Everything New in iOS 26.4 Beta 4
Source: MacRumors
New Emoji
Apple added new emoji characters, including:
- Trombone
- Treasure chest
- Distorted face
- Hairy creature
- Fight cloud
- Orca
- Landslide
There are also new skin‑tone modifiers for “people wrestling” and “dancers with bunny ears,” as well as a gender‑neutral option for the ballet dancer emoji.
Reduce Bright Effects
Apple renamed the prior Reduce Highlighting Effects accessibility setting to Reduce Bright Effects and clarified its purpose. The feature “minimizes highlighting and flashing when interacting with onscreen elements, such as buttons or the keyboard.”
RCS Encrypted Messaging
Apple removed the RCS end‑to‑end encryption beta in the fourth beta of iOS 26.4 after testing it in the prior three betas. Apple previously stated that end‑to‑end encryption for RCS would not launch in the iOS 26.4 update and would instead be introduced in a future release.
The company tested end‑to‑end encryption for:
- iPhone‑to‑iPhone RCS conversations
- iPhone‑to‑Android conversations
iMessage communications are already encrypted. In a future iOS update, full implementation of RCS encryption will give iPhone‑to‑Android text messages the same level of encryption.
New Device Support
iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4 beta 4 are the first betas that can be installed on the new iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air.
More New Features
A comprehensive list of all features found in prior betas is available in the iOS 26.4 feature guide.
This article, “Everything New in iOS 26.4 Beta 4,” first appeared on MacRumors.com.