iOS 26.4 & macOS 26.4: The beta phase has begun (Update: Known innovations) | News

As expected, a new round of beta has just begun, as Apple is offering the first preliminary versions of iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4. macOS 26.4, tvOS 26.4 and visionOS 26.4 also appeared in the developer area almost at the same time. In recent years, x.4 has often represented an important update with major innovations. There have been many reports in recent months that said update could be the starting signal for the fundamentally redeveloped Siri generation. However, Bloomberg has just reported that Apple is following a slightly different schedule – bit by bit instead of all at once. Regardless of the scope, the updates are likely to be made available to all users between the end of March and mid-April.

We will update this message as soon as the content of the beta updates is known – and it becomes clear whether Siri 2 will actually make its debut. As is well known, Apple and Google decided to cooperate, which is why Apple’s voice assistant will be based on Gemini technology. After long delays, Apple obviously realized that they couldn’t do it on their own with sufficient quality and time frame.

Update: Known new features in System 26.4

• “Advanced Video podcast capabilities”: Video podcasts with HLS (“HTTP Live Streaming”) support. Apple wants to actively promote video podcasting
• End-to-end encryption from RCS (still early in testing)
• Apparently not included, or at least not activated: Siri 2

The current betas
Finally, as always, the well-known list of currently available beta versions. As is usual with a first beta, the letter at the end is still a long way from “a”, which Apple always uses to indicate that you are pretty much at the beginning. A “q”, as in the case of iOS and iPadOS 26.4, is quite rare, and you don’t often see “k” for macOS and “m” for watchOS, tvOS and visionOS.

This is what it currently looks like in the developer area – a public beta is not yet available, this is usually only available after the second or third developer build (although 26.2 made an exception to this rule):

system	Build number	Published
macOS 26.4 Beta 1	25E5207k	02/16/2026
iOS 26.4 Beta 1	23E5207q	02/16/2026
iPadOS 26.4 Beta 1	23E5207q	02/16/2026
watchOS 26.4 Beta 1	23T5209m	02/16/2026
tvOS 26.4 Beta 1	23L5208m	02/16/2026
visionOS 26.4 Beta 1	23O5209m	02/16/2026