iOS 26.4 seems like a small update, but Apple is making two important upgrades that better protect your messages and your iPhone.
With iOS 26.4, your iPhone becomes much more secure (because of these two improvements)
Apple has released several betas of iOS 26.4 lately. And although the major Siri upgrades will have to wait a while, there is good news for your privacy and security. There are improvements in iOS 26.4 to send safer messages to Android users and extra protection against iPhone theft.
Better encryption for Messages
For starters, RCS has been given more features. This makes messages more secure between Android and Apple users through end-to-end encryption. This allows only you and the recipient to read the contents of the message. The message will then also be accompanied by ‘RCS’.
RCS is the modern successor to SMS and adds several functions. These are things like read receipts. But that (and more) has been there since iOS 18. There will be some new features in the future, such as editing messages and specific responses (as a kind of thread). But it is not yet certain when those functions will come.
The long-awaited RCS end-to-end encryption feature will not be available as part of iOS 26.4. So it is only included in the beta version for testing purposes. Apple says the feature will be available in a future iOS 26 update.
It is true that no Dutch provider currently supports this form of RCS encryption. The function is available with a number of providers in Belgium and Germany, among others. It remains to be seen when the support will also come to the Netherlands.
Update for ‘Stolen Device Protection’
The second security feature is one that you will hopefully never need, but it is extremely useful. ‘Stolen device protection’ is now enabled by default (on most iPhones).
This feature was created to thwart thieves who first read your passcode and then steal your iPhone. This feature allows you to change important security settings, such as your Apple account password or passcode, using Face ID or Touch ID only. In addition, there is a one-hour security delay on critical changes, so you have time to mark your iPhone as stolen.
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