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iOS 26.4 Beta 2 ― Bug Fixes, Changes, and Improvements

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Is anyone have any issues with auto brightness since 26.3 recently and now 26.4 beta 2? It is very dark unless I manually adjust it.
Also, the flashlight and camera icons are washed out on a light color wallpaper.
 
The search changes in the App Store and Games App will be the new standard. This is directly a result of Alan Dye leaving and Steve Lemay taking over. And while I did like the appearance and concept of the bottom search bubble, I understand why Lemay is making these changes. The bottom search bubble would obstruct all other buttons, forcing you to think a bit more before reaching a menu. This is very unaligned with the design philosophy apple has pioneered since the release of the iPhone. I will give you the example of my mother. She has been using IOS 26 since September. She still gets confused at these types of changes. To her it just feels like the buttons go away when she presses search and getting back is confusing. It's not normal for an interface to still be confusing 5 months into an update. Another change Lemay is making is getting rid of right aligned text. I also agree with this. While in many languages we read from left to right. A lot of languages read in right to left. It's very difficult to make an interface that works with all these. Center Aligned tend to be better. The last thing is I believe Apple Music is going to get an overhaul with IOS 27. This is the app with the most confusing of all interfaces and part of it is caused by the search bubble but a lot of it is also because it feels way too overwhelming.
 
meepdarby said:
The search changes in the App Store and Games App will be the new standard. This is directly a result of Alan Dye leaving and Steve Lemay taking over. And while I did like the appearance and concept of the bottom search bubble, I understand why Lemay is making these changes. The bottom search bubble would obstruct all other buttons, forcing you to think a bit more before reaching a menu. This is very unaligned with the design philosophy apple has pioneered since the release of the iPhone. I will give you the example of my mother. She has been using IOS 26 since September. She still gets confused at these types of changes. To her it just feels like the buttons go away when she presses search and getting back is confusing. It's not normal for an interface to still be confusing 5 months into an update. Another change Lemay is making is getting rid of right aligned text. I also agree with this. While in many languages we read from left to right. A lot of languages read in right to left. It's very difficult to make an interface that works with all these. Center Aligned tend to be better. The last thing is I believe Apple Music is going to get an overhaul with IOS 27. This is the app with the most confusing of all interfaces and part of it is caused by the search bubble but a lot of it is also because it feels way too overwhelming.
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Do you have absolutely any source for this at all?
I’m not saying I disagree, I also don’t really like the collapsing tab bars from early versions of 26, but is this really an indicator of leadership change?
And if so, why is it not present in any of the other apps? Especially Podcasts and Music which both seem to be getting plenty of work done on them behind the scenes in 26.4?
 
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Lounge vibes 05 said:
Do you have absolutely any source for this at all?
I’m not saying I disagree, I also don’t really like the collapsing tab bars from early versions of 26, but is this really an indicator of leadership change?
And if so, why is it not present in any of the other apps? Especially Podcasts and Music which both seem to be getting plenty of work done on them behind the scenes in 26.4?
Click to expand...
Last week it was on the App Store in beta 1. Now it's in the games app in beta 2. In beta 3 we will likely see it in more apps. I think they are slowly changing this to gage feedback. But honestly you are starting to slowly see Lemays changes. I don't have a source. But if apple is doing this on the apps where people spend money, they will likely push it on throughout the OS.
 
meepdarby said:
Last week it was on the App Store in beta 1. Now it's in the games app in beta 2. In beta 3 we will likely see it in more apps. I think they are slowly changing this to gage feedback. But honestly you are starting to slowly see Lemays changes. I don't have a source. But if apple is doing this on the apps where people spend money, they will likely push it on throughout the OS.
Click to expand...
Interesting.
To your point about music, they seem to be doing a lot within the Mac music app to make it more similar to the iPhone and iPad music app within 26.4.
For example, if you click on the Album artwork in the player at the bottom of the window, a full screen “now playing” view with full artwork and controls, just like exists on the iPhone and iPad, is now present on the Mac. Also present are actively moving lyrics like the iPhone and iPad have had for years at this point.
 
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meepdarby said:
This is directly a result of Alan Dye leaving and Steve Lemay taking over.
Click to expand...

Not buying it. Lemay has been working on iOS design the whole time Dye was there. He deserves equal credit and blame. They spent three years on Liquid Glass before launching it and they don’t pivot that quickly. Pretty sure Lemay is working on what’s next in design and not sweating small details on iOS 26 that he can delegate to a junior designer. Doubt he even took the time to approve this change. Lemay is most likely focused on what design changes are needed for a folding phone.
 
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I hope the issue of apps not being displayed or currencies are not being converter while searching on the home page (which occasionally occurs, but not always) is resolved in beta 2. Additionally, since the 26.4 beta 1, Siri has been activating itself with sounds coming from the TV, which is quite inconvenient. I’ll check beta 2 today.

Edit: Bug with search on home tab is still persists. Hey siri bug is not easy to recreate so time will tell.
 
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UpsideDownEclair said:
That glassy graphic—is it new in Beta 2? Ever spot it before?
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It’s in the customize lockscreen since a while. There is a glass slider

IMG_0018.png
 
LutzRFrank said:
iPhone Mirroring seems to be broken, it connects but the Icons to leave the selected App don't work anymore (top right)
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at least the Keyboard Shortcuts for Home Screen, App Switcher and Spotlight are still working.
Only the icons on the top window are affected.
 
Are the non-text input keyboards in Numbers still misaligned? (Everything except default keyboard is flush to the bottom of iPhone Air instead of half a cm or so up like the normal keyboard)
 
Is anyone else seeing an issue where Philips Hue integration with HomeKit is broken?

Other bridges work fine, but all my hue items are showing “No Response” in HomeKit

Updated and restarted my AppleTVs, Hue Bridge Pro is up to date and been restarted several times.

Only started with 26.4 Beta 2
 
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I hope the search button change is not a feature. If it feels confusing for a large population (we don’t know it), they could change the icon of the minified tab bar (when the search text field is displayed) to a back arrow so people realises that’s the way to go back to the menu.
 
BadMelonFarmer said:
Is anyone else seeing an issue where Philips Hue integration with HomeKit is broken?
Click to expand...

Luckily, mine's working fine. I don't have the Pro bridge nor an Apple TV though.

As you have a "home hub" (the Apple TV) did you do the required update?
forums.macrumors.com

Reminder: Update Your Apple Home App Immediately to Avoid Issues

In 2022, Apple introduced a new Apple Home architecture that is "more reliable and efficient," and the deadline to upgrade and avoid issues is today. In an email last week, Apple gave customers a final reminder to upgrade their Home app by February 10, 2026. Apple says users who do not...
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com

I had an issue - along with most others - during some of the 26.3 betas where all the control centre icons stopped working, but that hasn't come back either.

Hard reboot?
 
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