iOS 26.4.1 Update for iPhones is Coming Soon

I fixed it so you can actually read the version number:

26.4 broke the iCloud (CloudKit under the hood) notifications that many apps rely on to update cloud data. A pretty bad regression.

Random thought:

The article mentioned healthcare (medical imaging). It would be nice if - when Apple’s AI is actually good and useful and secure - if Apple had a full suite of medical and health Apps on-device to help shorten the wait times and lengthy diagnostic processes one most go through when one has to visit an American hospital. If Apple’s AI tech and health/medical apps could make the iPhone into a gen-1 version of Star Trek’s medical TriCorder device, it could remove or reduce significant pain (ie: time investment and potentially cost) that comes in navigating an emergency room visit.

I took my father to the ER earlier in the year… sitting for 9-10 hours waiting and 1/3rd of that was waiting for diagnostics to come back and then be interpreted by a doctor who was dragging from doing a 12 hour shift. If Apple's iPhone could also do TriCorder functions, it could shave many hours off the visit and possibly cut several thousand dollars off the insurance bill. That’s a technology win that I’d like to see.

If Apple’s AI tech and health/medical apps could make the iPhone into a gen-1 version of Star Trek’s medical TriCorder device, it could remove or reduce significant pain (ie: time investment and potentially cost) that comes in navigating an emergency room visit. […] If Apple's iPhone could also do TriCorder functions, it could shave many hours off the visit and possibly cut several thousand dollars off the insurance bill. That’s a technology win that I’d like to see.

We all know that the Eugenics Wars will come first.

Random thought:

The article mentioned healthcare (medical imaging). It would be nice if - when Apple’s AI is actually good and useful and secure - if Apple had a full suite of medical and health Apps on-device to help shorten the wait times and lengthy diagnostic processes one most go through when one has to visit an American hospital. If Apple’s AI tech and health/medical apps could make the iPhone into a gen-1 version of Star Trek’s medical TriCorder device, it could remove or reduce significant pain (ie: time investment and potentially cost) that comes in navigating an emergency room visit.

I took my father to the ER earlier in the year… sitting for 9-10 hours waiting and 1/3rd of that was waiting for diagnostics to come back and then be interpreted by a doctor who was dragging from doing a 12 hour shift. If Apple's iPhone could also do TriCorder functions, it could shave many hours off the visit and possibly cut several thousand dollars off the insurance bill. That’s a technology win that I’d like to see.

Medical software companies have been working on things like this for years now. Still terrible. Don't let the flashy headlines fool you. They're all awful and rife with errors. If your hospital tells you your medical imaging is being read by AI, demand a board-certified radiologist read it before they release you or make any lasting treatment decisions. It's one thing for a radiology department to use it for triage and assistance (auto-measure lung nodules, aortic diameters, etc.), but actual interpretations are nowhere close to ready for prime time. It's one thing in outpatient settings where nearly everything is normal or near-normal. It's another thing when put in place at high-volume emergency rooms or cancer hospitals.

AI can't draw a human with 5 fingers consistently. Do you really want it making life and death decisions for you?

I wonder if this will be tied to new hardware. The new base iPad is apparently due in the 26.4 window, for example.

And we’ve seen Apple in the 26 cycle drop product compatibility updates with X.X.X updates rather than X.X updates (AirTag 2nd gen - 26.2.1, Studio Display -26.3.1).

I doubt this is related to new hardware. 26.4 shipped with some fairly major bugs.

I'd expect this to address the broken Wi-Fi 7 connectivity with the N1 chip, for example.