It has not even been 24 hours since the first iOS 26.4 Developer Beta update dropped and Apple has already started seeding the first public beta update of iOS 26.4. The latest iOS build has refined the existing software experience and has added some noteworthy features.
iOS 26.4 Public Beta 1 brings AI-generated playlists to Apple Music
One of the big changes that the first public beta of iOS 26.4 has brought to iOS 26-supported devices is the new Playlist Playground feature in Apple Music. It allows users to create new and edit existing playlists using text-based prompts. Apple uses AI to let iPhone users make real-time edits and generate results.
Moreover, Apple Music in iOS 26.4 now supports full-screen album art, making the experience much more immersive and visually appealing. It now also supports finding concerts and tour dates of favourite artists in the Apple Music library.
The next update has landed inside Apple Podcasts. The first public beta brings support for video podcasts aside from the usual audio-only podcasts. Users can now directly play and discover video formats of available podcasts inside Apple Podcasts. This new feature is part of Apple’s HLS technology, which allows it automatically toggle video quality based on network quality.
Additionally, encrypted RCS messages are finally live with iOS 26.4. It now supports the E2EE encryption protocol for messages shared between Apple Messages and Google Messages.
Aside from that, the first public beta also now enables Stolen Device Protection by default. There is also a new Ambient Music widget, redesigned wallpaper gallery and unified Apple Account interface across apps.
That said, eligible users can update to the latest iOS 26.4 Beta 1 by going to Settings> General> Software Update> Update Now. The update is currently going live from the iPhone 11 to the latest iPhone 17 series.
