Apple's software engineers are testing an internal version of iOS 26.4, according to the MacRumors visitor logs this week.
iOS 26.4 is expected to be released in March or April next year, so the software update is still many months away. However, Apple develops both "Fall" and "Spring" versions of iOS each year, with work on both iOS 26.0 and iOS 26.4 underway.
There are two expected iOS 26.4 features so far, with more to follow.
First up is new emoji.
The Unicode Consortium recently previewed some of the new emoji coming with Unicode 17.0 later this year. It typically takes Apple several months to design new emoji in its own style, so the new emoji will likely be available on the iPhone starting with iOS 26.4.
Here are some of the new emoji:
- Trombone
- Treasure Chest
- Distorted Face
- Hairy Creature (Bigfoot/Sasquatch)
- Fight Cloud
- Apple Core
- Orca
- Ballet Dancers
- Landslide
Notably, Distorted Face is a popular emoji in Discord servers. It is essentially a distorted version of the embarassed face emoji, also known as Flushed Face.
Apple most recently added new emoji to the iPhone with iOS 18.4, an update that came out in late March. iOS 17.4, iOS 16.4, and iOS 15.4 also introduced new emoji over the years, so the timing has become predictable by this point.
The second expected feature is a more personalized version of Siri.
Apple CEO Tim Cook recently said that his company was making "good progress" on a more personalized Siri, and he reiterated that the features are on track to launch next year. Bloomberg's Mark Gurman expects the new Siri to launch in the U.S. in spring 2026, so Apple is likely aiming to make it available as part of iOS 26.4.
Apple first announced the personalized Siri features during its WWDC 2024 keynote, but in March it announced that they were delayed. The new capabilities will include better understanding of a user's personal context, on-screen awareness, and deeper per-app controls. For example, Apple showed an iPhone user asking Siri about their mother's flight and lunch reservation plans based on info from the Mail and Messages apps.
