iOS 26.4 and macOS 26.4 RCs land
Apple released Release Candidate builds for iOS 26.4 and macOS 26.4 with new device‑side AI playlists, video podcast support, accessibility fixes, battery charge limits, Freeform updates, and compact Safari tabs — small but meaningful platform changes for app and API compatibility. Developers should map these incremental updates to existing integrations before public rollout. (bez-kabli.pl, geeky-gadgets.com, bgr.com)
Apple pushed the Release Candidate builds on March 18, 2026: iOS 26.4 RC is identified as build 23E244 and macOS 26.4 RC as build 25E243, with Xcode 26.4 RC (17E192) posted alongside the OS seeds. (developer.apple.com) The macOS Tahoe 26.4 RC release notes state the macOS 26.4 SDK is bundled with Xcode 26.4 and warn that Address Sanitizer and Thread Sanitizer can hang when building with Xcode 26.3 or older, with the documented workaround to use Xcode 26.4 for sanitizer testing. (developer.apple.com) Apple Music’s new Playlist Playground (beta) is documented as generating a playlist from a user’s natural‑language description and returning a composed title, description, and tracklist for the resulting playlist in the client. (iclarified.com) Apple Podcasts’ video support in 26.4 is implemented over HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) to give creators greater control over streaming, and Apple’s notes and coverage indicate the update enables seamless switching between audio and video playback plus offline downloads and new dynamic video ad tools for creators. (macrumors.com) Freeform gains advanced image creation and editing tools plus a premium content library that Apple positions alongside Apple Creator Studio, and Safari adds a compact tab bar option to reduce chrome and search directly from the active tab. (9to5mac.com) macOS 26.4 exposes new Background Assets APIs — for example localStatus(ofAssetPackWithID:) and ensureLocalAvailability(of:requireLatestVersion:) — changes that affect offline asset checks and on‑device asset availability logic. (developer.apple.com) Apple seeded the RC to developers and public beta testers on March 18, 2026, and outlets tracking the beta cycle say the RC typically matches the final public build with a public rollout expected within the following week (late March 2026). (macrumors.com)
