Enlarge / The 2021, 24-inch iMac with Apple’s M1.
Samuel Axon
Apple released new updates for most of its software platforms today, including macOS Ventura 13.3, iOS 16.4, iPadOS 16.4, tvOS 16.4, and watchOS 9.4.
These are all feature updates, meaning they actually add new functionality in addition to fixing bugs or addressing security vulnerabilities.
iOS and iPadOS 16.4 add a number of minor features. The headliner is (of course) 21 new emojis, like new heart colors, additional animals, and a shaking head. Beyond that, though, Apple says you’ll see improved voice isolation on phone calls, support for notifications from web apps that have been added to your phone’s home screen, new ways to weed out duplicates in your Photos library, and a number of bug fixes.
As far as accessibility goes, iOS and iPadOS can now automatically dim the screen when a video with flashing lights is playing, and VoiceOver is now supported in the maps found inside the Weather app.
tvOS 16.4 has only one listed change: the flashing lights protection feature we just mentioned for iOS and iPadOS.
On the Apple Watch side, watchOS 9.4 is mostly about bringing features to new regions. Cycle Tracking is now supported in Moldova and Ukraine, and AFib history has made it to those two regions as well, plus Colombia, Malaysia, and Thailand.
Then there’s the other big one: macOS Ventura 13.3. It includes several of the same features as iOS 16.4, including the new emoji, Photos duplicate album, and accessibility features. It also adds a “move background” feature in Apple’s visual note-taking app Freeform, which “isolates the subject in your image.” There are also some macOS-specific bug fixes, and you’ll find expanded language support for the keyboard.
iOS 16.4 release notes
This update includes the following enhancements and bug fixes:
- 21 new emoji including animals, hand gestures, and objects are now available in emoji keyboard
- Notifications for web apps added to the Home Screen
- Voice Isolation for cellular calls prioritizes your voice and blocks out ambient noise around you
- Duplicates album in Photos expands support to detect duplicate photos and videos in an iCloud Shared Photo Library
- VoiceOver support for maps in the Weather app
- Accessibility setting to automatically dim video when flashes of light or strobe effects are detected
- Fixes an issue where Ask to Buy requests from children may fail to appear on the parent’s device
- Addresses issues where Matter-compatible thermostats could become unresponsive when paired to Apple Home
- Crash Detection optimizations on iPhone 14 and iPhone 14 Pro models
macOS Ventura 13.3 release notes
This update includes new emoji along with other enhancements, bug fixes, and security updates for your Mac.
- 21 new emoji including animals, hand gestures, and objects are now available in emoji keyboard
- Remove background option in Freeform automatically isolates the subject in your image
- Photos duplicates album expands support to detect duplicate photos and videos in an iCloud Shared Photo Library
- Transliteration support for Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu keyboards
- New keyboard layouts for Choctaw, Chickasaw, Akan, Hausa, and Yoruba
- Accessibility setting to automatically dim video when flashes of light or strobe effects are detected
- VoiceOver support for maps in the Weather app
- Resolves an issue where Trackpad gestures may occasionally stop responding
- Fixes an issue where Ask to Buy requests from children may fail to appear on the parent’s device
- Addresses an issue where VoiceOver may be unresponsive after using Finder
