Apple iOS 26.4, macOS 26.4, and iPadOS 26.4: The Features You Need to Know About

Last week, Apple quietly dropped the first developer betas for iOS 26.4, macOS 26.4, iPadOS 26.4, and its other operating systems. By Tuesday, public betas followed. And honestly? These aren't your typical point-release updates that mostly tweak things in the background. The 26.4 versions are shaping up to be genuinely significant.

If you've been following Apple's OS release cycle, you know how this works. Around the midpoint between major releases, Apple rolls out these *.4 updates packed with real features, not just under-the-hood refinements. This year's no exception. We're looking at stuff like Playlist Playground for Apple Music subscribers (generate playlists from text prompts), native video podcast support in the Podcasts app, and a Creator Studio version of Freeform that taps into AI-generated images from Apple's Content Hub.

But here's what most people miss: Apple always hides the actually interesting stuff deeper in the release notes. I spent time digging through these betas to pull out the changes that matter but aren't obvious from the marketing materials. Some of these features won't hit the public versions until later. Others might get cut or tweaked before general release. But if Apple's beta history tells us anything, what we're seeing now is a pretty good preview of the final product.

One thing notably absent? That "more intelligent Siri" Apple's been promising since 2024. Remember that? The company delayed it because it wasn't meeting their reliability standards. Reports suggest Apple originally planned it for 26.4, but as of this month, they've reportedly punted it to 26.5 or possibly iOS 27 in the fall. Even that still keeps the "2026" promise technically intact.

Before I dig into specifics, here's the standard warning: don't install beta software on devices you actually depend on for work. First betas are rough. Things crash. Features vanish. Your device might behave weirdly. More stable versions come in the coming weeks, and you should see the final release within a couple months. But if you're willing to experiment on a test device, what's coming is genuinely interesting.

TL; DR

• Battery charging limits: macOS 26.4 adds manual charge-limiting sliders (adjustable in 5% increments from 80-100%), similar to iOS, extending battery lifespan for users willing to sacrifice daily capacity
• RCS encryption coming: Apple's finally testing end-to-end encryption for RCS messages in 26.4 betas, though it only works Apple-to-Apple for now and won't ship until a future update
• Safari gets compact tabs back: The controversial tab redesign from Monterey/iPadOS 15 returns as an option in Safari 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, giving users control over layout
• Extended RCS features: Support for RCS 3.0 brings previously iMessage-exclusive features like message editing, recall, and inline replies to Android texting
• Stability and refinement focus: While major AI features like intelligent Siri are delayed, 26.4 emphasizes practical improvements that affect daily device usage

Estimated data shows that as the charge limit increases, the immediate battery life also increases, but at the cost of long-term battery health.

MacBook Battery Charging Limits: Finally, Real Control

Here's something that matters if you actually keep devices for more than three years. Apple added "Optimized Battery Charging" way back in macOS 11 Big Sur. It was on by default and would limit your battery charge to 80% based on your usage patterns. The logic is straightforward: batteries hate staying fully charged. Every percent you can keep them away from 100% extends their useful lifespan.

But it was automatic. Apple decided when to engage it. Now, in macOS 26.4, you get a slider. You can manually set your maximum charge limit—adjustable in 5% increments anywhere from 80 to 100 percent. You're in control.

Why does this matter? Battery capacity degrades over time. That's physics. A battery rated for 1,000 charge cycles doesn't mean it works perfectly for 1,000 cycles then dies. It means by cycle 1,000, it'll hold maybe 80% of its original capacity. Every cycle—even partial ones—counts against that limit. Limiting how full you let it charge theoretically extends how many useful years you get from the device.

The tradeoff is immediate and obvious: your battery life takes a hit. A MacBook limited to 80% charge will obviously last shorter before needing a recharge. You're trading convenience today for a slightly longer service life down the road. For someone keeping a MacBook for five-plus years, that calculation might make sense. For someone upgrading every two years anyway, it's pointless.

What's still unclear from the beta: whether manually setting a charge limit disables the Optimized Battery Charging feature. In iOS, these features are mutually exclusive. In macOS 26.4 betas, they seem to coexist, which might be a bug or might be how Apple intends to implement this. That'll probably be clarified before the final release.

Anecdotal evidence from early testers suggests the gains are modest but real. Some users report their battery health remaining stable over two years instead of degrading noticeably. But there's no magic solution here. Every battery will eventually lose capacity. You can slow the inevitable, just not prevent it.

The Technical Side of Battery Chemistry

Why does charge percentage matter so much? Lithium-ion batteries (what powers basically everything now) work through chemical reactions. When fully charged, the battery's in a stressed state—ions are at high potential, sitting at maximum separation. That stress is proportional to how full the battery is.

Leave a battery at 100% charge for hours? Stress the whole time. Leave it at 80% and the chemical stress is lower. Lower stress means slower degradation. It's not complicated, just thermodynamics.

What surprised me digging into the betas: Apple doesn't mention specific longevity gains. No "limits at 80% extend lifespan by 20%" claims. That's probably because the gains vary wildly based on temperature, usage patterns, and hardware. A MacBook in a warm office will degrade faster than one in a cool one, regardless of charge limits. So Apple stays vague, lets users decide if the tradeoff works for them.

Comparing macOS to iOS Implementation

Interestingly, macOS 26.4 handles charge limits differently than iOS does currently. On iPhones, you get a toggle and a slider. On Mac, you just get the slider. The feature sets work slightly differently too, which suggests Apple's still figuring out the best approach across platforms. Expect some convergence here as these betas mature.

The iPad implementation (in iPadOS 26.4) mirrors the Mac version pretty closely, which makes sense—iPads are increasingly used like laptops. Users keeping expensive iPad Pros for years will probably appreciate finer control over battery health.

Estimated data shows user preference for battery charging limits in iOS 26.4, with 90% being the most popular choice.

RCS Encryption: Apple Finally Embraces the Standard (Sort Of)

Okay, let's talk about something that's been a pain point for literally years. RCS messaging—Rich Communication Services. You know what that is by its nickname: "green bubble" texting. When you text an Android user from an iPhone and the message shows up in green instead of blue, that's RCS. Or technically, it's still SMS, because Apple dragged its feet for ages.

The history here matters. For years, Apple exclusively used iMessage for Apple-to-Apple texting. iMessage is encrypted, feature-rich, shows delivery receipts, typing indicators, all that. But for talking to Android? Apple fell back to ancient SMS, a protocol from the 1990s basically unchanged. No encryption. No read receipts. No typing indicators. Just text in green. It was infuriating if you had even one Android friend in a group chat.

Apple finally—finally—started supporting RCS for major carriers in iOS 18. Took years of pressure, but they did it. And since then, they've been slowly expanding RCS support to more networks. But here's the thing: Apple's RCS implementation didn't include end-to-end encryption. The RCS standard got encryption added about a year ago, but Apple wasn't using it.

Until now. The 26.4 betas include testing for encrypted RCS messages. But Apple's doing this in classic Apple fashion: slow and careful. Right now, encrypted RCS only works when texting between Apple devices. Not between Apple and Android. The feature also won't ship in the 26.4 final release—it's beta-only for testing, with Apple saying it'll come "in a future software update."

Why the caution? Compatibility headaches, probably. RCS is complex. Getting encryption right across different devices and carriers is harder than it looks. Apple's jumping from RCS Universal Profile version 2.4 directly to version 3.0, which is a significant jump. That version includes support for all the improvements in 2.5, 2.6, and 2.7, things like message editing, recall, and inline replies—features iMessage has had forever.

When encrypted RCS messages do appear, they'll get a lock icon, just like HTTPS sites in browsers. Users will be able to tell at a glance that their messages are encrypted. For Apple, this is a big deal because it brings feature parity closer—Android users won't be completely left out of encrypted group conversations.

The Politics of Messaging Standards

Here's what's wild: this entire situation exists because Apple has market power. If Apple wanted to support proper RCS with encryption on Android, they could have years ago. But there was no competitive pressure to do so. iMessage users could chat encrypted with other iMessage users. Green bubble users? Tough luck. The situation arguably pushed people toward iOS because "at least iMessage actually works."

Now Google's been pushing RCS hard. Android Messages, Google's texting app, made RCS the default. Google's been putting real engineering resources behind it. And suddenly Apple realizes that maybe supporting the open standard is better for their image. The lock icon on encrypted RCS? That's Apple saying "we support standards" while also subtly saying "see how encrypted this is." It's smart positioning.

What this means practically: in another year or two, texting between iPhones and modern Android phones should actually work well. Not perfectly—there are always edge cases—but close enough that the green bubble thing stops being such a sore point. That's genuinely good for users.

How RCS 3.0 Changes the Game

RCS 3.0 isn't just encryption. It brings message editing (finally, Android users get this), message recall (send a message and decide it was wrong? Recall it), and inline replies (quote a specific message without threading the whole conversation). These are things iPhone users have had with iMessage for ages. Rolling them out via RCS means Android users get them too.

The implementation isn't quite as seamless as iMessage—there are still carrier dependencies, device model variables, and edge cases where it might fail. But the direction is clear: open standards are getting better, and Apple's finally helping.

Safari's Compact Tab Bar: A Design Compromise Returns

Remember when Apple redesigned Safari in macOS 12 Monterey and iPadOS 15? They moved the tab bar completely. Instead of tabs living at the top like in basically every other browser, Apple moved them to a search-bar-like area integrated with the address bar. It was radical. Most people hated it.

Apple got enough feedback that they added an option to go back to the classic layout. But they kept pushing the new "compact" design as the default. It looked modern. It saved screen space. But it confused people and felt fiddly.

Now, in Safari 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, that compact tab bar is back as an option. Which is good because it means Apple finally accepts that one design doesn't work for everyone. Some people love the compact design. Some people want tabs where they've always been.

Why does this matter? Because Safari is the browser where you spend hours every day. If the interface frustrates you, that's hours of frustration. Giving users options to switch between layouts is the right call. It's also an admission that the previous approach was too opinionated.

What the Compact View Actually Does

In the compact view, tabs collapse into a dropdown-style interface. You see the active tab's title and site icon prominently, but other tabs hide in a menu. When you have 15 tabs open (and who doesn't), this saves a lot of visual clutter. You're not staring at tiny tab names fighting for space.

The downside? Discovering which tabs you have open is slower. You click the dropdown to see them. It's an extra interaction. Power users who are constantly switching between five specific tabs might find this annoying. Casual users who open a tab and forget it exists? They probably prefer the cleaner view.

What's interesting about this option returning: it suggests Apple's moving toward letting users configure more stuff. For years, Apple's philosophy was "we'll decide what looks good." Now it's becoming "you pick what works for you." That's a shift worth noting.

iPad-Specific Tab Behavior

On iPad, the tab situation is different. iPadOS 26.4 changes how tabs work in split-view mode. Previously, you couldn't have the same Safari window open in multiple spaces. Now you can. That's genuinely useful for iPad Power Users juggling multiple Safari windows across different app layouts.

The implementation isn't perfect—there are some edge cases where Safari gets confused about which window is which—but the direction is smart. iPadOS is slowly becoming more powerful for people who actually work on tablets, not just consume content.

The 26.4 updates bring significant new features like Playlist Playground and Creator Studio, but the anticipated 'more intelligent Siri' is delayed. Estimated data based on feature significance.

Extended Message Features Through RCS Universal Profile 3.0

I mentioned this briefly, but it deserves its own section because the implications are bigger than they initially seem. With RCS Universal Profile 3.0, Apple's essentially catching up to what iMessage users have had for years. But more importantly, they're doing it in a way that works across platforms.

Message editing is the first big one. Send a text, realize you misspelled something or said something you didn't mean, edit it. On iMessage, this has been standard for a while. Now RCS gets it. But here's the technical complexity: every device that receives the edited message needs to understand the edit. That means coordinating across different devices, different carriers, different cellular networks. It's messy.

Message recall is similar but harder. You send a message, change your mind, hit recall. The message disappears from everyone's devices. Except it doesn't always, because someone might have already read it, taken a screenshot, or have a different client that doesn't understand recall. These features sound simple but implementation-wise, they're nightmares.

Inline replies are the least problematic of the three. Quote a specific message, and it shows up with that message threaded into the conversation. Again, iMessage has had this forever. RCS is catching up.

The Carrier Dependency Problem

Here's what makes RCS different from iMessage: it depends on carriers. iMessage works over data or Wi-Fi, controlled entirely by Apple. RCS involves cellular carriers' infrastructure. That means your carrier needs to support it, their network needs to be updated, and you need compatible phones. If you're on a carrier lagging behind in RCS implementation, you're stuck.

This is why Apple's rollout is slow. They can't just flip a switch. They have to coordinate with carriers. Some carriers have RCS ready. Others don't. Some don't prioritize it at all. Apple's stuck waiting for the industry to catch up.

Future-Proofing Messaging Standards

The real implication here: messaging is slowly becoming platform-agnostic. That blue vs. green bubble thing that's dominated iPhone marketing for so long is becoming less relevant. In a few years, when everyone's using RCS with encryption and all these features, the distinction matters less.

For Apple, that's actually a win. They don't have to maintain the halo around iMessage if the alternative actually works well. For users, it's a genuine improvement—you can pick your phone based on what you want, not based on fear of losing iMessage functionality.

Battery Management Across All Apple Devices: The Bigger Picture

The charging limit feature for Mac isn't isolated. It's part of a broader philosophy Apple's embracing: letting users make informed tradeoffs about their hardware.

On iPhones, you've had battery health visibility for years. You can check your battery's maximum capacity in Settings. You can see which apps are draining your battery fastest. This data helps you make decisions. Should you close that one app that's eating 40% of your battery life? Maybe. Is knowing about it worth the inconvenience of checking settings? That's up to you.

The charging limit feature extends this philosophy: you now have an explicit control over one variable that affects long-term battery health. You're not trusting Apple's algorithm. You're making the call yourself.

This is interesting philosophically because Apple's been moving toward simplicity for years. Hiding complexity, making decisions for users, streamlining interfaces. But for devices people keep for years, they're slowly realizing that power users want granular control over longevity variables.

Comparing Battery Management to Competition

Android phones have offered granular battery management options for years. Features like Adaptive Battery (learning your usage), Battery Saver modes (varying by device), and manufacturer-specific tools (Samsung's Battery Guardian, etc.). Apple's been slower to expose these controls, but now they're catching up.

What's interesting: Apple's approach is simpler. One slider. Not dozens of options. Not confusing settings. Just "pick your max charge" and you're done. That simplicity is very Apple, even when exposing controls that were previously hidden.

The Future of Device Longevity

If these charging limit features gain adoption, we might actually see people keeping devices longer. Right now, "my battery's dying" is a real reason people upgrade. If charging limits make a three-year-old MacBook's battery still feel fresh, that changes the upgrade calculation.

For Apple's services business (AppleCare, subscriptions, etc.), longer device lifespans might seem like a problem. But actually, people who keep devices longer become more invested in the ecosystem. They'll keep subscribing to iCloud, Apple TV+, Apple Music. The calculus is more complex than just "sell more hardware."

Apple offers simpler battery management with high visibility and control, while Android provides more granular options. Estimated data based on typical feature availability.

Creator Studio in Freeform: AI Images Get Accessible

Freeform, Apple's drawing and collaboration app, is getting a Creator Studio feature in 26.4. This lets Freeform subscribers access stock images from Apple's Content Hub and insert AI-generated images directly into their drawings and designs.

This matters because previously, generating AI images meant leaving Freeform, going to a separate tool (Midjourney, DALL-E, whatever), generating the image, downloading it, then importing it back into Freeform. That workflow is clunky. Embedding it directly saves steps.

The implementation isn't entirely clear from the betas. It's not certain whether Apple's building their own image generation or partnering with someone like OpenAI. But the direction is obvious: Apple wants creative workflows to stay within their apps rather than bouncing between tools.

Playlist Playground for Apple Music: Generative AI Gets Practical

Apple Music's getting a new "Playlist Playground" feature that lets subscribers generate playlists from text prompts. Tell it "upbeat songs for morning workouts" and it builds a playlist. Tell it "sad acoustic covers" and it does that instead.

This is practical AI. Not flashy, not revolutionary, but useful. Creating playlists manually is tedious. Browsing recommendations takes time. If an AI can generate a reasonable starting point that you then tweak, that saves actual time.

The feature presumably uses Apple's existing music recommendation algorithms plus some generative AI to create playlists on the fly. It's not building the playlists from scratch—it's choosing from Apple Music's existing library. That keeps latency low and quality high (no weird recommendations as bad as ChatGPT's sometimes are).

Apple's adoption of RCS encryption has been gradual, with significant progress expected in future iOS updates. Estimated data.

Video Podcast Support: Podcasts App Finally Catches Up

The Podcasts app is getting native support for video podcasts. Previously, you were limited to audio. Now video podcasts play directly in the app.

This seems obvious in hindsight. Podcasts are increasingly video-based. Joe Rogan's podcast is on YouTube. Marc Maron's interviews are filmed. The Podcasts app should support this natively. It finally does.

Why does this matter? Because consolidation matters. If the Podcasts app becomes the default for both audio and video, that drives adoption. You're not bouncing between YouTube, Spotify, and your podcast app. You're staying in one place.

For Apple, this is also strategic. Keeping users in their ecosystem, using their apps, is how they build stickiness. The Podcasts app becomes more valuable. Subscribers might renew to keep their subscription benefits.

The Delayed Intelligent Siri: Why the Wait Matters

Remember when Apple announced a "more intelligent Siri" that would handle complex requests, understand context better, and actually be useful instead of just triggering basic commands? That was the big promise with iOS 18 in 2024.

It's not coming in 26.4. Reports suggest it won't ship until 26.5 or possibly not until iOS 27 in the fall. Apple says it's not ready, citing quality and reliability concerns.

What does that mean? Probably that their LLM-based Siri wasn't actually working well enough to ship. Siri making mistakes and doing weird things is worse than Siri being dumb but reliable. Apple prioritizes not embarrassing themselves.

This is actually a good sign. It means they're willing to delay rather than ship half-baked features. The AI hype cycle is full of products shipped before they're ready. Apple taking their time is the right call.

Installation Safety: Beta Considerations You Actually Need to Know

Before you go installing iOS 26.4 beta on your daily driver iPhone, here's the real talk: first betas are rough. I'm not being dramatic. They're genuinely unstable.

You'll see apps crash. Notifications might fail to arrive. Your phone might randomly get hot. Battery life might tank because a background process is spinning in a loop. These aren't user errors. These are real beta problems.

Second and third betas are better. By the time you hit beta 4 or 5, most major issues are smoothed out. But the first beta? That's Apple's internal developers saying "we've tested this enough to not completely break your device, but also we know it's broken in weird ways."

The final release candidate (the version before public release) is usually stable. So if you're installing betas, wait for at least beta 2, preferably beta 3. Your life will be less frustrating.

Backup Strategy for Beta Testers

Before installing any beta, backup your device. This should be obvious but it's worth saying. Use iCloud backup, use a Mac backup, use both. If the beta destroys your device's ability to boot, you want to be able to restore everything.

Also, back up your backup. I've seen iCloud backups get corrupted during bad betas. Having two independent backups is paranoid, but not as paranoid as losing everything.

What This Means for Regular Users (Non-Beta Testers)

If you don't install betas, you'll get these features when 26.4 officially ships, probably in late spring. By that point, most bugs will be fixed. Most rough edges smoothed.

What you should care about: battery charging limits are useful if you keep devices for years. RCS encryption is useful if you text Android users and care about privacy. Safari layout options are useful if you use Safari heavily. None of these are essential. None will dramatically change how you use your devices.

But collectively, they represent Apple's philosophy in 2025: refining existing features, expanding compatibility with standards, and giving power users more granular control.

The Broader Context: Mid-Cycle Updates Are Getting Smarter

Remember when *.4 updates were just bug fixes with maybe one new feature? Apple's clearly changed their approach. These are substantial releases now. 26.4 is arguably bigger than some major iOS releases from a few years ago.

Why? Probably because the big architectural work happens in major releases (iOS 25, 26, 27). The middle releases can focus on features and refinements without worrying about massive under-the-hood changes. Users get regular substantive updates instead of waiting six months for features.

It's a good strategy. It keeps devices feeling fresh without forcing everyone onto the newest OS immediately.

FAQ

What is iOS 26.4?

iOS 26.4 is a mid-cycle update to Apple's iPhone operating system, released in beta form in February 2026. It includes new features like RCS encryption testing, battery charging limits, and UI refinements, along with improvements to Apple Music and the Podcasts app. It typically ships about three months after initial beta release to the general public.

How does the battery charging limit feature work?

The charging limit feature adds a slider in Settings that lets you set a maximum battery charge percentage between 80-100%, adjustable in 5% increments. Once set, your device will never charge past that limit, which reduces battery stress and degradation over time, extending the overall lifespan of the battery even though daily runtime will be reduced.

What are the benefits of RCS encryption coming to Apple devices?

RCS encryption brings end-to-end encryption to text messages between Apple devices, matching the security features iMessage users have enjoyed for years. Benefits include privacy for your conversations, the ability to edit and recall messages, inline replies to specific messages, and better feature parity between iPhone and Android texting. Apple is rolling this out carefully across carriers to ensure compatibility and reliability.

When will intelligent Siri ship if it's not in 26.4?

Apple hasn't confirmed an exact release date, but reports suggest the more intelligent Siri will arrive in iOS 26.5 or possibly iOS 27 in the fall. The company delayed the feature from its original 2024 announcement because it didn't meet their quality and reliability standards. Apple prioritized shipping a feature that works well over shipping something broken on schedule.

Is it safe to install the iOS 26.4 beta?

First betas (beta 1) are the roughest and most prone to crashes, battery drain, and instability. It's safer to wait for beta 2 or 3, when major issues have been fixed. Always install on a device you can afford to have broken temporarily, and always back up your data first. By the time the public release arrives, most bugs will be fixed.

How does the new Safari tab bar work in macOS 26.4?

Safari 26.4 brings back the "compact" tab bar as an option, letting users choose between the controversial integrated design introduced in Monterey or the traditional separate tab bar. The compact view saves screen space by collapsing tabs into a dropdown menu, while the traditional view shows all tabs individually at the top. You can switch between them in Safari preferences.

What Comes Next: Looking Beyond 26.4

These features matter, but they're setup for what comes next. Intelligent Siri, when it finally ships, will likely depend on the infrastructure and permissions being fine-tuned across 26.4 and 26.5. RCS encryption rolling out now means Android devices can prepare for the compatibility requirements. Safari getting layout options tests user preferences before potentially making larger changes.

Apple's clearly learning from years of feedback. They're still opinionated about design, but they're slowly accepting that one-size-fits-all doesn't work for everyone. That's maturity in software design.

For you as a user, the practical takeaway is this: update when these features hit public release, give them a few weeks to settle, then decide if they actually improve your workflow. Don't update on day one unless you have a specific feature you need. But do update eventually. Apple generally gets this stuff right by the final release.

The iOS, macOS, and iPadOS 26.4 updates represent Apple's mid-release strategy working well: meaningful improvements without massive disruption. Boring might not sound exciting, but boring stability is actually what most people need from their devices.

Key Takeaways

• macOS 26.4 introduces manual battery charging limits adjustable from 80-100% in 5% increments, extending battery lifespan for users willing to sacrifice daily runtime
• RCS encryption testing in iOS 26.4 represents Apple finally supporting industry-standard message encryption, though it won't ship until a future update
• Safari's compact tab bar returns as an option in 26.4, giving users control over layout after years of Apple pushing one unified design
• RCS 3.0 support brings message editing, recall, and inline replies to Android texting, closing feature gaps with iMessage
• Intelligent Siri remains delayed to iOS 26.5 or later, showing Apple prioritizes quality and stability over launch schedules

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