When it comes to “point release” iOS updates, there are those that don’t seem to change much and those that bring a lot of fun new features to your iPhone. iOS 16.4, which hit iPhones everywhere on Monday, March 27, is the latest.
New security updates are usually reason enough to update your iPhone immediately, but with iOS 16.4, you’re getting a number of improvements that will impact how you use your iPhone every day. So, if you’re in doubt about whether to upgrade, here are three reasons to take the plunge right now:
New home application architecture
Apple first released the promised new Home architecture back in iOS 16.2, but users had trouble updating and it was quickly removed after just a few days. A few months later, it returned in iOS 16.4.
The new architecture does not yet add any specific new features. It’s just a complete overhaul of the inner workings of the Home and HomeKit app to improve efficiency, reliability, and speed. If you previously updated before Apple removed it last December, you won’t need to update again, but everything should run smoother than last time.
After updating to iOS 16.4, you can open the Home app, tap the (…) button in the top right corner, and then select home settings. The offer to update will be at the top of the screen. Note that all your other Apple stuff (especially home hubs like Apple TV or HomePod) will also need to be updated.
New emoticons
Who doesn’t love emoji? In iOS 16.4, Apple is adding 21 new emojis (31 if skin tone variations are enabled). You will get:
- Heart: Blue, pink, gray
- Smiley: trembling face
- Gesture: Pushing hand right and left with 5 skin tones each
- Animals: Donkey, elk, goose, wing, jellyfish
- Nature: Hyacinth, pea pod, ginger
- Items: Folding fan, hair clip, flute, maracas
- Symbols: Handa, wireless
Web Application Push Notifications
For a long time, one of the biggest problems with “web apps” – websites you add to your home screen to act like apps – was the inability to send push notifications. In iOS 16.4, web apps added to the home screen can use the standard HTML5 Web Push API to send icon badge push notifications. Of course, they’ll have to ask for permission to do so, just like any app, and you can go to Settings > Notifications to customize the way the web app notifies you.
Note that this will only apply to apps added to the home screen. You know how you would do with Wordle. Unlike Safari on Mac, regular websites opened in Safari on iOS still cannot send push notifications.
And those are just the three biggest new features. There are also some pretty nice little features that you’ll love too. And for all the latest news about iOS 16, including the next beta, check out our iOS 16 super guide.