Apple continues to beta test iOS 26.4 , and the latest update is now available to developers and public beta testers . As testing progresses, there are fewer new features in each beta, but today's release adds new emoji characters and a few other changes.
iOS 26.4 Beta 4: New minor changes
New Emojis
Apple added new emoji characters: a trombone, a treasure chest, a deformed face, a hairy creature, a battle cloud, an orca, and a landslide.
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There are also skin tone tweaks for people wrestling and dancers with bunny ears, as well as a gender-neutral option for the ballet dancer emoji.
Reduce Bright Effects
Apple has renamed the previous Reduce Highlighting Effects Accessibility to “Reduce Bright Effects” and explained what it does. It says the feature “minimizes highlighting and flashing when interacting with on-screen elements, such as buttons or the keyboard.”
RCS Message Encryption
Apple has removed end-to-end encryption for RCS in the fourth beta of iOS 26.4 (after testing it in the three previous betas). The company had previously stated that end-to-end encryption for RCS would not be released in the iOS 26.4 update and would be introduced in the future.
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Apple has been testing end-to-end encryption for RCS conversations from iPhone to iPhone and from iPhone to Android. iMessage are already encrypted, but in a future iOS update, full implementation of RCS encryption will mean that text message conversations from iPhone to Android will have the same level of encryption.
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New Device Support
iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4 beta 4 beta versions are the first betas that can be installed on the new iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air.
