Technologies
iOS 16.4: The New Features That Just Hit Your iPhone
The update brings new emoji, voice isolation in phone calls, and more to your iPhone.

The wait for iOS 16.4 is over. Apple rolled out iOS 16.4 on Monday, about a week after the company let developers and beta testers try the iOS 16.4 release candidate.
The update comes with a handful of bug and security fixes, as well as some new features. Some of the new features include new emoji, voice isolation for cellular calls, and more.
Here are some of the new features your iPhone gains with iOS 16.4.
31 new emoji
The iOS 16.4 update brings 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.
Some of the new emoji released in iOS 16.4.
Patrick Holland/CNETThe new emoji all come from Unicode’s September 2022 recommendation list, Emoji 15.0.
Voice isolation comes to cellular calls
Voice isolation was introduced with iOS 15 in 2021, and at the time it worked only on FaceTime calls. Now with iOS 16.4, you can use the feature on your cellular calls too.
When enabled, voice isolation can help the person you’re on a call with hear you more clearly by muffling background sounds, like kids playing in the other room or construction outside your window. It could therefore cut back on the number of times you have to repeat yourself in a phone call because the other person can’t hear you.
Easily find photo duplicates across shared albums
In iOS 16.4, you can easily find duplicate photos in shared albums in Photos. If you share photos with family or friends via iCloud, iOS 16.4 will show you all the duplicates across albums. You can also Merge these duplicate photos.
Support for PlayStation 5 controller
According to MacRumors, iOS 16.4 adds support for the PlayStation 5 DualSense Edge Wireless Controller. You can use the controller to play controller-enabled games from services like Apple Arcade — a CNET Editors’ Choice award pick — on your iPhone.
Apple Books update
The page-turn curl animation is back in Apple Books with iOS 16.4, after it was removed in a previous iOS update. Before, when you turned a page in an ebook on your iPhone, the page would slide to one side of your screen or it would vanish and be replaced by the next page. You can still choose these other page-turn animations in addition to the curl animation.
Music app changes
A small banner appears at the bottom of the screen when you choose to play a song next in Apple Music in iOS 16.4
Zach McAuliffe/CNETThe Music interface has been slightly modified in iOS 16.4. 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 like in previous iOS versions.
Also, if you go into your Library in Music, you can organize your Library by Artist and tap into an artist, across the top of your page you will see an icon for that artist. A search bar used to be at the top of this page. Tap the artist’s icon and you will be taken to that artist’s Music page.
Apple Podcasts updates
Apple Podcasts also gets an update with iOS 16.4. Now you can access a Channels tab in your Library, which shows you different networks you follow. Tap into each channel and you see can the shows you subscribe to and other shows that channel produces.
See who and what is covered under AppleCare
With iOS 16.4, you can go to Settings > General > About > Coverage to check who and what devices are covered on your AppleCare plan. That way, if your AirPods break, you can easily check whther they are covered. You can manage your coverage from here too.
Focus Mode filters added
If you have an iPhone 14 Pro or Pro Max, iOS 16.4 lets you enable or disable the always-on display option with certain Focus Modes. When creating a new filter, scroll down to the bottom of the edit page, tap Focus Filter, then tap Always-On Display to enable or disable the display for that Focus Mode.
New Apple Wallet features
You can add three new order-tracking widgets for Apple Wallet to your home screen with iOS 16.4. Each widget displays your tracking information on active orders, but the widgets are different sizes: small, medium and large.
The medium-size Apple Wallet order tracking widget takes up three tile spaces on your iPhone’s screen.
Zach McAuliffe/CNETMore accessibility options
The update also adds new accessibility options. One 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. VoiceOver support has also been expanded to the maps and Weather apps.
Apple ID and beta software updates
The latest iOS update lets you sign into another Apple ID to access other beta software.
Zach McAuliffe/CNETWith iOS 16.4, 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 also lets you switch to that account from your device.
New keyboards, Siri voices and language updates
This iOS 16.4 update also adds 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.
Here are Apple’s release notes for iOS 16.4.
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
For more, check out what was included in iOS 16.3.1 and features you may have missed in iOS 16.3.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Strands Hints, Answers and Help for Oct. 23 #599
Here are hints and answers for the NYT Strands puzzle for Oct. 23, No. 599.
Looking for the most recent Strands answer? Click here for our daily Strands hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.
Today’s NYT Strands puzzle might be Halloween-themed, as the answers are all rather dangerous. Some of them are a bit tough to unscramble, so if you need hints and answers, read on.
I go into depth about the rules for Strands in this story.
If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections and Mini Crossword answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.
Read more: NYT Connections Turns 1: These Are the 5 Toughest Puzzles So Far
Hint for today’s Strands puzzle
Today’s Strands theme is: Please don’t eat me!
If that doesn’t help you, here’s a clue: Remember Mr. Yuk?
Clue words to unlock in-game hints
Your goal is to find hidden words that fit the puzzle’s theme. If you’re stuck, find any words you can. Every time you find three words of four letters or more, Strands will reveal one of the theme words. These are the words I used to get those hints but any words of four or more letters that you find will work:
- POND, NOON, NODE, BALE, SOCK, LOVE, LOCK, MOCK, LEER, REEL, GLOVE, DAIS, LEAN, LEAD, REEL
Answers for today’s Strands puzzle
These are the answers that tie into the theme. The goal of the puzzle is to find them all, including the spangram, a theme word that reaches from one side of the puzzle to the other. When you have all of them (I originally thought there were always eight but learned that the number can vary), every letter on the board will be used. Here are the nonspangram answers:
- AZALEA, HEMLOCK, FOXGLOVE, OLEANDER, BELLADONNA
Today’s Strands spangram
Today’s Strands spangram is POISONOUS. To find it, look for the P that is the first letter on the far left of the top row, and wind down and across.
Technologies
Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Oct. 23, #395
Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Oct. 23, No. 395.
Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.
Today’s Connections: Sports Edition has one of those crazy purple categories, where you wonder if anyone saw the connection, or if people just put that grouping together because only those four words were left. If you’re struggling but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.
Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t show up in the NYT Games app but appears in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.
Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta
Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.
Yellow group hint: Fan noise.
Green group hint: Strategies for hoops.
Blue group hint: Minor league.
Purple group hint: Look for a connection to hoops.
Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups
Yellow group: Sounds from the crowd.
Green group: Basketball offenses.
Blue group: Triple-A baseball teams.
Purple group: Ends with a basketball stat.
Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words
What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?
The yellow words in today’s Connections
The theme is sounds from the crowd. The four answers are boo, cheer, clap and whistle.
The green words in today’s Connections
The theme is basketball offenses. The four answers are motion, pick and roll, Princeton and triangle.
The blue words in today’s Connections
The theme is triple-A baseball teams. The four answers are Aces, Jumbo Shrimp, Sounds and Storm Chasers.
The purple words in today’s Connections
The theme is ends with a basketball stat. The four answers are afoul, bassist, counterpoint and sunblock.
Technologies
Amazon’s Delivery Drivers Will Soon Wear AI Smart Glasses to Work
The goal is to streamline the delivery process while keeping drivers safe.
Amazon announced on Wednesday that it is developing new AI-powered smart glasses to simplify the delivery experience for its drivers. CNET smart glasses expert Scott Stein mentioned this wearable rollout last month, and now the plan is in its final testing stages.
The goal is to simplify package delivery by reducing the need for drivers to look at their phones, the label on the package they’re delivering and their surroundings to find the correct address.
Don’t miss any of our unbiased tech content and lab-based reviews. Add CNET as a preferred Google source.
A heads-up display will activate as soon as the driver parks, pointing out potential hazards and tasks that must be completed. From there, drivers can locate and scan packages, follow turn-by-turn directions and snap a photograph to prove delivery completion without needing to take out their phone.
The company is testing the glasses in select North American markets.
Watch: See our Instagram post with a video showing the glasses
A representative for Amazon didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
To fight battery drain, the glasses pair with a controller attached to the employee’s delivery vest, allowing them to replace depleted batteries and access operational controls. The glasses will support an employee’s eyeglass prescription. An emergency button will be within reach to ensure the driver’s safety.
Amazon is already planning future versions of the glasses, which will feature «real-time defect detection,» notifying the driver if a package was delivered to the incorrect address. They plan to add features to the glasses to detect if pets are in the yard and adjust to low light.
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