iOS 15.4 coming next week

As it became known, the latest operating system for the iPhone will be available next week. iOS 15.4 will include the ability to unlock your iPhone using masked face recognition, among other additions. We expect this to be the last major OS update before iOS 16.

The iOS 15.4 beta came out in January, giving us a sneak peek at the new features. Apple didn’t give a specific release date for the OS, but it did say yesterday that the new green iPhone 13 and iPhone 13 Pro will ship with iOS 15.4 and be available on March 18.

iOS 15.4 will let you unlock your phone with Face ID while wearing a mask. This feature works by focusing on your eyes and you can use it with glasses (but not sunglasses). It also works for logging into apps and using Apple Pay. If your phone’s camera requires a full view of your face to log in, this is still the most secure way to ensure Face ID isn’t spoofed, but being able to use your phone without removing your mask is more convenient.

Apple’s latest version of iOS should also include more emoji. With new emojis and colorful characters, the total number of characters increased to 838, and in September the Unicode Consortium finalized them to version 14.0. New additions include Heart Hands, Corals, Biting Lips, Melting Face, Liquid Pouring, Dead Battery, Pregnant Man, and Pregnant Man.

Other features being rolled out include a new English voice for Siri and, as detailed by The Verge, Apple Tap to Pay and a notification informing you if someone is using Apple AirTag to unknowingly track you.

iOS 15.4 is expected to debut alongside iPad OS 15.4 and macOS 12.3.