- iOS 26.4’s first developer beta will reportedly launch in 2-3 weeks
- This is where we should see the first parts of Siri’s Gemini-overhaul
- The first public beta will probably land in late February or early March, with the finished version probably launching in late March or early April
It’s fair to say that there’s been a very long wait for Apple to overhaul Siri. Arguably it was in need of some sort of overhaul even before AI was an option, but we’ve now been waiting over 18 months since Apple first announced Siri’s AI upgrade – an announcement that factored in to me buying the iPhone 16 Pro Max, which launched that year. Finally though, the wait is seemingly almost over.
According to Apple watcher Mark Gurman, writing for Bloomberg (via 9to5Mac), Apple will release the first developer beta of iOS 26.4 in the week of February 23, so that means it’s just 2-3 weeks away at the time of writing.
That’s relevant because iOS 26.4 is expected to include “some components” of Apple’s long-promised Gemini-powered Siri overhaul. Specifically, it’s said to have personal context, on-screen awareness, and both in-app and cross-app interactions.
Smarter and more aware than ever
So in other words Siri should be able to dig up information in your emails, notes, and texts, as well as taking actions on your screen and within apps. So it should be a lot more capable than it is currently. Though other updates to Siri – including a new chatbot-like interface – apparently won’t land until iOS 27 later this year.
In any case, unless you actually are a developer you might not want to grab this early iOS 26.4 beta, but if you do, then here’s how to download iOS developer betas.
The first public beta will likely launch within a couple of weeks of that, so probably late February or early March, and we’ve got a guide covering how to download iOS public betas too.
After that, we hopefully won’t be waiting too long for the finished version. For reference, the finished version of iOS 18.4 landed on March 31 last year, so it’s likely that we’ll see similar timing for iOS 26.4 this year.
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