Apple released iOS 26.4 on March 24, about a week after the tech giant released iOS 26.3.1 (a), the company’s first Background Security Improvement update. While the Background Security Improvement fixed an issue in WebKit, iOS 26.4 brought a slew of features to your iPhone, including new emoji and video podcasts, plus more than two dozen bug fixes and security patches.
You can download the latest iOS version and these features now by going to Settings and tapping General. Next, select Software Update, tap Update Now and follow the prompts on your screen.
Here are some of the new features iOS 26.4 brings to your iPhone.
New emoji
All the new emoji iOS 26.4 brings to your iPhone.
With iOS 26.4, your iPhone gets eight new emoji:
The Unicode Consortium is responsible for creating emoji, and it approved these eight in September as part of Unicode 17.0. But this is the first time the emoji are showing up on iPhones.
Watch this: iPhone in Space: The Many Apple Products That Left Earth
Video podcasts come to Apple Podcasts
The iOS 26.4 update also brings video to your Podcasts app. To view these video podcasts, open the Podcasts app and start listening to an episode with the video player icon in the top right corner of the title card. Once you’re listening, open the media player and tap the Turn Video On button near the podcast’s progress bar. The podcast’s artwork will be replaced with the video. To turn the video off again, tap Turn Video Off and the podcast’s artwork will return.
Video podcasts are a fun addition to the Podcasts app.
Reduce some Liquid Glass effects across your device
Apple’s iOS 26.4 update adds another setting to minimize Liquid Glass effects across your device: Reduce Bright Effects. Here’s where to find this setting.
1. Tap Settings.
2. Tap Accessibility.
3. Tap Display & Text Size.
4. Scroll down the menu to find Reduce Bright Effects.
Reduce Bright Effects can eliminate some Liquid Glass effects.
Apple says the setting will minimize highlighting and flashing when interacting with on-screen elements, such as buttons or the keyboard. So if you find certain flash elements annoying, you can now disable them.
Playlist Playground in Apple Music
The iOS 26.4 update also introduces a playlist generator for Apple Music subscribers called Playlist Playground. Apple says the feature can create a playlist based on your description. Once you enter your description, it will create a playlist with a title, tracklist and general description.
To access Playlist Playground, first you have to be an Apple Music subscriber. Then, open Apple Music and go to your Library. In your Library, you’ll see a new icon at the top of your screen with a plus sign and a few lines next to it. Tap this, and you’ll be prompted to describe your playlist.
Playlist Playground can generate a playlist for you in no time.
Apple notes this feature is still in beta, so it might create unexpected results. You might ask for a good gym mix and end up with some Whitney Houston — but who’s to say Whitney isn’t good gym music?
Find nearby concerts with the aptly named Concerts feature
iOS 26.4 brings a Concerts feature to your Apple Music app.
“Concerts helps you discover nearby shows from artists in your library and recommends new artists based on what you listen to,” Apple writes in the update’s description. That way, you can easily find nearby shows.
To find Concerts, tap the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of your Apple Music screen, then tap Concerts. The feature may ask for your location the first time you use it. After that, you’ll see popular shows nearby, along with their dates, times and locations. Tapping into any of these shows gives you more information on the show, as well as a link to buy tickets.
The Concerts tab in Apple Music makes it easy to see upcoming shows in your area.
Shazam works offline, kind of
With iOS 26.4, your Control Center’s Shazam app can work in more ways. Now, if you aren’t connected to the internet and use the Control Center app to identify a song, the app will eventually tell you the song’s identity once you’re back online.
Ambient Music home screen widgets
Apple introduced two new Ambient Music widgets for your home screen with iOS 26.4. These widgets let you easily access the four Ambient Music playlists: Sleep, Chill, Productivity and Wellbeing. You can quickly turn on a relaxing playlist to unwind after a long day, or one to help you focus on the task at hand.
The Ambient Music widget makes it easy to play music for just the right setting.
Apple introduced these playlists to your iPhone alongside iOS 18.4 in 2024. However, you could only access those playlists from your Control Center at the time.
Let other adults in your Family pay for themselves
In iOS 26.4, other adults in your Family sharing group can now use their own payment method instead of depending on the group organizer’s payment method. That means if you’re an adult and have a family sharing group with your own parents, siblings or other family members, you can now purchase a game, movie or something else with your own information instead of using someone else’s information and then paying them back.
This can be a helpful feature that allows you to avoid the hassle of paying someone else back for using their payment information. And if you’re the person whose card is always used, it can be a nice way to ensure others pay for their own stuff and don’t freeload off you.
More caption options when viewing videos
With iOS 26.4, you can easily change the caption style while watching content in certain apps, such as Apple TV.
To see these options, start playing a video, then tap the speech bubble icon in the bottom-right corner of your screen to open the subtitle menu. Tap Style, and you’ll see the subtitle options Classic (the default setting), Large Text, Outline Text and Transparent Background. So if you and a few others are watching something on your iPhone and want to make sure everyone can see the captions, you might choose Large Text.
You can adjust the subtitles in some apps thanks to iOS 26.4.
More control over wallpaper Collections
The iOS 26.4 update also gives you more control over which wallpaper Collections are on your iPhone. Now, if you go to Settings > Wallpaper > Add New Wallpaper, you can tap Get under Collections such as Weather and Astronomy.
If you want to delete a Collection from your device, tap the check mark to the right of the downloaded Collection, and the option to Remove from Gallery appears. Tap this to delete the Collection from your iPhone, saving you some precious space.
You can remove wallpaper Collections from your iPhone if you want to save a little space.
Here are the release notes for iOS 26.4.
Apple Music
- Playlist Playground (beta) generates a playlist from your description, complete with a title, description and tracklist.
- Concerts helps you discover nearby shows from artists in your library and recommends new artists based on what you listen to.
- Offline Music Recognition in Control Center identifies songs without an internet connection and delivers results automatically when you’re back online.
- Ambient Music widget for Sleep, Chill, Productivity and Wellbeing brings curated playlists to the Home Screen.
- Full-screen backgrounds give album and playlist pages a more immersive look.
Accessibility
- Reduce bright effects setting minimizes bright flashes when tapping on elements like buttons.
- Subtitle and caption settings are available from the captions icon while viewing media, making them easier to find, customize and preview.
- Reduce Motion setting more reliably reduces the animations of Liquid Glass for people sensitive to on-screen motion.
This update also includes the following enhancements:
- Support for AirPods Max 2.
- Eight new emoji, including an orca, trombone, landslide, ballet dancer and distorted face, are available in the emoji keyboard.
- Freeform gains advanced image creation and editing tools, and a premium content library, joining Apple Creator Studio.
- Mark reminders as urgent from the Quick Toolbar or by touching and holding, and filter for urgent reminders in your Smart Lists.
- Purchase Sharing lets adult members in Family Sharing groups use their own payment method when making purchases, without relying on the family organizer.
- Improved keyboard accuracy when typing quickly.
For more iOS news, check out what features were included in iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.2. You can also take a look at our iOS 26 cheat sheet for other tips and tricks.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
