Your iPhone is likely currently running iOS 26.3 (assuming you’ve been keeping up with the operating system updates), but there’s another version currently in the works over at Apple HQ. Right now, beta testers have their hands on iOS 26.4, which is shaping up to be a much bigger update than the last. Among the changes, Apple is debuting end-to-end encryption for RCS chats, so texts with Android users will no longer be insecure, and the Reminders app is getting an “Urgent” section for any entries you’ve labeled as such.
But perhaps no part of iOS is getting a larger update with 26.4 than Apple Music—both the app, and Apple’s paid subscription service. Apple seems to have decided that Music needed a bit of a facelift, as well as some quality of life changes that will make the app and service easier to use. Whether you use Apple Music for streaming or you rely on it to store your digital library, you’re going to notice the updates when iOS 26.4 drops in the near future. Some of these features will be free and some only available to paid subscribers; I’ve reached out to Apple to confirm which is which, and I will update this piece if I hear back.
Apple Music now lets you generate playlists with AI
Do you like making playlists, or do you know someone who does? The robots are coming for your hobby, too. With iOS 26.4, Apple Music is rolling out “Playlist Playground,” a new feature that lets you generate playlists from natural language prompts. In layman’s terms, that means you tell the AI what kind of music you want to hear, and it will generate a playlist from that request. That could something hyper-specific, like “Taylor Swift country tracks,” or something more general, like “morning coffee vibes.” The AI will choose 25 songs it thinks match your query. If it doesn’t get it quite right, you can ask it to make changes, and you can change things yourself, like the playlist’s title, description, and cover image.
I’m interested to try this out, if for no other reason than music discovery: I like Apple Music’s curated playlists already, but I am intrigued as to whether asking Apple’s AI to select certain types of songs for me will help me find new music any better than the platform’s human curators. I also don’t think this will stop me from making my own playlists, or looking for playlists from friends. Sure, maybe the AI is good at picking 25 songs that match a specific theme, but there is an art to hand-picking tracks that work well together—plus, it’s just fun.
Apple is far from the first company to roll out such a feature. YouTube Music recently launched something similar, while Spotify has two different AI playlist features (AI Playlist and Prompted Playlist) available on its platform.
Apple Music’s design changes look awesome
When you start exploring Apple Music after updating to iOS 26.4, you’ll likely notice something right away: The UX, which is normally white or black (whether your iPhone is in light or dark mode) now matches the color scheme of the artwork for the album or playlist you’re checking out. The effect is especially cool when the album art supports full-screen motion, like the following:
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Apple has made some divisive design decisions in recent years, but I think this change is going to be a crowd pleaser. The difference between the current design on iOS 26.3 and the new look is stark, and, while there’s nothing wrong with how things stand now, it already looks super dated next to the full-screen color matching designs.
What do you think so far?
You can now add songs to multiple playlists at once
Speaking of playlists, you can now add songs to multiple at once—just in case you still need some human intervention when it comes to these playlists. When you go to add a song to a playlist, you’ll notice a new button in the bottom right. Tap it, and Apple Music opens up the ability to select multiple playlists at once, and send the song to all of them. It’s a small change, but a helpful one, especially if you frequently add new music to more than one playlist at a time. I could see myself using this to add a song to my personal new discoveries playlist, as well as a shared playlist of new music I keep with friends.
Not all music is made to active listening. If you use Apple Music for background music, especially when sleeping, working, or zoning out, you might be interested in the new “Ambient Music” widget, which lets you launch one of four different ambient playlists from the Home Screen: Sleep, which plays “Sleep Sounds;” Chill, which plays “Today’s Chill;” Productivity, which plays “Productivity;” or Wellbeing, which plays “Pure Meditation.”
I still can’t quite shake the habit of relying on YouTube for my “focus music” needs, especially since these tracks mess with my Apple Music algorithms. But it might make sense to start relying on the platform I actually pay for when I want music to work or fall asleep to—unless that music is only available elsewhere.
Apple Music will help you find concerts near you
Apple Music is also making it easier to listen to music outside of the app. The platform is rolling out a “Concerts Near You” section, which shows you artists playing in your area. You can see popular artists and their concert dates, as well as shows that are coming up this week. You can sort by both date and genre, and you can update the location when you want to know where shows are going to be in different areas.
