iOS 26! It appears like simply final yr we have been right here discussing iOS 18. How time flies.
After a yr that noticed the debut of Apple Intelligence and the following controversy over the options that it didn’t handle to ship, Apple appears to have taken a unique tack with iOS 26. Along with the expansive new Liquid Glass design that spans all of its platforms, Apple has largely targeted on smaller, “high quality of life” enhancements moderately than marquee new options. That’s not a nasty factor, both—these are sometimes the sorts of issues that Apple does greatest, and which really make a significant impression on the lives of their prospects: saving them time ready on maintain on the cellphone, serving to them keep away from coping with spam, and enhancing their driving options.
It’s additionally value noting that, with only a few exceptions, all the iOS 26 options that Apple demoed throughout its WWDC keynote this yr can be found, proper now, within the public beta. The exceptions embody the digital ID characteristic in Pockets that makes use of data out of your passport and the age score/content material restriction updates within the App Retailer. That’s it. Every thing else has been there for the reason that earliest beta builds.
I’ve spent the previous couple of weeks working these preliminary developer betas of iOS 26 so that you don’t need to. As the general public beta arrives, you might be tempted to dive in, so permit me to run down the most important adjustments to your cellphone. And, as per our common reminder, that is the beta interval, so all the pieces continues to be topic to vary and the ultimate model, when it arrives this fall, would possibly look or work otherwise from the best way it does at this time.
With that disclaimer out of the best way, let’s check out what would possibly persuade you to make the leap.
Liquid Glass half-full
Apple’s new design language, dubbed Liquid Glass, applies throughout all their platforms, however unsurprisingly, it feels most at house on the iPhone and iPad. That’s partly due to the contact interface; the literal hands-on nature makes the texture responsive and extra like bodily issues that you just’re interacting with. For instance, dragging the brand new magnifying loupe throughout the display screen, watching the best way it magnifies and distorts textual content and pictures because it passes over them—this interplay has at all times been distinctive to iOS for sensible causes, however the best way it feels right here doesn’t have a direct analogue on different platforms.
Controls now overlay content material moderately than sitting in designated toolbars or areas of the display screen reserved for these controls, and are rendered in clear glass that refracts and distorts the colours of no matter passes behind it. That’s spectacular but in addition, at occasions, distracting: generally you see a distortion of textual content from what you’re studying throughout the UI, which is odd. Or, when scrolling previous content material that goes abruptly from mild to darkish, the buttons would possibly equally flip look from, say, black icons to white icons in a manner that may really feel jarring.
App icons are inbuilt clear layers; apparently, if builders adopted the design adjustments to higher assist iOS 18’s “tinted” theme, their icons already get a number of the advantages baked in. That tinted theme has been expanded with each mild and darkish choices and there’s additionally a brand new clear theme that turns all of your app icons ghostly, which is an effective way of testing your muscle reminiscence for the place you place your apps. I’m unsure it’s for me—all the pieces appears to be like a bit too same-y—however it’s undoubtedly a glance, and I’m equally sure there will probably be people who find it irresistible.
The Liquid Glass design has undergone maybe probably the most substantial tweaks through the beta interval to this point. However these adjustments have been sort of far and wide. At occasions, Apple has appeared to dial again the transparency in an effort assist legibility of UI controls, however in probably the most not too long ago construct, the corporate appears to have ramped the transparency again up, as soon as once more on the expense of readability. The problem of design is discovering issues that each look and work nice, and the corporate appears to be persevering with to wrestle with that steadiness through the beta interval.
The redesign is greater than pores and skin deep, nonetheless. Apple has rethought the best way a few of its most elementary interactions work. For instance, the more and more lengthy horizontal popover menus that hid choices behind an interminable scroll have morphed right into a dual-stage design. Tapping and holding on the display screen brings up a popover with just a few frequent choices, but it surely now doesn’t make you scroll; as a substitute, there’s an arrow indicating extra choices. Faucet that, and also you’ll get an enormous pop-up panel of all of the obtainable instructions in a a lot simpler to learn and use format. As somebody who incessantly finds himself swiping by way of a really lengthy record to search out the one command I would like (and by some means, it’s at all times the final one), it is a tangible enchancment.
It might be good if that first menu have been extra customizable, although. For instance, I can think about somebody who’d need Translate or Communicate larger up. And though the menu varies from app to app, a number of the organizational decisions are puzzling. Within the Safari screenshot above, I’m unsure why Writing Instruments is seen. In spite of everything, I’m taking a look at uneditable textual content on an internet web page. Am I rewriting the online now? This feels much less like a characteristic targeted on person wants and extra like a reflexive promotion for Apple’s AI instruments.
Different system-level options have been expanded as effectively. For instance, when you used to have the ability to swipe from the left aspect of the display screen to return or up a degree in a hierarchy, that gesture now works wherever on the show, making it each extra discoverable and simpler to make use of.
As with all change this sweeping, it’s at all times going to take a while to regulate. There are some who will decry it as change for change’s sake, however as undesirable as that is perhaps, the countervailing argument is that you just shouldn’t preserve issues the identical simply because it’s the best way you’ve at all times performed them. My expertise with Liquid Glass has had its ups and downs, with interactions that really feel each fascinating and dynamic to those who are downright irritating.
Lock step
After the previous couple of years of Lock Display customization choices, this yr’s additions are extra muted, and principally in keeping with updating the search for Liquid Glass.
The largest addition—actually—is the brand new clock, which may broaden to suit the empty house in your display screen. When you’ve got a rotating set of lock display screen pictures, it is going to dynamically modify for each, attempting to not obscure individuals’s faces; when you can manually modify the dimensions of the clock within the lock display screen customization display screen, it appears as if it nonetheless alters dynamically, so I’m not completely certain of the purpose of that train.
I’m additionally joyful to say that one in all my favourite options of final yr—the rainbow-hued clock obtainable in some lock display screen types, like Reside Photograph—nonetheless exists—you simply have to vary the clock fashion to stable moderately than glass so as to see it. There’s additionally an choice to maneuver the widgets that used to take a seat under the clock all the best way to the underside of the display screen, proper above the notification stack, in order to not block the topic of your photograph. I sort of choose this location—I discover it simpler to faucet a widget and open the app if I would like, and I discover the info from them don’t get as misplaced. (I used to be, nonetheless, in a position to overlay the widgets on the clock, which appears like a bug.)
Your Lock Display pictures themselves can be extra dynamic now, with the addition of spatial scenes. That’s a characteristic imported from the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional the place iOS will apply a three-dimensional impact to a picture, animating depth as you progress the cellphone round. How efficient that’s varies from photograph to photograph, though it feels much less compelling right here than viewing true spatial scenes seen on a Imaginative and prescient Professional; the animation of the spatial variations are generally a bit jerky, and a few individuals with movement sensitivity would possibly discover them off-putting. Apple’s making an attempt to determine what makes a “good” spatial scene and no matter system is making that willpower might be hit and miss.
Talking of photographs that transfer, the lock display screen additionally now has an animated paintings choice for music apps—word that I mentioned “apps” not “the Music app” because it’s an API obtainable to builders of third-party apps. However it is going to want adoption from the producers of albums so as to take full impact. When it reveals up, it takes over the complete lock display screen moderately than being constrained inside a bit album sq.. It’s an fascinating method, though one that you could be not discover relying on how usually you really go to the lock display screen whereas music is enjoying. So, whereas it’s a cool thought, I’m unsure it does a lot for me. Perhaps it’s time to fee some animated paintings for the Six Colours podcast?
Level and shoot
I’d enterprise a guess that Digicam is probably the most used on the iPhone, although I’ve received no actual numbers to again that up. However given the period of time Apple has spent upgrading the digital camera {hardware} on the iPhone through the years, I really feel fairly assured in my evaluation.
Because of this, redesigning the Digicam app—scorching on the heels of final yr’s redesign of Images—is a daring selection. But it surely’s not stunning that the corporate’s alterations listed below are targeted on the minimal, reinforcing the best way that most individuals already use the app. (And if anyone’s received the metrics to know how individuals use its apps, it’s clearly Apple.)
For instance, controls for extra superior options like aperture, publicity, and photographic types are actually buried in a separate menu, obtainable by tapping a button on the prime of the display screen or by swiping up from the underside. On condition that I’ve undoubtedly ended up in these controls by chance through the years—and I think I’m not alone—that’s not a nasty factor.
Likewise, what was once an at occasions overwhelming carousel of modes—panorama, portrait, photograph, video, slo-mo, time lapse, and so on.—has now been visually lowered, by default, to only the 2 hottest: photograph and video. The others are nonetheless there when you scroll left or proper, however you’re much less more likely to by chance end up taking pictures spatial video at a decrease decision whenever you don’t imply to. Equally, these decision and format decisions are additionally now squirreled away behind a separate button, there when you want them with out being omnipresent.
The redesign displays the truth that most individuals wish to get in, snap an image or shoot a video, and get out. To not point out that Apple has spent numerous time designing its telephones in order that they take nice pictures with out having to tweak these particulars. These superior options are nonetheless there—and, arguably, extra accessible utilizing one thing just like the Digicam Management button on the most recent iPhones—and for many who lengthy for greater than Apple’s Digicam app gives, there are an assortment of common and highly effective third-party digital camera apps to fill within the gaps.
The counterargument, in fact, is that by hiding these options away, they’re much less discoverable. That is the everlasting battle in interfaces, particularly in someplace as constrained as an iPhone display screen. In different places, Apple has performed its half to pop up hints about options you won’t see at first look, together with right here within the Digicam app. Personally, I feel this redesign walks a stable line—the brand new interface just isn’t so totally different from the previous that I had any bother with it, and I recognize that there are fewer distractions.
There are additionally a few AirPods-related options in Digicam: first, when you’ve received the most recent fashions with H2 chips, the microphones ought to be improved. Apple touts them as “studio high quality”, a meaningless qualifier that would imply something from “appropriate for a recording studio” to “you should use these in your studio residence,” however no less than it doesn’t sound such as you’re in a wind tunnel anymore. In one in all my check calls, my spouse was genuinely impressed once I requested, on the finish, how I’d sounded. “I wouldn’t have identified you have been in your AirPods when you hadn’t advised me.”
And now you can use the AirPods’s stem controls to take an image or begin recording a video: useful for individuals utilizing a selfie stick or tripod, and even only a fast strategy to snap a gaggle photograph (so long as you don’t thoughts having an AirPod in your ear in mentioned photograph). Keep in mind, it is a characteristic you’ll need to activate in Settings below your AirPods, although it does allow you to select between a easy press or a press-and-hold.
Calling playing cards
An replace to the Telephone app? Are we certain iOS 26 doesn’t stand for 1926? Folks knock the Telephone app, however, effectively, I nonetheless make cellphone calls. Along with a few useful options, there are additionally some substantial design adjustments afoot.
A redesign strikes once more! The brand new Unified view pins your favorites to the highest, then reveals you your latest calls, missed calls, and voicemails all in a single very lengthy record on the Calls tab, with separate tabs for Contacts and the Keypad. Some won’t look after this method, however I discover it sort of a no brainer. It did encourage me to pare my Favorites record down a bit to the one line of individuals I really name in addition to lastly replace their contact photos to the newer poster format. I don’t thoughts having voicemails combined in; I don’t get very many. However when you hate this new interface, don’t fear: Apple will allow you to change again.
Unquestionably good is the brand new set of Filtering options obtainable within the menu on the prime proper. By default, this contains choices to view simply Missed calls or Voicemails, however there’s additionally now, reward the heavens, a Spam part for calls which can be acknowledged as such. Apple’s utilizing a mix of provider tagging (these calls that you just’ve seen flagged as “Spam Danger”) and its personal evaluation. You’ll be able to manually mark a name as spam by swiping left on it in your recents record and selecting Block and Report Spam.
The true problem, as at all times, is the calls that fall in between your contacts and out-and-out spam. For this there’s the brand new Display Unknown Callers characteristic. You would possibly do not forget that Apple beforehand added a Silence Unknown Callers characteristic in iOS 13 that will mute calls from numbers that weren’t acknowledged—with the problem that when you received a name from a physician’s workplace, tradesperson, and even meals supply, you won’t see it. That was adopted by Reside Voicemail in iOS 17, which helped mitigate the problem, however Display Unknown Callers goes a step additional: when activated, which you are able to do within the Telephone app or in Settings > Telephone, callers not in your contacts will probably be requested to supply extra data earlier than the decision rings by way of. You may as well select to go away unknown calls completely silence, or flip screening off completely to have all calls ring your cellphone.
There’s a separate however related characteristic in iOS 26 known as Name Filtering. When you flip this on, you’ll see an Unknown Callers class within the filter record in Telephone, not dissimilar from the Messages filters which have existed for just a few variations. From there, you’ll be able to select to mark the numbers as identified, at which level they’ll ring by way of—with out having to be added to your contact record, which is good. Nevertheless, I’m unsure how you progress a quantity again to “unknown” when you by chance mark it as identified—you’ll be able to delete it from the record or block it, however I’m unsure what to do if you wish to merely transfer it again to the “Unknown Callers” part. You may as well select to have calls detected as spam by your provider merely not ring in any respect, which looks as if an actual no-brainer.
Total, I’ve received combined emotions in regards to the Display Unknown Callers characteristic. On the one hand, it is going to undeniably assist weed out potentialy spam calls. On the opposite, some a part of my upbringing feels embarrassed about the concept somebody—particularly a possible underpaid individual in a service trade—goes to need to justify their name to a robotic. I’ve gotten calls from AI assistants from my dentist workplace not too long ago, and albeit…I simply hold up. I’m not going to spend my time chatting with a pc, and I don’t blame anyone else for feeling the identical. That mentioned, I’ve turned it on, although I haven’t really seen it in use but.
Alongside related traces, Apple’s additionally added a characteristic known as Maintain Help that automates the oft-annoying activity of ready on maintain. I did get an opportunity to do that out, and it labored tremendous apart from one caveat. The concept behind the characteristic is that whenever you’re placed on maintain with some tacky maintain music or deafening silence, you’ll be able to set off this characteristic and be notified when someone comes again on the road.
In my expertise, nonetheless, one drawback I encountered was that it registered the occasional recorded messaged whereas I used to be on maintain with the Massachusetts Division of Income—”Your name is necessary to us!” or “Do you know you’ll be able to go to our web site?”—as a human coming again, and notified me, leaving me to scramble for the cellphone solely to search out that I wasn’t speaking to a reside individual in spite of everything. My understanding is the characteristic ought to be capable to distinguish between an everyday recorded message and a human, however that was not my expertise in one of many earlier betas—I haven’t but had an opportunity to place the characteristic by way of its paces within the newer builds.
Simply searching
Whereas Safari could not have gotten fairly the expansive overhaul of a few of Apple’s different built-in apps this yr, it’s nonetheless value mentioning, if solely as a result of, like Digicam, it stays one of the used apps on iOS.
Apple’s taken a wide range of stabs at UI minimalism in Safari through the years, each on iOS and macOS. Usually these first, extra substantial adjustments, get dialed again. In iOS 26, these adjustments aren’t fairly as radical, however they’re greater than only a coat of Liquid Glass. Gone is the longstanding toolbar with its again/ahead arrows, Share icon, bookmarks, and tab menus beneath a location bar. As a replacement, by default, is a extra lowered UI with a again button, location bar, and now seemingly ubiquitous “Extra” button denoted with three dots.
You’ll discover lots of the earlier controls below that Extra button, together with each bookmark and tab administration, in addition to Share. However some controls are nonetheless accessed by tapping on the icon within the location bar—together with Reader mode, if obtainable, translation, extension administration, and so forth—and others are as a substitute squirreled away below a protracted press on the placement bar, together with closing tabs, tab teams, and…one other Share button. The button so good they included it twice!
As with the Telephone app you’ll be able to, when you so want, revert again to traditional Safari—both with the placement bar on the prime or backside. In just a few weeks of utilization, I’ve elected to stick with Apple’s new design, although I nonetheless wrestle to recollect whether or not the management I would like is accessed through location bar or Extra button. Or…each? At the very least some frequent gestures, like swiping left and proper on the placement bars to modify tabs or flicking upwards on the URL to see your tab overview, have remained.
I by no means actually felt just like the previous toolbar fashion was getting in the best way of my content material, so I’m unsure if this modification is something however an try to combine issues up. I’ve largely gotten used to the look, although at occasions the results of a non-uniform web site background on Liquid Glass can result in disparate results like one pop-up menu being a lightweight shade whereas one other is darkish.
Past the design adjustments, most of Safari’s different updates are below the hood. Builders of net extensions don’t want to make use of Xcode or perhaps a Mac anymore; they’ll simply add their extensions to the App Retailer in a ZIP file. Hopefully that’s one other step nearer to having the ability to convey a number of the myriad of extensions on the market to Safari. And any net web page might be opened as a full net app from the house display screen now, moderately than simply basically being a bookmark.
Let’s get visible…visible
Apple Intelligence could have been the massive information in iOS 18, however this yr its new options are considerably extra muted. Whereas these capabilities that didn’t find yourself transport in 2025—Private Context and a better Siri amongst them—are nonetheless anticipated to reach sooner or later, Apple has with this launch targeted on some smaller capabilities, like integrating ChatGPT into Picture Playground, the flexibility to mix two emoji in Genmoji, and summaries of voicemails. It’s additionally introduced again summaries for notifications with extra granular controls over what sorts of apps you need it to use to—plus extra stringent warnings about the truth that mentioned notifications could also be inaccurate, which actually raises questions on whether or not they’re helpful.
Maybe probably the most important of those Apple Intelligence-powered options in iOS 26, although, is an growth of the Visible Intelligence characteristic launched final yr. As a substitute of being confined to photos taken with the digital camera, Visible Intelligence in iOS 26 now gives the identical capabilities with screenshots. In reality, the characteristic is constructed proper into the prevailing screenshot interface, so now everytime you squeeze the sleep/wake button and quantity up button to take an image of what’s in your display screen, you’ll seen two new controls on the backside: Ask and Picture Search.
The previous helps you to ask ChatGPT questions in regards to the picture, whereas the latter brings up Google outcomes. You’ll be able to even spotlight a portion of the picture by working your finger over it when you solely wish to search on a subset of the image. It’s a shot over the bow of Google’s longstanding Lens characteristic, with a touch of AI thrown in. I’ve barely used Visible Intelligence on my iPhone 16 Professional since its debut; I’m unsure if screenshot integration is sufficient to get me to vary my methods, but it surely does open up some new prospects for extracting data out of your display screen, in the identical manner that Reside Textual content has performed.
Talking of Reside Textual content, in case solutions from two totally different tech giants aren’t sufficient, Apple can also be utilizing a little bit of that very same machine studying know-how to tug out related particulars from the picture, whether or not it’s a URL or a calendar occasion and current them in a bit floating lozenge on the backside of the display screen. That may be useful, although it’s additionally on the whims of no matter data is captured within the screenshot.
It’s a little odd that Visible Intelligence is obtainable in two totally different locations with two totally different interfaces, however given there’s a distinction between screenshots and taking pictures, maybe that’s not as jarring as appears at first blush.
Fine details
As with all main platform replace, there’s merely an excessive amount of to cowl completely all the pieces. Right here, then, are just a few different options that I’ve observed in my time with the iOS 26 beta.
The Battery part of Settings has been redone, offering a fast look at whenever you final charged or, in case your cellphone is plugged in, how lengthy till it’s charged. The primary graph now your battery utilization to your common day by day utilization—together with within the app-by-app breakdown—moderately than offering the considerably much less helpful hour-over-hour view. There’s additionally a brand new Adaptive Energy mode that supposedly helps lengthen battery life when you’re utilizing greater than common by firming down some issues like show brightness.
As on the iPad, you’ll be able to document your audio regionally on the iPhone with the brand new Native Seize characteristic, whether or not it’s through the built-in mic, AirPods, or a USB-C microphone (to not point out a brand new audio enter picker that allows you to select which mic you wish to use). Whereas it nonetheless wants controls for audio enter quantity—some mics, together with my ATR-2100x, which I’d be probably to make use of with this characteristic, are distorted as a result of they’re just too loud—this does make it possible to document a podcast in your iPhone. I actually by no means thought I’d see the day, but it surely’s right here.
Notes could not assist writing in native Markdown, but it surely does now allow you to export a word into the format. That features any photographs that you just’ve embedded within the word, which is useful. Regardless of being a Markdown fan, I’m unsure I’m doubtless to make use of this characteristic…I like Markdown as a result of I wish to write in it for the online, not need to take the additional step to export. But it surely’s good that there’s no less than a simple and accessible strategy to get your information out of the Notes app.
The Passwords app provides a historical past of adjustments you’ve made to passwords (solely, in fact, for adjustments since putting in iOS 26). That’s a pleasant characteristic as a result of I’ve undoubtedly ended up not realizing I’ve already received a password after which reset it. In reality, in one in all my favourite strikes, it is going to even let you know when it created a password for a web site, even when that password could not have really gotten submitted—one thing that’s occurred to me quite a lot of occasions.
Keep in mind how even iTunes had the flexibility to crossfade between songs possibly twenty years in the past? Properly, Music‘s new AutoMix characteristic takes that to eleven by attempting to truly discover the proper DJ-style second to segue into the following music. In my expertise it does work, however it’s undoubtedly sort of trippy. You may as well pin favorites to the highest of your library, whether or not it’s a music, album, playlist, or artist.
Can’t bear in mind the title of that café you stopped at in your most up-to-date highway journey? In case you choose into the brand new Visited Locations characteristic in Maps, you’ll be able to search or scroll by way of locations you visited—even by class or metropolis. All the knowledge is saved privately and securely, so no person else can see it, not even Apple, and you’ll simply take away objects from the record (or appropriate inaccurate ones). It’s additionally an effective way to retroactively construct a information of locations for a visit you’ve taken. There’s additionally a Most popular Routes characteristic that supposedly learns about the way you make common journeys, however as somebody who works from house, I don’t count on to get an excessive amount of use out of this.
I don’t usually use alarms, so an adjustable snooze time within the Clock app doesn’t actually do a lot for me, however I do know some individuals will probably be excited, so right here you go. Nevertheless, this does include one interface criticism in regards to the alarm display screen, which now has equally sized Cease and Snooze buttons, resulting in the opportunity of sleep-addled individuals hitting the flawed button. Right here’s hoping a future beta considers that and possibly makes some tweaks.
I do, nonetheless, order numerous stuff on the web so I’m fascinated to see how Pockets‘s new Apple Intelligence-powered monitoring of orders works. There have lengthy been common third-party apps that deal with bringing all of your orders and shipments into one spot, but when this actually can do all of it routinely, that’s well worth the worth of admission for me. You may as well see this pop up in Mail, the place a banner will let you know that it’s detected a cargo and immediate you so as to add it to Pockets.
Hallelujah, now you can choose the textual content inside a bubble in Messages. I do know it’s not the flashiest enchancment, but it surely’s at all times appeared absurd that this was an all-or-nothing proposition. I imply, you’ll be able to copy just a few textual content out of an picture today, for heaven’s sake. A small however very significant enchancment.
Final, however hardly least, CarPlay will get a handful of latest options, together with the brand new Liquid Glass design, a smaller name notification, tapbacks in Messages, and Widgets. I actually wish to like widgets however two issues maintain me again: first, my CarPlay display screen could be very small and may solely present one widget directly, and second, I’ve struggled to determine which widgets are literally helpful whereas I’m driving. More often than not I actually do exactly need my map and no matter media is enjoying. Perhaps on an even bigger display screen they’d be extra compelling. I’m a bit fearful that tapbacks will encourage individuals to work together with the screens an excessive amount of, however no less than it’s a fast motion and never, say, typing out a reply.
Even in what looks as if a modest replace, there’s far more in iOS 26 than I can undergo right here. And because the beta interval progresses, it is going to be fascinating to see how the pondering on main parts just like the design proceed to evolve and alter. Apple’s already proven that it’s receptive to suggestions, and whereas not each grievance or criticism that individuals have is more likely to end in a change, you by no means know. There’s loads to dig into over the following few months earlier than this fall’s launch, so if you wish to give it a shot, the general public beta is on the market and ready for you.
[Dan Moren is the East Coast Bureau Chief of Six Colors. You can find him on Mastodon at @dmoren@zeppelin.flights or reach him by email at dan@sixcolors.com. His latest novel, the sci-fi spy thriller The Armageddon Protocol, is out now.]
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