Apple unsurprisingly appears to be ramping up activity on iOS 7.0.4 as the next version of iOS to see a release to the public, with MacRumors seeing increasing numbers of devices running iOS 7.0.4 from Apple's networks showing up in web logs.

Visitors to MacRumors.com via Apple's networks from devices running iOS 7.0.4

The first signs of iOS 7.0.4 appeared on October 22, the same day iOS 7.0.3 was released to the public . Activity has been ramping up over the past two weeks, but there is no word yet on when the update might be released to the public. Apple has also not seeded registered developers with any builds of iOS 7.0.4, but the company does not always do so for its minor iOS updates.

Visitors to MacRumors.com via Apple's networks from devices running iOS 7.1

As we previously noted , iOS 7.1 devices from Apple's network began showing up in our logs in late August, and while visits from those devices increased during October, they have declined somewhat during the first week of November. iOS 7.1 would be expected to bring a more substantial number of updates, but it appears that a public launch may yet be some time off with Apple working on a smaller iOS 7.0.4 release.

iOS 8 continues to show very low levels of activity in our logs, with the next major version of Apple's iOS software undoubtedly still in the very early stages of development and a public release roughly a year in the future.