All articles tagged with #ios 264
A new iOS 26.4 enhancement in Apple Music surfaces upcoming concerts for artists you listen to, showing them on artist pages and in the Search tab with Get Tickets links, making it easier to discover and buy tickets without extra searching. The feature blends into everyday usage and reflects passive discovery already common in music apps, helping users catch gigs they’d otherwise miss.
Apple's iOS 26.4 update for iPhone and iPad adds eight new emojis (including a distorted-face, Sasquatch, and orca) and brings music-focused enhancements — Playlist Playground and Concerts in Apple Music, plus offline music recognition — along with accessibility tweaks, reminders improvements, a Freeform upgrade, and general bug fixes and security improvements.
iOS 26.4 for iPhone adds two CarPlay features: an Ambient Music widget on the dashboard and support for voice-based chatbot apps (such as ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude). Users can update via Settings > General > Software Update and add the Ambient Music widget in CarPlay settings; Siri remains available, and expect potential future CarPlay integration for new Siri features.
iOS 26.4 lets adults in a Family Sharing group use their own payment methods for purchases, ending the long-standing requirement to share a single payment method; children still use the organizer's method, and the change aims to simplify sharing of content and subscriptions with a public rollout expected next week.
Apple seeded release candidates for iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4 to developers and public beta testers; the RC is the final public build unless bugs are found. New features include Playlist Playground and Concerts Near You in Apple Music, redesigned album art for playlists/albums, native video podcasts in Apple Podcasts, new emojis, Stolen Device Protection enabled by default, an ambient music widget, and new bedtime metrics in Sleep; updates can be downloaded via Settings > General > Software Update.
Apple's iOS 26.4 update fixes a fast-typing keyboard bug where keystrokes could be missed, which previously caused autocorrect to misinterpret words; the patch aims to restore typing accuracy on iPhone.
Apple announced the AirPods Max 2, with several new features (Live Translation, Adaptive Audio, Conversation Awareness, Siri wake word, Voice Isolation, and new Digital Crown controls) requiring iOS 26.4, iPadOS 26.4, and macOS Tahoe 26.4; the headphones will launch in early April with preorders starting March 25, and iOS 26.4 is expected to roll out by the first week of April, potentially even by end of March, with a release candidate possibly arriving soon.
USA TODAY reports Apple will add eight new emojis with the iOS 26.4 update (ballet dancers in multiple skin tones, a distorted face, a fight cloud, a Sasquatch-like hairy creature, a landslide, an orca, a trombone and a treasure chest). These emojis were approved by the Unicode Consortium as part of Unicode 17.0 in 2025, and will rollout across devices in spring 2026; beta testers can already access them via the Apple Beta Software Program, with wider availability following an official release date.
Apple's iOS 26.4 Beta 4 introduces CarPlay privacy enhancements and UI polish, expands the emoji library, upgrades accessibility options, and boosts Apple Music and Measurement app features, with typical beta performance caveats.
iOS 26.4 is in its second beta with a public rollout expected by March 30, 2026. It adds notable updates across core apps (Phone adds missed-call location; Shortcuts gets a flip-phone glyph; Music allows dynamic playlist covers and SharePlay QR sharing; Podcasts adds a sleep-timer glyph and better video podcast support; TV app expands subtitle customization) and introduces a region-specific age verification for the UK. Performance improves with benchmark scores of single-core 3,783 and multi-core 9,846, but there is a small dip in batttery life. Apple will continue weekly betas toward the final release, setting the stage for iOS 27 at WWDC in June. Upgrading offers new features and speed, but users prioritizing stability may prefer waiting for the final release due to the battery trade-off.
The iOS 26.4 beta adds a built-in Apple TV app and video streaming to CarPlay (watchable only when the car is parked via AirPlay), and introduces third‑party AI chatbots (ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude) as in‑car apps that cannot control vehicle functions; a public rollout is not confirmed, with a spring window hinted.
MacRumors rounds up Apple’s March 4 media experience across New York, London, and Shanghai, the first iOS 26.4 beta with new features such as CarPlay video over AirPlay, and ongoing chatter about iPhone 18 Pro/Max upgrades, alongside a Toyota Wallet car keys rollout and a rebranded Sales Coach app for Apple Store staff.
iOS 26.4 adds CarPlay support for third‑party AI chatbots (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini) with a new voice-control screen for voice-based conversations. Apps must have a CarPlay entitlement and be updated to support the screen; users can interact hands‑free but cannot control vehicle or iPhone functions, and there’s no wake word. The feature is in beta and expected to launch in spring.
In the iOS 26.4 beta, Apple Music adds Playlist Playground, a text-prompt tool that automatically generates a 25-song playlist with a custom title, cover, and description; playlists can be refined with additional prompts and shared on profiles. The feature is currently for developers, with a public beta and spring launch planned.
iOS 26.4 will enable Stolen Device Protection by default for all iPhones, requiring biometric authentication (Face ID/Touch ID) for sensitive actions and adding a one-hour security delay for others. A familiar-location option can disable protection there. The feature, first introduced in 2023, is currently in developer beta with a public beta and a spring release planned.