It won’t take long for Apple to introduce iOS 26.4 to all users, as it just seeded beta 4. With rumors suggesting that the new Siri features might be introduced with iOS 26.5, this means there is also no reason for the company to stay too long in this beta cycle. After all, it already announced new products over the past week, and the next batch of announcements shouldn’t come before WWDC 2026, when Apple is expected to introduce iOS 27 and the other new operating system updates.
Even though iOS 26.4 is full of new features, the latest beta 4 introduced what could possibly be the real reason why many iPhone users will update their iPhone soon: New emojis. While the number of emojis introduced each year has been decreasing considerably, there will be eight new figures available with iOS 26.4, including a gender neutral option for the ballet dancer, plus skin tone modifiers for people wrestling and dancers with bunny ears. Of all the new figures, the distorted face is likely to be the most popular due to its comic value — and it’s fairly easy to see why people will use it all the time.
iOS x.4 has a history of bringing new emojis to users
Apple is accustomed to introducing new emojis around March, depending on its iOS x.4 schedule. Firstly, the Unicode Consortium introduces a preview of the new emojis it plans to make available, and then companies like Google, Samsung, Meta, and Apple start work on adopting these new figures.
Unfortunately, over the past few years, Unicode has introduced just a handful of new figures, as we already have several hundreds to choose from. iOS 18.4 and iOS 17.4 had less than 10 new figures each, while iOS 16.4 introduced over 30 new emojis for users. Besides that, with the rising popularity of stickers on WhatsApp and Apple’s Genmoji, users can express themselves online in different ways, without waiting for Unicode to introduce new figures. Still, as emojis feel like the standard way to communicate through figures, it’s always nice to see new options available.
If Apple follows the trend, iOS 26.4 should become available in a couple of weeks, as after beta 4, the company usually releases its first Release Candidate version, followed by the official version. With the previous iOS 18.4 launch, the company aimed for the official introduction by the end of March. It seems with iOS 26.4, this could come slightly early.
There’s more to get excited about with iOS 26.4
Besides fun new emojis, iOS 26.4 is full of new features. For Apple Podcasts, Apple is unlocking video podcasts with a new HTTP Live Streaming technology. The company says it brings the “highest-quality viewing experience for users,” and adds a good way for creators to expand on ad revenue. For Apple Music, users have a new look to albums, playlists, and Profile settings, and a new “Upcoming concerts” tab. American users also get a Playlist Playground feature, which works similarly to ChatGPT integration on Apple Music, but with extra perks, as ChatGPT doesn’t actually have access to your tastes or listening preferences.
Other new features of iOS 26.4 include: Personal Hotspot’s new function that shows how much data each device has used, instead of just displaying a total; always-on Stolen Device Protection, which was first introduced with iOS 17.3 and creates a secure delay when someone tries to deactivate your iPhone in an unknown location; and, finally, a tweak to the wallpaper settings experience.
