Zayed Rehman on March 9, 2026, 10:18 pm

Apple Seeds iOS 26.4 Beta 4 Along With iPadOS 26.4 Beta 4

Apple has rolled out the fourth developer betas of iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, continuing its testing cycle ahead of a public release. The new betas arrive just a week after the previous round.

Registered developers can download the updates directly from the Settings app by heading to General > Software Update on an iPhone or iPad.

This update introduces several new features across Apple’s apps and system tools. One of the more interesting additions lands in Apple Music with a new Playlist Playground feature. It lets users generate playlists using simple text prompts based on a mood, activity, or idea. Apple Music is also gaining a Concerts Near You discovery tool and refreshed album and playlist pages with full page artwork.

Another big change is coming to Apple Podcasts, which is getting native video podcasting support. The feature will allow creators to publish video episodes directly within the app, while still benefiting from existing podcast tools like recommendations and editorial curation.

Apple is also testing end to end encryption for Rich Communication Services, better known as RCS. Once finalized, it should bring full encryption to messages exchanged between iPhone and Android users. Apple is currently testing the feature with both iPhone to iPhone and cross platform conversations.

A few smaller improvements are included as well:

Stolen Device Protection is now enabled by default
A new ambient music widget for quick audio playback
Average bedtime tracking added to the Sleep app

As with earlier betas, additional tweaks and under the hood changes could still appear before the final release.