Against noise: iOS 16.4 enables better phone calls

With iOS 16.4, Apple is offering a noise filter for phone calls for the first time. The “Voice Isolation” feature, which can filter out annoying background noise, was previously only available with FaceTime calls and third-party apps.

The extension to telephone calls became known in the course of the publication of the release notes for the upcoming update of the iPhone operating system. On Tuesday evening, Apple made the so-called Release Candidate of iOS 16.4 available for download. The version, which was completed after a beta test phase lasting several weeks, was made available to registered developers and participants in the public beta. iOS 16.4 is expected to be rolled out to all users in the next few days.

What the function does

Voice isolation was introduced back in iOS 15 along with video effects. With the update, it will also be available for mobile phone calls in the future. The function is activated via the Control Center during a telephone call. There you can choose between three settings via the microphone mode. With “Voice Isolation”, the iPhone tries to focus the user’s voice and block out surrounding noises.

However, the wide-spectrum mode that is also offered is currently not available for cell phone calls. This mode achieves the opposite of voice isolation, treating surrounding noise equally and not filtering it out.

iOS 16.4 also brings many other new features like new emojis and notifications for web apps.

(mki)