Apple Releases iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4 With New Emoji, Playlist Playground, Purchase Sharing Changes and More

Apple today released iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, the latest updates to the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 operating systems. The new software comes six weeks after Apple released iOS 26.3 and iPadOS 26.3.

iOS 26.4 adds a new Apple Music feature called Playlist Playground, which uses AI to generate playlists for you based on text-based prompts. You can ask for moods, feelings, occasions, and more when making a request.

The update also has new emoji characters, a useful change to payment methods for Purchase Sharing in family groups, and much more. Apple's notes for the update are below.

Apple Music
- Playlist Playground (beta) generates a playlist from your description, complete with a title, description, and tracklist
- Concerts helps you discover nearby shows from artists in your library and recommends new artists based on what you listen to
- Offline Music Recognition in Control Center identifies songs without an internet connection and delivers results automatically when you're back online
- Ambient Music widget for Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing brings curated playlists to the Home Screen
- Full screen backgrounds give album and playlist pages a more immersive look

Accessibility
- Reduce bright effects setting minimizes bright flashes when tapping on elements like buttons
- Subtitle and caption settings are available from the captions icon while viewing media, making them easier to find, customize, and preview
- Reduce Motion setting more reliably reduces the animations of Liquid Glass for users sensitive to on screen motion

This update also includes the following enhancements:
- 8 new emoji including an orca, trombone, landslide, ballet dancer, 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 touching and holding, and filter for urgent reminders in your Smart Lists
- Purchase Sharing lets adult members in Family Sharing groups use their own payment method when making purchases, without relying on the family organizer
- Improved keyboard accuracy when typing quickly

For information on the security content of Apple software updates, please visit:
https://support.apple.com/100100

Some features may not be available in all regions or on all iPhone models. To learn more, please visit: https://www.apple.com/ios/feature-availability/.

Software updates, like this one, add new features and improvements that may affect performance and/or battery life. To learn more, please visit:
https://support.apple.com/125039

We should be getting iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5 betas in the near future, perhaps as soon as this week.