Here are 8 of my favourite things in Apple’s 26.4 releases
Apple has shipped the 26.4 update across all its hardware platforms, iPhone, Mac, iPad, Apple Watch, Apple TV and Vision Pro. While security alone should be a good enough reason to upgrade, it’s also a fantastic upgrade if new features are what you are looking for (and you get eight new emojiis).
Here are some of my favorite highlights from the release.
Live Translation goes (more) global
Apple’s Live Translation tool which lets you use iPhones and AirPods to converse in almost any language gets way wider in the upgrade as even more users around the world can take advantage of Live Translation in Messages, allowing them to see incoming texts in other languages automatically translated to their preferred language. The feature adds support for 17 languages and locales, including: English (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, South Africa, Ireland, India, Singapore), Traditional Chinese (Hong Kong), French (Canada), Italian (Switzerland), German (Switzerland), Spanish (Mexico, United States), Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, and Portuguese (Portugal). Learn more about Live Translation here.
Playlist your way to fun
Building on Apple Intelligence, Playlist Playground allows Apple Music users to create a playlists in a trice, based on just an idea. Try it – just describe a mood, activity, artist, or genre and Playlist Playground will generate a unique title and a custom playlist you can tweak until they get it right. You can also add Ambient Music playist widgets for Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing music to your Home screen.
No more long waits
Hold Assist is a great tool that lets you know when a live agent fnally joins the call when you find yourself placed in a never-ending queue. That fearture now works in English (New Zealand, South Africa, and Ireland), Mandarin Chinese (Taiwan), Korean, French (Canada).
Smart TV assistant
New to the Apple TV app, Genius Browse will provide you with personalized show and movie recommendations based on any of the existing Genius Browse collections or from any title to find related shows and movies.
Video in podcasts, at last
Apple Podcasts finally supports video podcasts. We’ve waited way too long for this.
Recipes in Apple News
One of my favourite features is recipes in Apple News+, these now offer features like unit conversion, ratings, and nutrition information. Food content in News+ also comes to Mac. (And F1 fans can get breaking news).
Freeform goes pro
Freeform is now part of Apple Creator Studio. The Content Hub offers curated, high-quality photos, graphics, and illustrations; on-device AI models enable Super Resolution to upscale images and Auto Crop helps users find eye-catching compositions for photos; and advanced image creation tools let users generate high-quality images with additional style options, using generative models from OpenAI.
Sleep tight
You’ll find a new Sleep Highlights section in the Health app which gives you insight into your sleep patterns.
What are your favorite improvements in 26.4?
You can follow me on social media! Join me on BlueSky, LinkedIn, and Mastodon.
