Apple Releases iOS 16.4 With New Emoji, Safari Web Push Notifications, Beta Changes, Voice Isolation for Calls and More

[MacRumors]

Apple today released iOS 16.4, the fourth major update to the iOS 16 operating system that initially came out last September. iOS 16.4 comes two months after the launch of iOS 16.3, an update that added Security Keys for Apple ID.

iOS 16‌.4 and iPadOS 16.4 can be downloaded on eligible iPhones and iPads over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. It can take a few minutes for the updates to propagate to all users due to high demand. Apple has also released iOS 15.7.4 for iPhone users who have older devices, with the update offering security improvements.

iOS 16.4 adds 21 total new emoji characters including shaking head, pink heart, blue heart, gray heart, donkey, moose, black bird, goose, wing, jellyfish, hyacinth, and more.

It also includes Safari web notifications for websites added to the Home Screen, Voice Isolation for clearer cellular phone calls, the return of the Apple Books page turning animation, updates to Podcasts, new HomeKit architecture, and a number of other small changes and tweaks. Apple's full notes for the update are below:

This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:

- 21 new emoji including animals, hand gestures, and objects are now available in emoji keyboard
- Notifications for web apps added to the Home Screen
- Voice Isolation for cellular calls prioritizes your voice and blocks out ambient noise around you
- Duplicates album in Photos expands support to detect duplicate photos and videos in an iCloud Shared Photo Library
- 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
- Crash Detection optimizations on iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models

iOS 16.4 and iPadOS 16.4 may be some of the last updates that we see to the iOS 16 and iPadOS 16 operating systems as Apple shifts its focus to iOS 17 and iPadOS 17, software that will be announced at the Worldwide Developers Conference that's expected in June.

Article Link: Apple Releases iOS 16.4 With New Emoji, Safari Web Push Notifications, Beta Changes, Voice Isolation for Calls and More

 

[sniffies]

Safari Web Push Notifications is a groundbreaking game changer.

Who else is excited about the new donkey emoji?

 

[hovscorpion12]

Exited they released it today instead of tomorrow

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Thank you, Apple! Hoping the bugs have been fixed. Wishing all of us iOS 16.4 good luck!!!

 

[antiprotest]

Safari Web Push Notifications is a groundbreaking game changer

I want to know the moment @TheYayAreaLiving 🎗 likes my comment.

 

[tipoo]

Interesting, usually if I have the RC the official release doesn't push out another update over it if nothing changed, but this one is, so they must have made changes after RC

 

[hovscorpion12]

Personally, I’m going to wait a few days to see/read feedback

 

[maxoakland]

Safari Web Push Notifications is a groundbreaking game changer

In a good way? To me it seems like it’ll mostly be used for spam

 

[StellarVixen]

Can't wait to flip pages in Books again.

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Safari Web Push Notifications is a groundbreaking game changer

Expecting solid 10+ Hours of battery life on my iPhone 14 Pro Max 1TB. That will be a totally groundbreaking game-changer! 🔋

 

[tipoo]

Thank you, Apple! Hoping the bugs have been fixed. Wishing all of us iOS 16.4 good luck!!!

View attachment 2179659

I really just want iOS17 to focus on nuking 100% of the jank and slop like this, and make everything as smooth and efficient as possible. I'd give up all new features for that.

 

[cableguy84]

DL’ing now

 

[raziel101]

I’m still not yet ready to participate in the ongoing beta of ios16. Will stay on 15…

 

[podycust]

Also HomePod software 16.4 is released too

 

[iLoveDeveloping]

Snappier?

In all seriousness I hope it helps battery drain on the iPhone 14 Pro! I’m so disappointed with this phone, it’s 6pm in the evening and I’m at 37%. My iPhone 11 Pro that I updated from still lasted all day. I’m actually sickened by this garbage.

 

[Sammy in SoCal]

New emojis???? No questions asked! Automatic download!

 

[Sammy in SoCal]

Snappier?

In all seriousness I hope it helps battery drain on the iPhone 14 Pro! I’m so disappointed with this phone, it’s 6pm in the evening and I’m at 37%. My iPhone 11 Pro that I updated from still lasted all day. I’m actually sickened by this garbage.

Trade in now for a yellow iPhone 14 plus! I heard that was a 10-12 hour screen time phone

 

[krspkbl]

You know what this means...

An article tomorrow titled "When will Apple release iOS 16.5?"

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Who’s ready to use the new emojis?

 

[tipoo]

Snappier?

In all seriousness I hope it helps battery drain on the iPhone 14 Pro! I’m so disappointed with this phone, it’s 6pm in the evening and I’m at 37%. My iPhone 11 Pro that I updated from still lasted all day. I’m actually sickened by this garbage.

My XS Max has been brutal on battery, and I'd get to thinking it's hardware deterioration (85%), but some releases fix it and make it still fine for me, and then other releases go and nuke it again

 

[k1121j]

Nothing in the release notes about updating HomeKit 😕😑🫤 I’ll wait

 

[tonyisit]

I’m still not yet ready to participate in the ongoing beta of ios16. Will stay on 15…

enjoy

 

[sjsharksfan12]

Because I downloaded the RC last week, I won't get the update right? I still think (And I provided Feedback yesterday) that Apple Music has been sluggish with this new release. I do appreciate the folders for playlists though.

 

[Vespi]

This build is 1 build newer than rc, rc was 20E246 this is 20E247

 

[BigBag]

I wonder if the Web Apps notifications will work for Whatsapp web on iPad? That would be amazing...