When it comes to iOS “point release” updates, there are those that don’t seem to change much and those that add a bunch of cool new features to your iPhone. iOS 16.4, which arrived on iPhones everywhere on Monday, March 27, is the latest.
New security updates are usually enough reason to update your iPhone right away, but in the case of iOS 16.4, you get a number of improvements that will affect the way you use your iPhone every day. So if you’re in doubt about updating, here are three reasons to take the plunge now:
New Home app architecture
Apple first released its promised new Home architecture in iOS 16.2, but users had trouble updating and it was quickly pulled a few days later. After several months, it is now back in iOS 16.4.
The new architecture does not really add specific new features yet. It’s just a total rework of the under-the-hood operation of the Home app and HomeKit for efficiency, reliability, and speed. If you previously upgraded before Apple shut down last December, you shouldn’t need to upgrade again, but everything should run smoother than last time.
Once you’ve updated to iOS 16.4, you can open the Home app, tap the (…) button in the top right corner, then select Home Settings. The prompt to update is at the top of the screen. Note that all your other Apple stuff (especially Home Hubs like Apple TV or HomePod) should also be updated.
New emojis
Who doesn’t like emojis? In iOS 16.4, Apple is adding 21 new emojis (31 if you count skin color variations). You get:
- Heart: Blue, pink, gray
- smiley: Shaking face
- Gesture: Right and left pushing hand with 5 skin tones each
- Animals: Donkey, moose, goose, wing, jellyfish
- Nature: Hyacinth, pod, ginger
- Articles: Foldable hand fan, hair pick, whistle, maracas
- Symbols: Khanda, wireless
Push notifications for web apps
For a long time, one of the biggest problems with “web apps” — websites you add to your home screen to act like apps — has been the lack of ability to send push notifications. With iOS 16.4, web apps added to your home screen can use the HTML5 standard Web Push API to send push notifications, complete with badge icons. Of course, they’ll need to ask for permission to do this, just like any app, and you can go to Settings > Notifications to customize the way the web app notifies you.
Note that this only applies to apps added to your home screen. You know, like you would with Wordle. Unlike Safari on the 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 nice smaller features that you’ll love too. And for all the latest iOS 16 news, including the next beta as it arrives, check out our iOS 16 super guide.
