Apple has released iOS 26.4 beta 4 for developers and public beta testers, bringing new emoji characters and accessibility tweaks. The update includes fresh emoji like trombone, treasure chest, distorted face, hairy creature, fight cloud, orca, and landslide. Skin tone modifiers now support people wrestling and dancers with bunny ears, plus a gender-neutral option for the ballet dancer emoji.

Apple renamed the Reduce Highlighting Effects accessibility setting to Reduce Bright Effects, clarifying that it minimizes highlighting and flashing when interacting with onscreen elements like buttons or the keyboard. The company also removed RCS end-to-end encryption testing from this beta after trialing it in the previous three versions. Apple had previously stated that full RCS encryption would not arrive in iOS 26.4 but would be implemented in a future update, ensuring iPhone-to-Android conversations eventually match iMessage's encryption level.

This beta marks the first to support the upcoming iPhone 17e and M4 iPad Air. As Apple continues refining iOS 26.4, the focus has shifted from major feature additions to polish and bug fixes ahead of the public release. The removal of RCS encryption suggests Apple is taking a more cautious approach to implementing cross-platform secure messaging.