OS 26.4 Adds AI-Generated Playlist Playground, Separates Family Sharing Purchases
Apple has released OS 26.4 across its platforms, with Apple Music taking center stage on the iPhone and iPad. The new Playlist Playground beta in iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4 uses Apple Intelligence to generate playlists from natural language descriptions, and a Concerts feature helps you discover nearby shows by artists in your library. Families gain more flexibility with Purchase Sharing, which finally lets adult members use their own payment methods. macOS 26.4 gains several battery-related improvements and marks a significant milestone: users may start to receive notifications warning that Rosetta support ends after macOS 27.
Shared Improvements Across Platforms
As is usually the case, a handful of features appear across several of Apple’s operating systems:
- One notable option appears in both macOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4. A modernized compact tab bar option in Safari gives you more space to browse and lets you search directly from the active tab. Change the setting in Safari > Settings > Tabs. The difference is fairly significant and may be welcome for users with smaller screens—such as MacBook Neo users—who want to reduce the vertical space used by Safari’s window trimming.
- Purchase Sharing: Adult members in Family Sharing groups can now use their own payment methods for purchases, rather than relying on the family organizer—a welcome change for families with financially independent children or multi-household families.
- Video in Podcasts: Apple has added support for video podcasts in the Podcasts app, allowing users to switch between listening and watching.
- Freeform enhancements: The Apple Intelligence-powered image tools Apple promised for Freeform when it introduced Apple Creator Studio have now arrived (see “Apple Bundles Pro Apps into New Creator Studio Subscription,” 15 January 2026). Apple says Freeform gains “advanced image creation and editing tools, and a premium content library.” These appear to be the same tools available in Keynote, Numbers, and Pages, which let you create and edit images, upscale them with Super Resolution, and get framing suggestions from Auto Crop.
- Reminders urgency: Building on the Reminders alarms introduced in OS 26.2 (see “OS 26.2 Adds Reminder Alarms, Edge Light, Podcast Chapters, and Enhanced Safety Alerts,” 12 December 2025), you can now mark reminders as urgent from the Quick Toolbar or by touching and holding in iOS and iPadOS, and with a keyboard shortcut in macOS. You can also filter for urgent reminders in Smart Lists.
- Eight new emoji: This update adds an orca, trombone, landslide, ballet dancer, distorted face, and three that Apple left hidden in the emoji keyboard as an exercise for the reader, but turned out to be a treasure chest, fight cloud, and hairy creature (Sasquatch).
- Support for AirPods Max 2: That’s all Apple says, so it’s unclear whether this support is necessary for the AirPods Max 2 to work at all, or if it’s required only for the new features (see “AirPods Max 2 Gain H2 Chip and AirPods Pro Features,” 16 March 2026).
- Easier caption access: Subtitle and caption settings are now accessible directly from the captions icon while viewing media. macOS 26.4 also receives a real-time preview.
iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4 Improvements
A few of the changes most likely to impact users in iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4 received little or no mention—Juli Clover of MacRumors identified some of them.
- Stolen Device Protection: For new users, Stolen Device Protection is now enabled by default. I confirmed that if it was off before installing iOS 26.4, it remained off afterward. (I immediately turned it on again, since I think it provides welcome security.) Control it in Settings > Privacy & Security > Stolen Device Protection.
- Improved typing accuracy: Apple addressed a bug that caused characters to be dropped when typing quickly, increasing accuracy and reducing frustrating auto-correct errors.
- Open window indicator: In iPadOS 26.4, when you switch to an app with hidden or minimized windows, an indicator shows that those windows are open.
- Audio Zoom: In Settings > Camera > Record Sound, Apple added an Audio Zoom setting that causes audio recorded in videos to focus on the subject when the camera is zoomed. It’s on by default.
- Chatbots in CarPlay: You’ll eventually be able to converse with voice-based chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini in CarPlay while driving, although starting a conversation will require tapping the screen since you can’t summon the chatbot with a voice command. Apps will have to be updated to support CarPlay conversations.
Otherwise, Apple Music receives the bulk of attention in iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4:
- Playlist Playground: The new Playlist Playground feature, which Apple labels as a beta, lets you describe what you want in natural language and have Apple Intelligence build a 25-song playlist. It’s Apple’s answer to Spotify’s AI playlist features, and I’m looking forward to playing with it. It’s currently restricted to users in the US.
- Concerts: Another feature cribbed from Spotify surfaces nearby shows from artists in your library and recommends concerts based on your listening habits. Or at least that’s what Apple says it does—I’ve never even heard of any of the artists or shows it displays for me.
- Offline Music Recognition: The Music Recognition control in Control Center can now identify songs without an Internet connection, delivering results when you reconnect. This feature feels more like Apple engineers showing off their machine learning capabilities than solving a common user complaint.
- Ambient Music widget: New Home Screen widgets for Sleep, Chill, Productivity, and Wellbeing bring curated playlists to your Home Screen without opening the app.
- Full-screen album and playlist backgrounds: Album and playlist pages now display more immersive full-screen artwork.
- Multiple playlist adds: When adding a song to a playlist, you can now tap a list button to add it to multiple playlists at the same time.
Several accessibility improvements address Liquid Glass concerns:
- Reduce bright effects: A new setting minimizes bright flashes when tapping buttons and other interface elements—helpful for users sensitive to the visual effects introduced in iOS 26.
- Improved Reduce Motion: The Reduce Motion setting now tones down Liquid Glass animations more reliably for users sensitive to screen motion.
macOS 26.4 Tahoe Improvements
Beyond the improvements shared with iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4, Apple added several battery-related features to macOS 26.4 Tahoe, documenting them only on its support site:
- Slow charge indicator: A Slow Charger label now appears in the battery status menu and in Settings > Battery when the Mac is connected to a charger that isn’t delivering at least the minimum wattage. It should help people realize they can’t use a little 5-watt charger with a MacBook Pro.
- Charge limit: A new Charge Limit feature lets you set a limit on what your Mac considers a full charge—anywhere between 80% and 100%. You can use this feature to prevent your Mac from charging to 100% regularly, which could reduce battery lifespan. We’ll have to see how this works in real-world use, but it feels like a way to ensure your Mac doesn’t go beyond 80% unless you manually choose Charge to Full Now.
However, the macOS 26.4 developer release notes offer more of interest:
- Rosetta deprecation warnings: Starting with macOS 26.4, you’ll see notifications when launching apps that rely on Rosetta for Intel compatibility. Apple announced at WWDC 2025 that macOS 27 will be the last version to support Rosetta for most apps. (Beyond that, Apple will maintain a subset of Rosetta functionality for older gaming titles that aren’t receiving updates.) Start looking for replacements for any apps that still rely on Rosetta.
- Network MIDI 2.0: Audio MIDI Setup now supports Network MIDI 2.0 sessions in the MIDI Network Setup panel, enabling MIDI 2.0 connections over local networks with automatic device discovery.
- HFS+ external drives: Apple fixed a bug that could prevent HFS+ external media from mounting automatically.
- Window resize pointer fixed: One of the developer release notes says, “Fixed: Window resize pointer does not follow the window’s corner shape.” I’m guessing that refers to the Liquid Glass-related problem that Norbert Heger documented, where more of the clickable area for resizing a window lay outside the window than in it. In my testing, it seems that Apple moved the clickable area farther into the window by at least a few pixels.
- Improved Tahoe virtualization: On certain hardware configurations, macOS 26.4 resolves an issue that could cause new macOS Tahoe virtual machine installations to boot to a black screen.
- TextEdit horizontal scrollbar fixed: Although unmentioned in the release notes, Apple has also fixed a bug that caused TextEdit to display a horizontal scroll bar unnecessarily, with some characters on the left being hidden when the character being typed caused the scroll bar to move right.
The developer release notes are also transparent about remaining known issues that may affect users:
- External boot: Some M1 Mac configurations might panic when booting from an external disk. The workaround is to install to a secondary volume in an APFS container rather than an external disk to validate secondary boot sequences.
- Exchange syncing: Calendar, Reminders, and Notes syncing may fail—the workaround is to disable Notes syncing.
- Touch ID: After updating to macOS 26.4, if FileVault is enabled and a standard user attempts to log in before an administrator user does, Touch ID might not work. The workaround is for an administrator user to log in first.
- macOS Recovery: Full erase functionality may not work if it’s triggered by deleting a boot volume from the Activation Lock window in macOS Recovery. Instead, use the “Erase All Contents & Settings” option while booted normally.
- Printing: Of this known issue, Apple says only, “jobs and Printer Status might not be reflected in Print Center.” The company doesn’t offer a workaround or say whether the jobs will actually print.
watchOS 26.4 Improvements
Along with support for the AirPods Max 2 and the new emoji, watchOS 26.4 receives only one listed improvement: you can now start a workout with a single tap on the workout type icon in the Workout app.
Apple’s developer release notes identify a known issue with Maps, where directions might fail to load on a watch when the companion iPhone is connected. The workaround is to start the directions from the iPhone.
tvOS 26.4 Improvements
tvOS 26.4 sees only two changes. First, it fixes an issue with audio playback on the Apple TV 4K that could occur when sound transitions between programs with different formats, such as Dolby Atmos and stereo.
Second, Apple removed the iTunes Movies and TV Shows apps, as all content and playback have now been consolidated into the Apple TV app.
visionOS 26.4 Improvements
Like watchOS, visionOS 26.4 gains support for the AirPods Max 2 (though I can’t envision how you’d use them with Vision Pro) and the new emoji. The update’s only other noted improvement is that Spatial Audio reportedly starts faster in familiar spaces by remembering the acoustic properties of rooms you’ve been in before.
HomePod Software 26.4 Improvements
Nothing beyond “This update includes performance and stability improvements” to see here, folks.
Security Updates
Along with all the OS 26.4 updates, Apple also released security updates to macOS 15.7.5 Sequoia, macOS 14.8.5 Sonoma, iOS and iPadOS 18.7.7, and Safari 26.4. Although numerous vulnerabilities were fixed, Apple doesn’t identify any as being exploited in the wild. They include:
- iOS 26.4 and iPadOS 26.4: 36 vulnerabilities
- macOS 26.4 Tahoe: 71 vulnerabilities
- watchOS 26.4: 22 vulnerabilities
- tvOS 26.4: 17 vulnerabilities
- visionOS 26.4: 27 vulnerabilities
- iOS 18.7.7 and iPadOS 18.7.7: 25 vulnerabilities
- macOS 15.7.5 Sequoia: 56 vulnerabilities
- macOS 14.8.5 Sonoma: 50 vulnerabilities
- Safari 26.4: 7 vulnerabilities
The Safari 26.4 update for Sequoia and Sonoma also includes the WebKit patch that Apple released as a Background Security Improvement last week (see “Apple Relaunches Background Security Improvements with WebKit Patch,” 17 March 2026).
Update Advice
As with most mid-cycle updates, the advice differs for those merely updating from iOS 26.3 verus those considering upgrading from iOS 18 and macOS 15.
If you have already made the leap to OS 26.3, I recommend waiting a few days to make sure no surprise bugs crop up, then updating all your devices. The new Apple Music features might be fun, being able to make independent purchases within a Family Sharing group might be welcome, and you might like the compact tab bar in Safari in macOS and iPadOS.
For those who have been delaying an upgrade, it’s probably time to identify a time to make the jump. All the OS 26 operating systems are probably feature-complete now—the OS 26.5 updates will almost certainly contain just unspecified bug fixes, security fixes, and perhaps a small tweak or two.
Many people have been holding out hope that Apple would see the light and recant on Liquid Glass, particularly with the departure of Alan Dye (see “Apple Executive Departures Could Signal Welcome Changes,” 5 December 2025). Even then, I said that Apple is unlikely to reverse course on Liquid Glass. More emphatic support for that position came via developer Danny Bolella, who attended a three-day workshop on Liquid Glass at Apple’s New York City offices, where he asked Apple about the possibility of a rollback. In a section titled “Universal Lesson 1: The Ship Has Sailed (Liquid Glass is Permanent),” Bolella wrote:
Their reaction? Genuine shock. They were actually concerned that developers were holding onto this position. They made it emphatically clear that Liquid Glass is absolutely moving forward, evolving, and expanding across the ecosystem.
Their exact warning to me was that those who don’t adopt it now “are gonna find themselves in a tough position later.”
Nothing is forcing you to upgrade right away, but there is little reason to delay much further. Pick a time that’s convenient for you, back up your device, and click the button.
Rats. Some of these look significant enough that I may need to bite the bullet and move from iOS 18 to 26.4.
So, since upgrading to 26.4, AppleScript seems broken. Most of the BBEdit AppleScripts I’ve written, and which I use regularly, no longer work—I get a MacOS error code of -1758, which apparently means “errOSADataFormatObsolete”. I can’t even open the scripts in Script Editor (“The document “xxx” could not be opened”).
Isn’t her name “Juli”, not “Julie” (yes, I’m a visual learner)?
—PSA—
Just to be safe: Pick a time that’s convenient for you, backup your device, and click the button.
Yes, thanks! Fixed.
Indeed. That’s ALWAYS the case!
There was no audio bug in TV OS. However some audio products take time to handle audio format changes (e.g.Stereo>Dolby Digital). Apple introduced an option to always have all channels active, so that these devices no longer need to process these changes. However, some devices (e.g. Denon receivers) easily handle the format changes and provide the user options for additional processing. The new Apple TV options takes away these user options on the receiver. So, it’s nice that Apple now provides the user a choice.
I’m still going to wait until August before downgrading to iOS 26.
Thank for the heads-up Allen. I rely on several Applescripts so will delay “upgrading” to Tahoe for longer.
With the iOS updates it is nice to know that many of my mis-types using the iPhone/iPad keyboard are, in fact, due to a software bug now fixed with 26.4
I don’t use many AppleScripts, but I do have one that runs after a restart and login, and that worked fine after the 26.4 upgrade yesterday, on two Mac minis. I just loaded script editor on one of them - it loads and runs my scripts just fine.
This looks complicated.
Dave
It sounds like it might be specific to older compiled scripts.
ChatGPT suggests it might just need opening and resaving:
The AppleScript error errOSADataFormatObsolete means that AppleScript is trying to read compiled script data that was created in an older, incompatible format . In simple terms, the script engine thinks the script’s stored binary format is outdated or no longer supported .
What it usually means
The script (or script component) was:
I have Script Debugger here so I’d be happy to open/resave for people if they want to test things.
I’m afraid ChatGPT is not up to speed.
I created a new script in Script Editor, saved & closed it and it opened once and after that Script Editor refused to open it.
There’s something more complicated going-on here.
Dave
Some of my scripts do work. Others don’t, and those ones, I can’t open with Script Editor. Yes, it probably is the older ones that won’t open, but that’s not a lot of help.
I see that one script—the one I most want to get back—has a size of 0 in the command line, but has a resource fork of 26695 bytes. I managed to copy the fork to a “regular” file, in the hope that it might contain the plaintext script, but nope; the contents are mostly binary.
This doesn’t preclude there being an issue with older scripts, but it might also suggest there’s introduced bugs in Script Editor — particularly if Script Debugger scripts are unaffected.
The problem I have with MacOS 26.4 is not scripts, it’s the creeping spread of AI and Apple’s decision to block us from going back to a MacOS before 26. Publications I write for ask me to certify that I have not used AI in what I write for them. I worry that eventually Apple is going to build AI into everything they make in a way that can’t be turned off.
There’s a developer tool, DeRez, that ships with Xcode (maybe as a part of the command-line tools). This will decode the a file’s resource fork into a text representation that you can capture and review.
There’s also an open source app, ResForge that can be used to browse/edit resource forks.
Try using one of these tools on (a copy of) that file to see if you can find the script’s text in one of its resources.
Has the version of ScriptEditor changed? I am on 26.3.1 (a) and my version is 2.11. Maybe I make a zip file of it to keep it and then upgrade.
I tried the derez command-line tool and it shows that the script is held in a ‘scpt’ resource—but, alas, in compiled form.
It is 2.11 in macOS 26.4 as well.
This is an odd problem. All the Applescripts I’ve tried run properly and some go back to 2006. However some cannot be opened in Script Editor. The one on the left won’t open; the one on the right opens. Note both of them are more than 15 years old.
If you open winTest.scpt in Script Debugger, it’s fine, and if you then save it as a new script its file size goes from 40K to 10K and Script Editor can open it. So it seems some older scripts are including a binary something (yes, I checked, it’s a big chunk of binary in there) that Script Editor won’t open. New compiled scripts have binary, too, but much less of it for scripts of equal lines.
If you attempt and fail to open a file Script Editor will refuse to open any subsequent ones. Quit Script Editor, relaunch it, and it will open scripts without the mysterious binary blob.
If you need to recover old scripts the best thing to do is to open them in Script Debugger and then save out a copy as a new script.
Sadly, Script Debugger was retired in 2025. However, bless their hearts, you can download the most recent version here for free. You can read more about the retirement here. Script Debugger is/was a fantastic Applescript development environment. Why, it almost made writing Applescripts a pleasure. . . .
Don’t be intimidated by the fancy window, you’re just opening a script and saving out a copy.
Dave
Wow, I can’t believe I didn’t know this. I’ve been using Script Debugger since version 3 and it was certainly an enabler for a newbie scripter. Since retiring I don’t use Applescript very much now, but it still powers many things I do.
Sad to see it go, but glad they’ve made the latest version available. It will be a very sad day when an OS update finally breaks it.
Thanks, @Dafuki. My scripts are now rescued.
So I started with the updates, first my iPhone from 26.3.1(a) to 26.4. It took about 20mins. Then I did my M5 MacbookAir. That took about 15mins. My Apple Watch Ultra, that took hours for some reason. I took it off my wrist, noted it at 65% battery so I put on charger and the update status was at downloading. I revisited the watch after 30 mins to find it was at verifying. I walked away.
The longest times were with my Home Pods. Each showed about a 1 Gigabyte file update. From the iPhone Home App, I noticed orange rings as progression and for downloading…they barely moved once at half way. I was up over an hour when I noticed the first of two Homepods rebooted. The second Homepod took another 20 mins. Then it rebooted and lit up my bedroom for what seemed eternity.
I now just ran Timemachine on this Studio as this morning, a notification popped up that 26.4 is available… 8.73GB. Guess I’ll make coffee…
I updated my M1 MacBook Air to Sequoia 15.7.5, and it’s the first update in years where I’ve run into minor glitches. In the few days since I updated, I’ve had a couple of apps fail to launch, though they launch fine after rebooting the machine. Has anyone else seen this behavior?
I’m curious, since it sounds like this would be a good thing to encapsulate in an article… Above, you said you created a new script and Script Editor had problems opening it after the first try. How does that fit in, since I presume it didn’t have any weird binary in it?
After reading the second observation, I now believe that this is a bug in the Script Editor app, not necessarily any problem in the script itself.
If you have personally observed this (not just read this article), please let Apple know via Feedback or some other bug reporting mechanism, since they may not yet know about this bug.
Yes, I’ve seen that a handful of times in recent years. Sort of got in the habit of restarting after the install restarts itself. And if any quirks pop up, maybe go the whole thing and log out, log in, shut down, have a cuppa, boot, restart and then see.
Oakley’s post might be useful background…
I looked at this issue twice. The first time, which you’re referring to, was cursory and in retrospect a little confused. The second time I spent an hour or more exploring the behaviors. The answer to your query is in the second longer post: if you attempt to open a “bad” script Script Editor will silently fail to open it and then it will not open “good” scripts again until you quit and re-launch Script Editor.
Dave
Yes, I think it is a bug in Script Editor, too. The facts that the scripts run without error and Script Debugger can open them points to a problem with Script Editor itself.
I plan to report this later today after a couple more cups of coffee…
Dave
Thanks. It seems to be an issue with “first launch” app behavior specifically, since the machine has been shutdown and restarted a few times.
It’s hard to pin down, since most apps have been fine. Come to think of it, I may be remembering something like this involving apps forgetting where their libraries were. I’ll do some more digging.
Me either! I don’t do a ton of AppleScript, but Script Debugger was definitely my editor of choice. I feel a little guilty now that I never registered my copy (I guess I lived within the restrictions), and especially since they’ve now posted registration codes on the download page. Maybe I’ll see if there’s a link to a “retirement fund” somewhere on their site.
Ah, but the build number changed—it’s 233 in 26.3.1 and 234 in 26.4. So Apple may have touched something.
Ah ha! Missed that!
Dave
I encountered this issue when I installed MacOS 26.3. Luckily, I found this solution online. I hope they fix this soon.
I like listening to music on my long morning walks, so was looking forward to trying Playlist Playground. I gave it a few suggestions and it created a pretty good playlist for me! You can refine it after creating. I think it’s a pretty cool feature.
By the way, the region restriction should actually read, “those who set their region to the U.S.” I do that because Apple News also isn’t available to those whose region is in Japan. So my account is a U.S. account, and Playlist Playground works fine for me here in Tokyo.
I updated and can report that my scripts work. My oldest on this Mac is from 29 January 2022. No problem opening scripts in ScriptEditor either.
Edit: Look here for Adams’ article on this: macOS 26.4’s Script Editor Won’t Open Some Older AppleScripts
Another minor problem I’ve found in MacOS 26.4:
AppleScript for the TV app seems to be at least partly broken (or, as we’d say here, “munted”). The “selection” application property always returns an empty list, even when several TV episodes are visibly selected.
I’ve submitted this in the Feedback Assistant.
While obviously no one outside Apple can guarantee it, this seems pretty unlikely. None of the AI tools they offer now run in such a fashion even within Apple’s own applications, there doesn’t seem to be any market pressure that would make them change that, and it seems extremely implausible that a future macOS release would somehow reach into BBEdit or Emacs and edit text without our permission.
My M2 MBA has Sequoia 15.7.5 installed but only Safari 26.3.1 and I can’t find a way to update Safari to 26.4. Perhaps Safari 26.4 only works with MacOS 26.4?
Try refreshing and checking for updates again. For whatever reason, when I updated to 15.7.5, the Safari update needed to be installed separately, even though I originally selected both 15.7.5 and Safari 26.4 in the “other updates” section.
Does your update advice regarding Tahoe 26.4 “it’s probably time to identify a time to make the jump” still hold if the device that is currently running Sonoma is a 2020 13-inch MBP with a 2.3GHz i7 and 32 GB of memory? Won’t it be kinda slow under Tahoe?
Did anyone notice this new feature added to macOS 26.4:
“New Feature in macOS 26.4: Automatic Remounting of USB Drives after Sleep
macOS 26.4 has introduced a significant enhancement regarding the handling of USB drives. This feature automatically remounts unmounted local USB drives when the system wakes from sleep.”(Quoted from DuckDuckGo AI “Search Assist” search results)
Since the macOS 15.3.2 update I regularly unmounted three volumes on two locally attached USB drives used primarily for backups. As I reported in another TidBITS-TALK post, after installing 15.3.2 Finder became ‘sluggish’ performing simple operations like copying and moving files and folders, dragging URL’s from browsers into Finder, etc. After implementing my morning unmounting routine, the sluggishness rarely happened.
Since I first Installed macOS 26 (26.4) on 03/28/26 and learned the ‘remounting’ was a feature vs. bug, I’ve noticed a marked absence of the ‘sluggishness’ - I’ve only noted a couple of ‘sluggish’ times.
I suspect 26.4 includes improvements to how the OS handles USB drives. When the sluggishness first appeared one 3rd party app developer I talked to said macOS 26 introduced some problems in this regard.
I really don’t know how Tahoe runs on an Intel-based Mac, but it may be easiest to stick with Sequoia for now, particularly if you’re considering getting an Apple silicon Mac. (Which will be so, so much faster.)
Has anyone tried Tahoe on the few Intel-based Macs that are still supported?
Just an FYI that there is a bug in iOS and iPadOS 26.4 with CloudKit that prevents these devices from syncing content with iCloud in the background as they should. In reading through this it may also affect pushed notifications for these apps.
This isn’t an issue with iCloud Drive, but with apps syncing changes in the background using the CloudKit framework on iPad and iPhone devices. The issue is fixed with the 26.5 beta; hopefully it will be resolved for the stable release before 26.5.
I’ve read already a post from the to-do app Due that switching from iCloud syncing to Dropbox syncing fixes this problem for that app for now.
I use the Drafts.app. Usually, the sync between the Mac version and iPhone is near instant. Now it is very slow. Nice to know it will soon be fixed.