Apple began rolling out iOS 26.4 on Tuesday with 13 new improvements for your iPhone, including eight new emoji, an AI-powered playlist generation feature, and a fix for keyboard inaccuracies.
For weeks, Reddit users have complained that the iOS 26 keyboard causes more typos than usual and triggers features they don’t intend to use. While we have yet to test the latest update, Apple’s iOS 26.4 release notes promise “improved keyboard accuracy when typing quickly.”
The keyboard also gets eight new emoji: a trombone, orca, landslide, treasure chest, distorted face, ballet dancer, fight cloud, and a hairy primate.
If you have been using Family Sharing, there’s a nifty update for you as well. Each adult member of the group can now use their own payment method when making purchases. This ends the dependency on the family organizer for transactions.
The app that received the most updates, however, is Apple Music. Subscribers can now use an Apple Intelligence-powered feature called Playlist Playground to generate custom playlists using prompts. Spotify also has a similar AI playlist feature.
With Playlist Playground, Apple Music users can “generate fully customized playlists from a simple idea, whether inspired by a mood, activity, artist, or genre, making playlist creation faster, more intuitive, and more personal than ever before,” a publicist for Apple tells PCMag. Eligible users can access the feature from the app’s Library tab.
(Credit: Apple)
Two other features coming to Apple Music include Concerts and Official Music Recognition. With Concerts the app will show nearby shows of your favorite artists and recommend new artists based on your listening habits.
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Official Music Recognition, on the other hand, is a Shazam-like feature that identifies songs for you. It even scans when you don’t have an internet connection, but results will be delivered only after you establish a connection.
(Credit: Apple/PCMag)
The Apple Music app is also getting some design improvements. You get full-screen backgrounds for albums and playlists for an immersive look, and an Ambient Music Widget for the Home Screen.
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The rest of the improvements, meanwhile, are scattered across the device. The subtitles and caption settings button is now easier to find while viewing media. You also get more reliable Liquid Glass adjustments with the Reduce Motion setting, while the Reduce Bright Effects setting now minimizes flashes when you tap on buttons.
In a subtle but important update, iOS 26.4 adds support for the just-announced AirPods Max 2. Preorders for the headphones begin today, and they will become available early next month.
Reminders and Freeform also get some minor improvements. In Reminders, you can now “mark reminders as urgent from the Quick Toolbar or by touching and holding, and filter for urgent reminders in your Smart List,” Apple says. In Freeform, you now get advanced image creation and editing tools, and a premium content library, the company adds.
You’ll need an iPhone 11 or later to run iOS 26.4. Head to Settings > General > Software Update to find and download the software version. Note that features may vary by region, and Apple Intelligence is supported only on iPhone 15 Pro or later.
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Jibin is a tech news writer based out of Ahmedabad, India. Previously, he served as the editor of iGeeksBlog and is a self-proclaimed tech enthusiast who loves breaking down complex information for a broader audience.
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