New emoji, playlist generator and more: all the new features that iOS 26.4 brings to your iPhone

Apple released iOS 26.4 on Tuesday, March 24, about a week after the tech giant launched iOS 26.3.1(a)the company’s first update to improve background security. The latest update brings a slew of features to your iPhone, including new emojis and audio videos.

You can download iOS 26.4 now by going to Settings And eavesdropping general. Next, select Software updatehandle Update now Follow the prompts on your screen.

Here are some of the new features that iOS 26.4 brings to your iPhone.

New emojis

With iOS 26.4, your iPhone gets… Eight new emojis. These emojis include:

The Unicode Consortium is responsible for creating emojis, and approved these new emojis in September as part of Unicode 17.0. But this is the first time emojis have appeared on iPhones.

Video podcasts are available on Apple Podcasts

The iOS 26.4 update also brings video to your Podcasts app. To view video podcasts, open the Podcasts app and start listening to an episode using the video player icon in the upper-right corner of the title card. Once listening, open the media player and tap Play video The button near the podcast’s progress bar. Podcast artwork will be replaced by video. To stop playing the video again, tap Turn off the video The artwork will return to the podcast.

Reduce some liquid glass effects across your device

Apple’s iOS 26.4 update adds another setting to reduce the effects of Liquid Glass across your device: Reduce Bright Effects. Here’s where to find this setting.

1. handle Settings.
2. handle accessibility.
3. handle Width and text size.
4. Scroll down the list to find it Reduce bright effects.

Apple says the setting will reduce highlighting and flickering when interacting with on-screen elements, such as buttons or the keyboard. So, if you find some flash elements annoying, you can now disable them.

The playing field in Apple Music

The iOS 26.4 update also introduces a new playlist builder for Apple Music subscribers called Playlist Playground. Apple says the feature can create a playlist based on your description. Once you enter your description, a playlist will be created containing a title, tracklist, and general description.

To access Playlist Playground, you must first 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. Click this, and you’ll be asked to describe your playlist.

Apple notes that this feature is still in an experimental phase, so it may lead to unexpected results. So you might ask for a good mix of gym music and end up with some Whitney Houston – but who’s to say Whitney isn’t good gym music?

Find nearby concerts using the appropriately named concerts feature

iOS 26.4 brings a new concert feature to the Apple Music app.

“Concerts helps you discover nearby shows from artists in your library and recommends new artists based on what you’re listening to,” Apple wrote in describing the update. This way, you can easily find offers nearby.

To find concerts, tap the magnifying glass icon at the bottom of the Apple Music screen, then tap Concerts. The feature may ask for your location when you first use it. Then, you’ll be shown popular shows nearby, along with their dates, times, and locations. Clicking on any of these shows will give you more information about the show, as well as a link to purchase tickets.

Shazam works offline, sort of

With iOS 26.4, Shazam in your Control Center can work in more ways. Now, if you’re offline 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 to your home screen with iOS 26.4. These tools give you easy access to four ambient music playlists: Sleep, chill, productivity, well-being. You can quickly play a relaxing playlist to unwind after a long day, or one to help you focus on the task at hand.

Apple brought these playlists to your iPhone side by side iOS 18.4 In 2024. However, you can only access these playlists from your Control Center at that time.

Let the other adults in your family pay for themselves

In iOS 26.4, other adults in your Family Sharing group can They can now use their own payment Instead of relying on the group organizer’s payment method. This means that if you’re an adult and have a Family Sharing group with your parents, siblings, or other family members, you can now buy a new game, movie, or anything else with your own information instead of using someone else’s information and then paying them to use their money.

This can be a useful feature that allows you to avoid the hassle of paying someone else for using their payment information. And if you’re the one whose card is always being used, this can be a great way to make sure others pay for their own items and don’t burden you.

More caption options when watching videos

With iOS 26.4, you can easily change the caption style while watching content in certain apps, like Apple TV.

To see these options, start a video, then tap the speech bubble icon in the lower right corner of the screen to open the subtitles menu. handle style, You will see translation options classic (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 can choose Large text.

More control over wallpaper collections

The iOS 26.4 update also gives you more control over the wallpaper collections on your iPhone. Now, if you go to Settings > Wallpaper > Add new wallpaper, You can click It happens Within groups such as weather and astronomy.

If you want to delete a group from your device, tap the check mark to the right of the downloaded group, and then select an option Remove from gallery He appears. Click this to delete the collection from your iPhone, saving you some precious space.

Below are the release notes for iOS 26.4.

Apple music

• Playlist Playground (beta) creates a playlist from your description, complete with title, description, and song list.
• Concerts helps you discover nearby shows from artists in your library and recommends new artists based on what you’re listening to.
• Offline music recognition in Control Center identifies songs offline and automatically delivers results when you’re back online.
• Ambient music widget for sleep, calm, productivity, and well-being brings curated playlists to your home screen.
• Full-screen backgrounds give album and playlist pages a more immersive look.

accessibility

• The Reduce bright effects setting reduces bright flashes when you click on items such as buttons.
• Subtitles and caption settings are available from the captions icon while viewing the media, making them easy to find, customize, and preview.
• The Motion Reduction setting reduces Liquid Glass animation more reliably for users sensitive to on-screen motion.

This update also includes the following improvements:

• Support for AirPods Max 2.
• 8 new emojis, including orca, trombone, landslide, ballerina, 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 touch and hold, and filter urgent reminders in your smart lists.
• Purchase sharing allows adult members of Family Sharing groups to use their own payment method when making purchases, without relying on the family organizer.
• Improve keyboard accuracy when typing quickly.

For more iOS news, check out the features included in it iOS 26.3 and iOS 26.2. You can also take a look at our website iOS 26 cheat sheet For other tips and tricks.