iOS 16.4 is here: these are the new features

Apple released iOS 16.4 for the general public to download on Monday evening. At the same time, the manufacturer released iPadOS 16.4, macOS 13.3 Ventura, and watchOS 9.4. Updates can be installed on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch via integrated software update.

New skills for web applications

There are fundamental innovations on iPhones and iPads: With iOS and iPadOS 16.4, web apps (Progressive Web Apps – PWAs) added to the home screen can catch up with native apps with new interfaces and, for the first time, also receive push messages, including a label on an icon. App about missed notifications. In addition, it seems that Apple is preparing for future competition in browsers with several improvements and additions to the WebKit browser engine, which is likely to be imposed by the Digital Markets Act at least in Europe.

The update also brings Sound Isolation on cellular calls to suppress annoying background noise and extends the Photos app’s built-in copy finder to shared photo libraries. After many false alarms, for example on ski slopes, the manufacturer promises another improvement in the detection of car accidents for iPhone 14 and 14 Pro, without giving any further details. There are also over 20 new emoji from the Unicode Emoji 15.0 standard — also for iPadOS, macOS, and watchOS.

Lots of new shortcuts

With iOS 16.4, Apple Shortcuts users get a surprising number of new ways to automate their devices, including VPN connections and the always-on display on the iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max. Also system functions such as screen locking and Muting unknown callers or restarting can now be configured via shortcuts (and therefore also via Siri voice command).

OS updates also aim to fix bugs, and as usual, a number of security holes should also be closed. Apple usually releases details later in the evening. The iPhone 14 emergency satellite call functionality is now also available in Austria and other new countries.

(lbe)