- Apple’s iOS 26.4 beta update has landed for iPhones
- The update contains several interesting new features
- But it lacks the new Siri powered by Apple Intelligence
Apple’s iOS 26.4 update is here – in beta form at least – and it’s brought with it a raft of new features and improvements. From health metrics to camera tweaks, there are a lot of upgrades found in the beta – and one glaring absence.
We’ve rounded up some of the most significant changes below, so you can see what you get if you decide to download and install the beta. If you do decide to go down that route, be sure to back up your iPhone in case anything goes wrong.
Audio zoom in the Camera app
Apple’s Camera app has gained a new ‘Audio Zoom’ setting in iOS 26.4. When enabled, recorded audio will be focused on the subject of your video when you are zoomed in. This could help ensure that distracting sounds are cut out – or at least not the focus of your video – and that you can properly hear the audio coming from your subject.
Health app updates
There have been several changes to the Health app in iOS 26.4, which should hopefully enable you to better understand your wellbeing. For instance, the Sleep section of the app contains a new Average Bedtime metric that displays the times you went to bed over the past 14 nights.
As well as that, the Vitals section of the Health app now includes your bloody oxygen level on the daily summary graph. Although earlier versions of iOS had a section for blood oxygen information, your levels were not as easy to find.
Personal Hotspot
Find yourself using the Personal Hotspot setting to share your iPhone’s data allowance with other devices? In iOS 26.4, it’s now much easier to see how much data you’re using this way. In the Personal Hotspot section of the Settings app, you can tap Data Usage to see how much data has been sent to your Apple devices, with non-Apple products being listed under the Other Devices header. Your total Personal Hotspot consumption is shown next to the Data Usage button.
Apple Music
Want to add a track to multiple playlists in Apple Music? Until now, you couldn’t do it, which was a frustrating limitation to Apple’s music streaming service. Now, that’s all changed in iOS 26.4, with the update allowing you to select a song and pick several existing playlists to add it to. That should save you plenty of time repeatedly adding tracks and managing your music library.
Shortcuts
Apple’s Shortcuts app is a great – and much underrated – tool on your iPhone. With iOS 26.4, it gains a Set Battery Charge Limit control. This lets you automatically set a limit on your iPhone’s charging percentage, which could help prolong its life and slow down battery wear and tear. It works in 5% increments from 80% to 100%, and mirrors a similar shortcut recently added to macOS 26.4.
Where’s the new Siri?
Despite all the updates, there’s one feature that is notable by its absence: a revamped version of Siri powered by Apple Intelligence. Past rumors had suggested that this would be introduced in iOS 26.4, but despite those claims, we’re still stuck with the standard version of Apple’s virtual assistant.
In recent days, claims had been made that Apple was struggling with the new version of Siri and that the feature could be pushed back to later versions of iOS 26, or even to iOS 27. That sounded like bad news for Apple, and now that the absence of the new Siri has been confirmed, it raises serious questions over Apple’s ability to measure up to its rivals when it comes to artificial intelligence (AI). The new Siri really needs to blow people away to give Apple any chance of competing – whenever it arrives.
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alexblake.techradar@gmail.com (Alex Blake)
