Your iPhone is getting a big update come the fall with the release of iOS 26, the yearly refresh of Apple’s mobile operating system. Free for all iPhone owners with a supported device, iOS 26 signals a change to Apple’s naming convention and brings a fresh new look to your iPhone. Here’s everything you need to know.
What Happened to iOS 19?
You’d be forgiven for thinking that iOS 18 would naturally become iOS 19, but the next release will in fact be iOS 26. We just skipped five whole version numbers because Apple is standardizing its software version naming convention by moving to years instead.
For 2026, that’s iOS 26. The same naming convention will be used across all of Apple’s software releases going forward, which should make it easier to remember as long as you keep in mind that the iPhone released in 2025 will in fact be running the software release named after 2026 (which itself also releases in 2025).
iOS 26 Design
Front and center at Apple’s WWDC 2025 presentation was the announcement that the company is adopting a new design for iOS 26, the first major redesign since iOS 7. Apple uses the term “Liquid Glass” to describe the new look, which features lots of transparency and some neat-looking glass effects like light refraction.
The new look seamlessly adapts between light and dark, with icons and interface elements tinted using the customization options that Apple added last year in iOS 18. There’s also a new “clear” look mode for minimalists and anyone who wants their background image to take center stage. It looks fluid and impressive, though some commenters (and staff members at How-To Geek) have raised concerns about readability, particularly for lighter elements.
Apple says that the new look is only possible thanks to advancements in chip design, notably GPU power. How these effects will hold up on older devices remains to be seen. Thankfully the redesign goes beyond a simple reskin, as Apple also appears to have made things feel more functional across the operating system.
Redesigned on-screen elements float above content and shrink and grow as you scroll up and down. Apple noted that iOS 18 still leaned heavily on a design language that was left over from the days of rectangular screens and that the new approach emphasizes the rounded edges of modern iPhones.
Apple also showed off changes to the context menu that appears when you highlight text. iOS 26 no longer requires you to scroll horizontally to find features like text formatting controls, instead expanding the menu so that you can quickly pick what you’re looking for.
As is becoming a theme, the new look is unified across all devices. That means that the Mac gets it, as do other devices like the Apple Watch.
iOS 26 Features
In addition to a new look that will also change the way you use your iPhone, Apple will be rolling out several new features and changes to existing apps and services with iOS 26.
Improvements to the Lock & Home Screen
In keeping with the Liquid Glass aesthetic, the iOS 26 home screen has a new design. The clock now has a glassy look that reacts when you tilt your device, and it even conforms to the background image you choose, growing and shrinking in size. This happens when you scroll through your notifications too, with the focal point of your background image (like a face) moving and resizing the clock.
There’s a new pronounced 3D effect for “Spatial” background images, which gives more depth to 2D images and allows them to react to your movement. You can also tap on album art in the Now Playing widget that appears on your lock screen to view Apple Music album art in full-screen view (with animations for supported albums).
Apple also claims that things on the lock screen are more responsive (we’ll have to wait and see, but the move to 120Hz on the base iPhone 17 will likely have a far more pronounced effect here).
More Immersive Safari
Safari is an app that looks to benefit greatly from Apple’s new Liquid Glass design. Webpages now run edge to edge all of the time, as Apple finally does away with the boxy look of iOS 18 that cuts off the top and bottom of the content.
The tab bar at the bottom has been redesigned to now float above the content, shrinking as you scroll down and reappearing when you scroll up. Though you can still access the refresh button and website options buttons plus a back button, everything else is hidden under a “More” button for a cleaner look.
CarPlay Gets Overhauled
Apple has neglected CarPlay over the past few iOS releases, so it’s a relief to see things changing for the better in iOS 26. Most importantly, the bulk of the changes apply to all users—not just those with fancy new cars that support the new CarPlay Ultra interface (though there are improvements there too).
First, the glassy look is extended to CarPlay elements. This design decision has had some positive knock-on effects like a new smaller compact incoming call notification box that means you can take or reject calls without the whole display being occupied by the incoming call screen.
Messages in CarPlay get Tapbacks for quick reactions that don’t demand a huge amount of your attention, and your pinned conversations now appear in the Messages app on your car’s display just like they do on your iPhone (a long overdue feature).
CarPlay also gets widgets, and Apple says that these are the same widgets that are designed for use with the iPhone. On top of this, Apple is bringing Live Activities into your car to surface relevant information. Apple gave the example of a flight tracker, but it could extend to things like sports games or food deliveries.
All of these improvements are coming to the high-end CarPlay Ultra, which includes enhanced customization to layout and design in iOS 26.
Phone App Gets Call Screening and Hold Assist
A new Call Screening feature allows the iPhone to answer calls for you, learn who is calling and why, and then ring you while displaying a message explaining what the call is about, just like Live Voicemail does in iOS 18. The feature automatically kicks in for unknown callers and is designed to cut down on spam.
Along the same lines is a feature called Hold Assist, which silences hold music and lets you put your phone down for as long as you’re on hold. You’ll get a ring when the operator is ready to take your call. Apple even says you can put your phone away while this is happening.
The app also has a new unified view that was introduced as something you “can choose” by Darin Adler, Apple’s VP of Internet Technologies (perhaps Apple is learning from the Photos mistake). It includes floating tabs for Calls, Contacts, and Keypad and puts your favorite contacts at the top followed by a list of your recents (complete with voicemail messages you can play with a tap).
Changes to Messages
Like Call Screening, Messages gets its own spam-prevention feature in the form of the ability to screen unknown senders. Rather than cluttering up your conversation list, these messages will now appear in their own folder that’s accessible from a button in the top-right corner of the screen.
Apple says that time-sensitive messages, like table reservations and two-factor authentication codes, will still be delivered as normal. Everything else will be hidden from view, and won’t appear as a notification either.
iMessage conversations finally get customizable backgrounds, with Apple including its own dynamic options and also allowing you to choose your own or generate them yourself. These push to everyone in the conversation.
Apple is also adding polls to iMessage group conversations to settle multiple-choice questions, with anyone being able to add options. Apple Intelligence will even detect when a poll might be useful and suggest creating one.
Two small group chat enhancements include typing indicators and the ability to share Apple Cash with multiple people.
Visual Intelligence Is Finally Ready
While Visual Intelligence launched with the arrival of iOS 18.2, it only applied to things you point your camera at. In iOS 26, Apple is extending the feature to anything on your screen, which works a lot like Google’s Circle to Search feature on Android.
The feature uses the same combination of buttons that are used for screenshots (the Side button and volume up or down). You can then access it by tapping the new “Image Search” option in the bottom-right, or use your finger to highlight objects first to narrow down your search.
You’ll also get in-line context-appropriate suggestions, like an “Add to Calendar” button that appears beneath the screenshot when an event is detected in the frame. In the lower-right corner is a new “Ask” button for asking ChatGPT questions about what’s on-screen. All of this works with other apps, like Etsy or Pinterest, allowing you to narrow down your results.
And yes, the familiar screenshot tools are still right there at the top of the screen (phew).
A New Live Translation Feature
Another Apple Intelligence feature, Live Translation brings on-device translation features to Messages, Phone, and FaceTime. This works offline but requires an iPhone 15 Pro or later (it also works on the Apple Watch, when paired with a phone that supports Apple Intelligence).
In Messages, the feature can automatically translate to a language of your choosing as you type, with incoming messages translated back to your own tongue. FaceTime video calls show a live translation in text above what is being spoken, so you can hear the other person.
Regular phone calls go a step further and your iPhone speaks for you, translating your spoken words aloud (and back again). Since this takes place on your device, there’s no need for the other party to have an iPhone for this to work. There’s even a Live Translation API for developers to add the feature to their own calling apps.
As expected, the feature is limited in scope at launch. It’s currently restricted to Chinese (Simplified), English (UK, U.S.), French (France), German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain). Expect Apple to slowly roll out more languages, over time, usually in smaller iOS updates as has happened in the past.
Apple Fixed the Photos App (Kinda)
In Apple’s iOS 26 WWDC presentation, Craig Federighi remarked that “many of you missed using tabs in the Photos app,” which might be the understatement of the year. Thankfully, Apple is putting tabs back into the camera app for Library and Collections. While Library is a view of everything, Collections lets you quickly jump to your favorites, albums, and search.
Simplified Camera View
The Camera app has been slightly updated to feature a bigger viewfinder with greater emphasis on the basic Photo and Video modes (which are the only two mode buttons that appear on-screen all of the time). You can swipe left and right to reveal the other modes, like Slo-Mo and Portrait, or swipe up to access all of your other camera settings.
A New Games App
New for iOS 26 is a dedicated Games app, which sounds a lot like a redesigned Game Center (so let’s hope Apple doesn’t abandon it). The app is designed to make it easier to access and discover games, putting what you’re currently playing on the main screen along with a summary of what’s new. You’ll also get recommendations based on your tastes.
On top of this, there are tabs for Apple Arcade and a Library that brings every game installed on your iPhone into one place. Finally, the Play Together tab is designed to make gaming on your iPhone a more social experience allowing quick access to your friends so you can see what everyone is playing, compare scores, and send invites for a new challenge mode.
Apple Music Improvements
Apple Music gets its share of Live Translation features too, with the ability to translate lyrics automatically and subtitles to help you pronounce lyrics properly (the example Apple gave was the romanized pronunciation of Korean K-Pop lyrics).
Also new is Automix, a DJ feature that uses time-stretching and beat-matching to move from one song to the next. We’ll have to see how far this can be pushed, but it’s a neat idea. Lastly, the Music app now features more customization, with the ability to pin your favorite playlists, artists, and albums to the top of the Library tab.
Even More Changes
Smaller changes that are also worth noting include improvements to the FaceTime app with new floating UI elements that automatically hide, plus a new landing page to quickly access frequent contacts and video messages (which now auto-play).
Apple has updated Genmoji to let you combine two emojis into one and change things like expressions and hairstyles when using your contacts as source material. On a similar note, Image Playground has added support for ChatGPT-generated images plus new ChatGPT image styles. There’s also a new Image Playground API for developers to integrate into their own apps.
Maps now saves places you’ve been as Visited Places, so you can check your location history. Apple stressed that this is end-to-end encrypted and you can delete your history at any time. Maps also learns your preferred routes and offers them as suggestions, rather than just figuring out A to B in the most efficient way. You’ll get notifications if things like traffic are affecting your preferred route and likely to make you late.
Wallet is getting support for more car keys, more driving licenses (eventually), and a new Digital ID that doesn’t replace your passport but can be used to verify identity and age, and for U.S. domestic travel. Improved digital boarding passes allow you to quickly access maps for airport navigation, Find My for AirTags, and share flight status.
Lastly, you can use rewards when shopping online with Apple Pay and use points when paying in person. Apple has infused order tracking for Apple Pay purchases with Apple Intelligence, so you can see where packages are, all within the Wallet app.
iOS 26 Release Date
Apple hasn’t yet announced when iOS 26 will be available officially, but the past three releases have landed on September 12, 18, and 16. From this, we can infer that mid-September is a safe bet.
Before that, a public beta will be available for anyone to try. iOS 18’s public beta arrived on July 15, 2024. The developer beta is available right now, but it’s often unstable and lacking in many features (last year’s beta notably lacked Apple Intelligence features).
You’ll need to enroll with Apple Developer to get access to the developer preview. Once complete, head to Settings > General > Software Update and use the “Beta Updates” option to select “iOS 26 Developer Beta.”
iOS 26 Compatibility
iOS 26 will be compatible with the iPhone 11 and second-generation iPhone SE or later. You’ll need an iPhone 15 Pro or later for Apple Intelligence features. This year’s iOS release says goodbye to the iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max models.
The full list of supported devices is:
- iPhone 16e
- iPhone 16 and 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro and 16 Pro Max
- iPhone 15 and 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro and 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 14 and 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro and 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 13 and 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro and 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 12 and 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro and 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro and 11 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (2nd generation and later)
This is most of the major iOS 26 features, but there are many more changes under the hood. Not all of these features will be ready at launch, and some may be pushed back for future revisions.