As Apple releases iOS 26.4 Beta 2, another stable iOS 26.3 update is coming soon
Did Apple finally include some new Siri feature with today's Beta release?
Apple's latest iOS 26.4 Beta still does not include any new Siri features. | Image by Image by Apple
If you're on the stable iOS 26.3 path (as opposed to running iOS 26.4 Beta 1 or Beta 2 on your iPhone), you'll be happy to know that a minor update is being tested by Apple. MacRumors' visitors logs show that iOS 26.3.1 is expected to be released sometime over the next two weeks. This is obviously going to be a minor update designed to fix a bug or patch a software flaw before the vulnerability is exploited.
Apple releases iOS 26.4 Beta 2 and once again there is no major changes to Siri
The release of iOS 26.3.1 could be timed to coincide with the release of the lower-priced iPhone 17e model. The latter is expected to be released sometime during the first week of March. Some iPhone users, anticipating the previously announced release of some Siri 2.0 features in iOS 26.4 like Apple previously announced, installed iOS 26.4 Beta 1 hoping to get an early look at a much improved Siri. That move backfired when Apple released iOS 26.4 Beta 1 without any AI changes to Siri.
I must confess to being one of the iPhone users who installed iOS 26.4 Beta 1 only to find out that once again Siri 2.0 has been delayed. Now, the hope is that some of the new features for Siri will arrive with iOS 26.5 in May. The big Siri brain transplant that makes the digital assistant a chatbot similar to ChatGPT and Gemini will still arrive this year when iOS 27 is dropped in September.
The Apple Music Playlist Playground allows you to create a 25 song playlist based on an AI prompt
The next stable update, to iOS 26.4, is expected in late March or early April. While we probably won't see any major changes to Siri with iOS 26.4 as Apple originally said, the update will contain some cool features such as the Playlist Playground which arrived as part of iOS 26.4 Beta 1. This feature will allow you to type something like, "Indie folk that sounds like a misty morning in the Pacific Northwest." It will create a 25 song playlist based on your request.
Apple releases iOS 26.4 Beta 2. | Image by PhoneArena
You'll be able to tap one of the chips that contains recommended playlist requests provided by Apple. And if you're not satisfied with the playlist that is generated, you can use the refinement prompt to add further instructions such as "Exclude any heavy metal." Another refinement possibility could be, "Make it more acoustic sounding."
With iOS 26.4 Beta 2, Apple tests end-to-end encryption for cross-platform messaging
Apple has started testing end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS. When iOS 26.4 Beta 1 first dropped, the E2EE RCS testing was limited to messages sent between two iPhones with iMessage disabled. With iOS 26.4 Beta 2 (released today), Apple has now started allowing iOS-Android cross-platform RCS messaging to use E2EE. Beta users are now seeing a "lock icon" while texting a compatible Android phone. However, this is only available on the latest Beta 2 release and E2EE cross-platform RCS messaging isn't expected to arrive on a stable iOS build until iOS 26.5 or iOS 26.6.
Are you planning to install iOS 26.5 Beta for the Sri updates?
You will be able to know when you have end-to-end encryption protecting your cross-platform messaging by looking for the lock icon on the green messaging bubbles. At the top of the conversation you will see a label that says "Text Message • RCS | Encrypted.
As we noted, Apple has released iOS 26.4 Beta 2 today. If you are subscribed to the Apple Beta Software Program, go to Settings > General > Software Updates and follow the directions.
By the way, with today's iOS 26.4 Beta 2 release, there are still no changes to Siri that we can tell you about which is frustrating to me, and I'm sure is just as frustrating to many other iPhone users. The new Beta includes a change to the search bar in the Games app, which is now at the top of the screen. Additionally, the search icon is now connected to the tab bar at the bottom of the page. This matches the look of the App Store in iOS 26.4 Beta 1.
The Search bar is back on top and the Search icon is part of the tab bar at the bottom following the release of iOS 26.4 Beta 2. | Image by PhoneArena
We've been looking forward to seeing how Siri would perform if it had a smarter brain. Apple's billion dollar a year payment to Google will give Siri access to a custom Gemini model with a whopping 1.2 trillion parameters. The latter is eight times larger than the models used on-device by Apple last year. Siri's new brain is currently expected to arrive with iOS 27.
Other features such as "Personal Siri," the assistant's ability to look through your Email, Calendar, and Messages to answer questions such as, "What Chinese restaurant did Pierre mention during lunch last week?" will supposedly show in iOS 26.5. That is also when Siri could get the ability to know what is on your screen. With the delays that Apple has had iPhone users sit through, at this point, I wouldn't believe in any specific iOS build for the release of new Siri features until they actually arrive.
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