It’s been 41 days since Apple last issued a software update for your iPhone. How have you survived in the interim? (Hopefully, you updated to iOS 16.3.1 right away, since it came with serious security patches for an actively exploited zero-day vulnerability.) Thankfully, our wait is over, and it’s finally time for 16.3.1 to step aside, and make room for iOS 16.4, complete with some fun (and useful) new features.
21 new emoji
When you update your iPhone, you’ll find 21 new emoji to add to your daily conversations (31 if you include various skin tones available for each). New additions include a few more animals (like a goose and a moose), some musical instruments (maracas and a flute), and the shaking face smiley. You can learn more about the new emoji from our guide here.
Voice Isolation mode for phone calls
With iOS 16.4, Apple is bringing Voice Isolation mode to phone calls. This feature focuses on your voice during calls, while blocking out distracting background noise. In theory, that means you can now take a call while on a busy street or in a crowded room, and still have the person on the other end hear what you’re saying.
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This feature isn’t new to iOS; Apple previously rolled it out with iOS 15 for FaceTime calls. Interestingly, Wide Spectrum, a feature that invites in more background noise, isn’t here for phone calls yet, and is still only available for FaceTime.
Web app notifications
While we’re all familiar with the iOS App Store, you may not know you can actually add web apps to your Home Screen too. That is, you can add any website to your Home Screen as a shortcut, but if the site supports a true web app, it’ll run from the “app” you added. And with iOS 16.4, Apple now lets developers send you notifications from web apps. It makes your iPhone feel a bit more like a Mac, since websites can send notifications just as apps can.
Of course, websites won’t be able to send you notifications on iOS—only web apps. But still, it’s a neat change.
Duplicates album in Photos gets better
iOS 16’s “Duplicates” album made it much easier to identity and delete duplicate photos throughout your library. Now, Duplicates will add redundant photos from your iCloud Shared Photo Library to the album as well, so you can clean up your shared library and focus on the best photos of your friends and family.
Crash Detection on iPhone 14 also gets better
Crash Detection on the iPhone 14 line is a great feature, in theory. If you’re in an accident and can’t reach your iPhone, it’ll dial emergency services for you, and even alert your emergency contacts to the situation. Unfortunately, the feature sometimes detects a car accident when you’re in another fast-moving situation, like skiing (no joke). Apple says iOS 16.4 adds “optimizations” to Crash Detection, so hopefully it stops calling the cops on you for taking the family to the slopes.
New features for Apple Podcasts
Apple faced some controversy when it first launched its revamped Podcasts app, but things have improved little by little ever since. The latest update builds upon those improvements with some minor new features. As MacRumors highlights, you’ll now see a “Channels” menu listing all the different shows belonging to a particular podcaster or podcast network. “Up Next” will add episodes you’ve saved to your queue, as well as saved episodes from shows you aren’t subscribed to. You’ll also be able to remove shows from your queue.
You’ll also see new info when checking out your shows, such as how many unplayed episodes there are left for any particular podcast. And if your car is compatible with CarPlay, you now have access to “Up Next” and “Recently Played” there too, as well as specially-curated recommendations in the Browse tab.
Other small changes in iOS 16.4
As with all updates, Apple includes some smaller changes and bug fixes you might not notice right away. There are four such changes according to the release notes:
- VoiceOver support for maps in the Weather app
- Accessibility setting to automatically dim video when flashes of light or strobe effects are detected
- Fixes an issue where Ask to Buy requests from children may fail to appear on the parent’s device
- Addresses issues where Matter-compatible thermostats could become unresponsive when paired to Apple Home
