDNet