At its first event of the year, the Apple Peak Performance Event, Apple revealed that its new iOS would be available next week. Five beta versions of iOS 15.4 were released, one of which includes the long-awaited debut of Universal Control. The public beta of iOS 15.4 has now been released. A final version of the operating system will be available as a free upgrade next week, preloaded on the new green iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro and the current iPhone SE.
iOS 15.4 is the fourth major update to iOS 15, which was first released in September alongside the iPhone 13. These upgrades, which began with iOS 15.1 in December, have introduced new capabilities and upgraded old ones to Apple’s iPhone operating system. iOS 15.4 will take after iOS 15.3.1, which was issued last month to address a security flaw in iPhones and iPads.
Face ID is now mask-friendly in iOS 15.4, allowing you to unlock your phone while wearing a mask, a feature that worked surprisingly well in the beta. Apple previously attempted to fix the face mask issue by developing a function that bypasses Face ID and instead uses your Apple Watch (only if you have one) to verify your identity. The latest update will make unlocking your phone while wearing a mask a lot easier since it won’t need you to enter in your passcode repeatedly or have an Apple Watch tied to your wrist.Â
Apple has promised numerous AirTag updates for this year, the first of which will be available in iOS 15.4, building upon the anti-stalking features Apple released in February. AirTag is intended to be detected by victims and enable law authorities seeking to identify information about the owner, according to a new notification displayed during setup by Apple. It also advises that tracking people without their consent using an AirTag is illegal. This is also applicable for other Find My gadgets. It’s also possible to add digital IDs and driver’s licenses to your iPhone’s Wallet.
If you’ve ever used iOS 15, you’re certainly familiar with the Live Text feature, which allows you to capture text with your phone’s camera and paste it into other applications. You could employ Live Text with Notes and Reminders before, but iOS 15.4 enhances the text-scanning feature’s integration. There is now a Scan Text command in the pop-up menu; if you click that, a camera window pops up, allowing you to record the text from a book, note, or photo. That text displays in your Note or Reminder right away, and you may enter it once you’ve recorded all the information you need.
Apple’s new Tap to Pay functionality, which turns compatible iPhones into contactless payment terminals, is also available with iOS 15.4. This might lead to more merchants using their iPhones as a digital cash register, perhaps undercutting Square’s card readers that connect directly to iPhones. Apple Pay, NFC-enabled credit and debit cards, and other digital wallets are all supported by the functionality.
iOS 15.4’s latest beta adds a fifth American voice to Siri’s voice assistant. Apple’s user interface refers to it as “Voice 5,” however iOS developer Steve Moser claims that the new voice is referred to as “Quinn” in the filename. The voice comes a little over a year after Apple added two more American Siri voices (both recorded by Black actors) and discontinued using a female-sounding voice by default. According to Apple, the new voice isn’t explicitly male or female and was recorded by a member of the LBGTQ+ community. However, it didn’t provide any other information about the voice actor’s identity. It’s another step in Apple’s diversity and inclusion initiative.
If you feel like there aren’t enough emoji, iOS 15.4 beta features 37 new ones, as well as 75 skin tone variants for increased inclusion. A biting lip, a melting face, love hands, and many more are among the new emojis. Last September, the Unicode Consortium approved all of the emoji that would be included in iOS 15.4.
Apple’s Universal Control function is also included in iOS 15.4, which lets Mac users control a nearby iPad or another Mac with the same keyboard and mouse. Once activated, the mouse and keyboard could be moved between any nearby iPad or Mac that is signed into the same iCloud account, and the cursor can even push past the display’s edge to connect with the second device. This much-anticipated feature was originally planned for macOS Monterey, but it was postponed until this spring, as per the revised schedule. Universal Control also will launch in public beta alongside the Monterey OS 12.3 and iPadOS 15.4 updates.
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There are some extra enhancements offered by iOS 15.4. For instance, in iOS 15.4, the Apple Card will have a home screen widget that shows the current card balance and available balance. There is a new feature that allows users to add notes to their Keychain passwords. To see your Keychain entries, go to Settings > Passwords.
If you have a COVID-19 vaccination certificate from the EU, you can now add it to your iPhone’s Health and Wallet applications. With a double side-button click on your iPhone or Apple Watch, you can access your certificate.
Users can now set up custom domain names by navigating to Settings > Apple ID > iCloud and selecting the ‘iCloud Mail’ option. However, an iCloud+ membership is necessary.
Safari will no longer remember passwords for websites when it doesn’t have a login name starting with iOS 15.4 beta 3. Instead, it will urge you to enter your login so that it may collect additional information about your password. There’s a new ‘Push API’ switch under experimental settings in Safari for iOS 15.4, which would allow websites and web apps to send notifications to Safari users in the same way that Chrome and other browsers do presently. This feature isn’t live yet, but there’s programming in place to make it happen later.
You must first sign up for Apple’s Beta Software Program in order to get the iOS 15.4 beta. Download the configuration profile from Apple once you’ve entered the program. The latest beta version should be available by navigating to Settings > General > Software update and selecting Download and Install. Due to the unstable nature of beta tests, it is recommended that you review this update on a secondary and tester device.
