Technologies

iOS 16.4 Is Almost Here. Public Beta Testers Can Try These Features Now

The release of iOS 16.4 is around the corner, but public beta testers don’t have to wait for these new features.

The wait for iOS 16.4 is almost over. Apple released iOS 16.4 beta 3 to public beta testers Wednesday, about a week after the company released the second iOS 16.4 public beta. This third beta means the wide unveiling of iOS 16.4 is probably close at hand. Beta testers can now try out new iOS features, like new emoji and updates to Apple Books.

These features are available only to people who are a part of Apple’s Beta Software Program. New iOS features can be fun, but we recommend downloading a beta only onto something other than your primary phone, just in case the new software causes issues. Apple provides beta testers with an app called Feedback. The app lets testers notify Apple of any issues in the new software so the problem can be addressed before general release.

Here are some of the new features testers can find in the iOS 16.4 betas.

Apple ID and beta software updates

Text that reads You can sign in with a different Apple ID that is enrolled in the Apple Beta Software Program or the Apple Developer Program — The latest beta lets you sign into another Apple ID to access other beta software.

Zach McAuliffe/CNET

With the third iOS 16.4 beta, developers and beta testers can check whether their Apple ID is associated with the developer beta, public beta or both. If you have a different Apple ID, like one for your job, that has access to beta updates, iOS 16.4 beta 3 also lets you switch to that account from your device.

Apple Books updates

The iOS 16.4 beta 2 update brings the page-turn curl animation back to Apple Books, after it was removed in a previous iOS update. Before, when you turned a page in an e-book on your iPhone, the page would slide to one side of your screen or it would vanish and be replaced by the next page. Beta testers can still choose these other page-turn animations in addition to the curl animation.

With iOS 16.4 beta 3, a new popup appears when you open Apple Books for the first time after downloading the update. It lets you know you can change your page-turn animation, theme and more.

31 new emoji

The first iOS 16.4 beta software brought 31 new emoji to your iOS device. The new emoji include a new smiley; new animals, like a moose and a goose; and new heart colors, like pink and light blue.

9 of the new emoji, arranged in a grid on a pink background: peapod, hair pick, goose, hand, smiley, gray heart, maracas, donkey, wifi signal — Some of the new emoji released in the first iOS 16.4 beta.

Patrick Holland/CNET

The new emoji all come from Unicode’s September 2022 recommendation list, Emoji 15.0.

Apple Podcasts updates

The first beta brought a few changes to how you navigate Apple Podcasts. Now you can access podcast channels you subscribe to in your Library. You can also use Up Next to resume podcast episodes you’ve started, start episodes you’ve saved and remove episodes you want to skip.

Preview Mastodon links in Messages

Apple’s first iOS 16.4 beta enabled rich previews of Mastodon links in Messages. That’s good because Mastodon saw a 400% increase in the rate of new accounts in December, so you might be receiving Mastodon links in Messages.

Music app changes

The Kid Cudi album Man On the Moon artwork with the track list below — A small banner appears at the bottom of the screen when you choose to play a song next in Apple Music in the frst iOS 16.4 beta.

Zach McAuliffe/CNET

The Music interface has been slightly modified in the first iOS 16.4 beta. When you add a song to your queue, a small banner appears near the bottom of your screen instead of a full-screen pop-up.

See who and what is covered under AppleCare

Starting with iOS 16.4 beta 1, you could go to Settings to check who and what devices are covered on your AppleCare plan. With iOS 16.4 beta 2, this menu will show you a small icon next to each device that’s covered under AppleCare.

Focus Mode, Shortcuts and always-on display

If you have an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, iOS 16.4 beta 1 lets you enable or disable the always-on display option with certain Focus Modes. A new option in Shortcuts called Set Always on Display was also added, in addition to new Lock Screen and Set VPN actions.

New Apple Wallet widgets

You can add three new order-tracking widgets for Apple Wallet to your home screen with the first iOS 16.4 beta. Each widget displays your tracking information on active orders, but the widgets are different sizes: small, medium and large.

No Active Orders displayed in the Apple Wallet widget — The medium-size Apple Wallet order tracking widget takes up three tile spaces on your iPhone’s screen.

Zach McAuliffe/CNET

More accessibility options

The first beta update added a new accessibility option, too. The new option is called Dim Flashing Lights, and it can be found in the Motion menu in Settings. The option’s description says video content that depicts repeated flashing or strobing lights will automatically be dimmed. Video timelines will also show when flashing lights will occur.

New keyboards, Siri voices and language updates

The first iOS 16.4 beta added keyboards for the Choctaw and Chickasaw languages, and there are new Siri voices for Arabic and Hebrew. Language updates have also come to Korean, Ukrainian, Gujarati, Punjabi and Urdu.

There’s no word on when iOS 16.4 will be released to the general public. There’s no guarantee these beta features will be released with iOS 16.4, or that these will be the only features released with the update.

For more, check out how to become an Apple beta tester, what was included in iOS 16.3.1 and features you may have missed in iOS 16.3.

Technologies

Verum Mail: a new app for anonymous and instant email

The Verum ecosystem has expanded with a new product — Verum Mail, offering a fast, fully anonymous, and user-friendly way to manage your email.

No registration. No logins. No hassle.

With Verum Mail, users can generate a temporary email address in one tap — no need to enter any personal data. Emails arrive instantly, without reloading and are automatically deleted after 60 minutes.

Key features of Verum Mail:

Create a temporary email without registration
Instantly receive messages
Auto-delete emails after one hour
Reply directly from the app
Push notifications for new messages
Adaptive interface for iPhone and iPad

Verum Mail means:

Total anonymity — no logins, passwords, or phone numbers
Security — emails are permanently deleted without a trace
Speed — temporary addresses created in seconds
Language support — available in multiple languages

The app is now available for download on the App Store.

Verum Mail — when personal truly stays personal.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, April 5

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for April 5.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword took me a while, and not just because Saturday’s puzzle always has a few extra clues. There are some toughies in this list. 6-Down especially will test your knowledge of the animal kingdom. Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? Read on. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

The Mini Crossword is just one of many games in the Times’ games collection. If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get at those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Cummerbund, e.g.
Answer: SASH

5A clue: Cheese-covered chip
Answer: NACHO

6A clue: Singer in a synagogue
Answer: CANTOR

7A clue: Like decision-making in a hierarchical organization
Answer: TOPDOWN

8A clue: Where a browser might get cookies?
Answer: BAKERY

9A clue: Mixes, as a drink
Answer: STIRS

10A clue: 10 in a lane
Answer: PINS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Politician on a «Fighting Oligarchy» tour with Ocasio-Cortez
Answer: SANDERS

2D clue: The first «A» of SAG-AFTRA
Answer: ACTORS

3D clue: Flamboyant
Answer: SHOWY

4D clue: Unicorn’s defining feature
Answer: HORN

5D clue: Lap protector
Answer: NAPKIN

6D clue: Raccoon-like mammal of South America
Answer: COATI

7D clue: 1/16 of a cup: Abbr.
Answer: TBSP

How to play more Mini Crosswords

The New York Times Games section offers a large number of online games, but only some of them are free for all to play. You can play the current day’s Mini Crossword for free, but you’ll need a subscription to the Times Games section to play older puzzles from the archives.

Technologies

Trump Gives TikTok Another 75 Days to Strike a Sale

The president says he’s signing an executive order to push back enforcement of the ban again, pushing back the previous deadline of Saturday.

President Donald Trump is giving TikTok more time to sell its US operations, saying that «tremendous progress» has been made toward a deal and pushing off enforcement of a ban that was set to kick in Saturday.

In a Friday afternoon Truth Social post, Trump said that despite that progress, the deal still needs more work, so he’s signing an executive order giving TikTok 75 more days, taking the deadline out to June 19. The move prevents the wildly popular video app from potentially going dark in less than a day.

Trump went on to say that his administration will continue to work with China and credited the tariffs he enacted earlier this week, calling them «the most powerful economic tool» and «very important» to national security.

«We do not want TikTok to ‘go dark,'» Trump said in his post. «We look forward to working with TikTok and China to close the Deal.»

Both TikTok and the Chinese government have long opposed a sale of the company’s US operations and it remains unclear as to if their positions have changed. TikTok didn’t immediately return an email seeking comment.

Read more: TikTok Backups: 6 Similar Apps for Your Daily Dose of Fun

China on Friday reacted to the tariffs Trump spoke of by matching them with its own on US goods, escalating the trade war between the two countries and sending stock markets around the world tumbling. The Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged more than 2,200 points and the Nasdaq composite lost 5.8% in afternoon trading — its biggest drop in five years.

The TikTok ban delay wasn’t unexpected. Several potential bidders for TikTok’s US operations have made their interest known in just the past few days, and Trump has been meeting with administration officials this week to discuss possible deals and ownership structures.

According to recent reporting by The New York Times, one plan included private equity firm Blackstone and the tech company Oracle, while another involved a last-minute bid from Amazon.

Lawmakers in both political parties have long voiced concerns that TikTok could be a threat to national security and could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or spread disinformation to further China’s agenda. TikTok continues to deny those accusations.

The law requiring the sale was passed by Congress last year with overwhelming bipartisan support and signed into law by then-President Joe Biden. Free speech and other groups sued to overturn the law on First Amendment grounds, but it was upheld by the US Supreme Court in January.

So what’s next for TikTok? Here’s what you need to know.

What does the law do?

The law aims to force TikTok’s China-based parent company, ByteDance, to sell to a buyer American officials are OK with and guarantee that ByteDance no longer has access to US user data or control over the TikTok algorithm.

TikTok was given nine months to comply, hence the original Jan. 19 sale deadline, at which point the government could require the removal of its app from US app stores and that other tech companies stop supporting the app and website.

TikTok shut down in the US the night of Jan. 18, citing the ban, but came back online the next morning after Trump made assurances that he would not immediately enforce it. Trump later formalized that promise by signing an executive order that directed the attorney general to not enforce the ban for 75 days, effectively moving the deadline to April 5.

The new executive order pushes the deadline back to June 19, which is Juneteenth, a federal holiday.

Read more: TikTok Loves to Give Financial Advice. But Don’t Believe Everything You Hear

What’s Trump’s take?

After originally calling for a ban during his first presidency, Trump said during the 2024 campaign that he wasn’t in favor of one and pledged to «save TikTok,» though he didn’t specify how he’d do that.

Trump told the press on Sunday that «there’s tremendous interest in TikTok.» He added that he would «like to see TikTok remain alive.» The president also said that «we have a lot of potential buyers» and that his administration is «dealing with China,» which has long opposed a sale.

On March 26, Trump said he would consider lowering tariffs on Chinese goods if that country’s government approved a sale of TikTok’s US operations. He also at that time reiterated his willingness to push the deadline back if needed.

Trump also has floated the idea of the US taking a 50% stake in the company as part of a joint venture, but hasn’t given specifics as to how that would work.

TikTok CEO Shou Chew was one of several high-profile tech executives to attend Trump’s inauguration in January, just hours before Trump would sign the order granting the 75-day extension.

Previous to that, during a press conference in December, Trump pointed to the role TikTok played during the election, crediting it with helping him pick up the votes of young people.

«TikTok had an impact, and so we’re taking a look at it,» Trump said. «I have a little bit of a warm spot in my heart. I’ll be honest.»