The update, officially called iOS 26.4, is expected to launch next week, according to 9to5mac. Accordingly, Apple has released the latest beta with a list of new features you can expect. A lot of them are small and not particularly exciting, but here are three that stand out to us.
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new emoji
The distorted face is really good.
Credit: Unicode
Easily the most exciting new part of iOS 26.4 is the addition of several new emoji. These include a trombone, a weird distorted face, which I’m sure gets a lot of use online, a ballet dancer, an orca, and a Sasquatch. I’m personally a big fan of Sasquatch, but these are all great and would be a welcome addition to any emoji portfolio.
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apple music enhancements
Apple has made some exciting changes to Apple Music for iOS 26.4. First, a new Concerts feature will help you find nearby shows for artists you listen to regularly. Sure, you can also search for it on Google, but you might as well cut out the middleman.
There are also new automatically generated playlists based on user details, as well as new full screen backgrounds for album and playlist pages. This isn’t a huge change for Apple Music by any means, but it should make the app better overall.
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Another change in liquid glass
Finally, there’s a small but hopefully useful setting for Liquid Glass called “Reduce Motion.” This, naturally, will reduce the intensity of the UI animations for those who are sensitive to that sort of thing. This isn’t a revolutionary change, but considering how many people still don’t like liquid glass for various reasons, hopefully it will give them some peace of mind.
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