iOS 14.4 is now available: What’s new?

Apple has released iOS 14.4 and iPadOS 14.4 which includes several bug fixes and couple of new features. This update takes around 400MB if you are moving from iOS 14.3

This update is available on,

iPhone 6s and later
iPhone SE (1st generation) and iPhone SE (2nd generation)
iPod touch (7th generation)

iOS 14.4 comes with following features

Scanning small QR codes

You might wonder whether this is a new feature, as you may already know that iPhone camera app came with QR code reading for years. But this time, iPhone stock camera has the ability to read smaller QR codes.

Bluetooth Device Type

With iOS 14.2, Apple released a new feature called “Headphone Safety” which automatically reduce the sound, if they are louder more than recommended. But people have complained that they experience automatic volume reducing even in non-headphone devices like when they are in a car for an example. However, iOS 14.4 allows the user to specify the type of a Bluetooth device which prevent this from happening. This setting is accessible by heading to Bluetooth > Accessory (Tapping the “i” icon). However, you won’t have to manually set the device type for Apple devices like AirPods Pro, as they are already configured

HomePod mini hand-off feature

This new hand-off feature enables the option to transfer music just by bringing iPhone near to a HomePod mini with HomePod OS 14.4. However this requires a U1 equipped iPhone. iPhone 11 and later iPhones come with a U1 ultra-wideband chip.

When iPhone detects a HomePod mini, a popup comes with haptic feedback and when bringing the iPhone closer to HomePod mini, the haptic feedback gets faster until it transfers the music to the HomePod mini. Upon transferring, the popup toggles to a full screen with playback options.