Apple has unveiled iOS 26, its most significant redesign since iOS 7. The all-new ‘Liquid Glass’ UI delivers a visually stunning and expressive experience, while preserving the intuitive familiarity users expect.
This release introduces Apple Intelligence, seamlessly woven throughout the system and engineered with privacy at its core. Major enhancements to Phone and Messages focus on staying connected and minimizing distractions like spam calls. iOS 26 also brings powerful updates to CarPlay, Apple Music, Maps, and Wallet, along with the debut of Apple Games.
New look
iOS has introduced a new design featuring Liquid Glass, a translucent material that reflects and refracts its surroundings, enhancing app and system experiences while maintaining familiarity. The design extends to the Home Screen and Lock Screen, making them more personal and expressive. Liquid Glass also offers new customization options for app icons and widgets, including a clear look.
The Lock Screen features fluid time adaptation and 3D spatial scenes for wallpapers. The updated design elements include a simplified Camera layout, separate tabs for Library and Collections views, and a redesigned tab bar in Apple Music, News, and Podcasts. Developers can now access Liquid Glass materials and components to create dynamic and delightful apps.
New Apple Intelligence capabilities
Apple Intelligence has enhanced the iPhone experience, enhancing communication and screen usage. Live Translation is integrated into Messages, FaceTime, and Phone, enabling users to communicate across languages. Visual intelligence extends to the iPhone screen, allowing users to search and take action on content across apps.
ChatGPT questions can be used to learn more about onscreen content, while visual intelligence suggests adding events to calendars. Genmoji and Image Playground allow users to express themselves by mixing emojis, Genmoji, and descriptions. Apple Intelligence also enhances shortcuts, enabling users to tap into intelligent actions for features like Writing Tools and Image Playground.
Apple Intelligence now provides users with order tracking details and progress notifications from merchants and delivery carriers’ emails, even for non-Apple Pay purchases. The Foundation Models framework allows apps to access the on-device foundation model, providing developers with fast, privacy-focused, and offline AI inference, all free of cost.
The iPhone app now features a unified layout that combines Favorites, Recents, and Voicemails. Call Screening eliminates interruptions by gathering caller information and providing users with details to decide whether to pick up or ignore a call. Hold Assist notifies users when a live agent is available. Users can screen messages from unknown senders, allowing them to mark known senders, ask for more information, or delete them. iOS 26 also enhances conversations with custom backgrounds, polls, and Image Playground. In group chats, users can see typing indicators and request, send, and receive Apple Cash.
Additional features
Apple Games is a new app that provides an all-in-one destination for players to enjoy their favorite games, find their next favorite, and have more fun with friends. It also offers Apple Arcade, Apple’s game subscription service with over 200 award-winning and highly rated games for the whole family. AirPods 4 and 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) have new features, allowing users to record content with great sound quality and enjoy clearer calls. The camera remote allows users to take photos or start and stop video recordings on iPhone or iPad.
Parents can now create or move kids into Child Accounts more easily, taking advantage of a wide set of parental controls designed to keep children safe. Enhancements across Communication Limits, Communication Safety, and the App Store include parental approvals for contact requests from kids, blurring out sensitive content in FaceTime calls and photos, and enabling parents to grant exceptions for their child to download apps with an age rating exceeding their set content restriction.
Browsing in Safari gets even more private with advanced fingerprinting protection extending to all browsing by default. Powerful accessibility features include Accessibility Reader and Braille Access, as well as updates to Live Listen, Background Sounds, and Personal Voice.
Apple’s upcoming iOS 26 update is expected to include a feature that detects phone sex over FaceTime. The feature will pause the camera and display a warning screen stating that the user may be showing sensitive content. If uncomfortable, the call should be ended. The update is a security feature, but some online users are concerned about Apple knowing when they’re being naughty. While Apple hasn’t commented on the rumor, beta testers have seen it in action. The “Sensitive Content Warning” can be turned on or off in the device’s settings, but there are conflicting reports about whether the default is on or off.
iPhones that can run on iOS 26
- iPhone 16e
- iPhone 16
- iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro
- iPhone 16 Pro Max
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (2nd generation and later)
iPhones that can’t run iOS 26
The iPhones that will not be able to run on the new update are X, XS, XR and XS Max. All other iPhones released before this date also can’t run iOS 26.
Apple’s iOS 26 is coming in September, the exact date is unknown at the moment. For now, the iOS 26 public beta is available through the Apple Beta Software Program at beta.apple.com.
