iOS 16.4 available - new emojis and voice isolation

Samuel Buchmann

28.3.2023

Translation: machine translated

The latest operating system for Apple's iPhone improves some apps, brings new emojis and should improve the voice quality of calls.

From today, you can update your iPhone to iOS 16.4 and your iPad to iPadOS 16.4. There are also new versions of the operating systems for the Apple Watch and Apple TV. However, these do not bring any significant changes. Here is an overview of the most important new features for the iPhone.

New emojis

Finally you can represent jellyfish, ginger and maracas with cute little pictures! Ok, the 21 new emojis may not be that groundbreaking, but I like the moose.

Voice isolation for phone calls

The new voice isolation function seems more interesting to me. The feature is designed to filter out extraneous noises and thus emphasise your own voice. I have not yet been able to test how well this works. If you want to activate the function, you need to open the control centre during a call and select the "Voice isolation" option under "Microphone mode".

Web push notifications

Push notifications from websites are probably more familiar to you from desktop computers. This function is now also available on the iPhone. To do this, you need to bookmark the relevant page on your home screen. The push notifications do not work immediately, as the developers of the websites first have to implement the feature.

Apple Music Classical

The new streaming offshoot "Apple Music Classical" is not strictly speaking part of the new iOS, but was released at the same time. Apple promises the largest classical music catalogue in the world with high sound quality. The app is part of the normal Apple Music plan. If you pay the almost 14 francs per month there, Apple Music Classical won't cost you anything extra - but you can't subscribe to it separately at a lower price either. You can find more details about the new service here:

Update for podcast app

The media library of Apple's podcast app now also displays "channels" whose podcasts you follow. This gives you a better overview if you have subscribed to a lot of podcasts. Apple has also improved the "Next" list and the CarPlay version of the app.

New Homekit architecture

Apple wanted to release the new Homekit architecture with iOS 16.2, but had to postpone it. It is now being incorporated into the new iPhone, iPad and Mac operating systems. The update is intended to increase the reliability of smart home accessories.

Samuel Buchmann

Senior Editor

Samuel.Buchmann@digitecgalaxus.ch

My fingerprint often changes so drastically that my MacBook doesn't recognise it anymore. The reason? If I'm not clinging to a monitor or camera, I'm probably clinging to a rockface by the tips of my fingers.