Apple’s iOS 26 software update for iPhones is available today to all users with an iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2, or later model. The marquee feature of iOS 26 is Apple’s Liquid Glass design, which introduces on-screen elements that resemble a glassy look. Other features include a call screening assistant, a new gaming and preview app, in-app translation across the system, and updates to the Genmoji and Image Playground apps.
This operating system update also represents a significant numerical change, as Apple jumped from iOS 18 to iOS 26 for two key reasons. First, the company wanted to bring all its operating systems—iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and VisionOS—into numerical sync. Second, it wanted the version number to reflect the year in which the majority of people will use this update.
Liquid Glass design is the most significant visual overhaul for iOS in years. Apple’s intention with this redesign was to take inspiration from the Vision Pro interface and apply it across all its operating systems. The elements are designed to look like they are made of translucent glass. This new aesthetic has presented challenges in terms of readability and the appearance of background elements.
Since June, Apple has made multiple changes to how glassy the interface looks through various beta releases. While the company is releasing the stable version of iOS 26 today, we can expect further visual tweaks for improved readability and usability in the coming months. This visual change might take some time for users to adjust to, and they might not like certain elements right away.
The Phone app has a new unified look where your favorites are displayed up top in a card format, with recents and voicemails on the same screen. You can tap the filter button on the top right to view these sections individually. If you do not like the new interface, Apple also provides an option to switch back to the classic look.
iOS 26 also brings a call screening feature to iPhones. When an unknown number calls you, the system asks for their name and the purpose of the call. Once they provide this information, the system invokes the ringer and notifies you. You can look at the conversation and interject at any time. While transcription of voicemail does not work well for all languages, call screening has significantly reduced the number of unwanted calls.
There is also a holding assist feature for when a restaurant or helpline places you on hold. You can use call assist to receive a notification when an agent starts talking again.
The Messages app now features backgrounds, a new conversation flow, polls, text selection, photo previews, and typing indicators in groups, bringing it more in line with other chat apps like WhatsApp and Telegram. Apple has updated its spam filtering with this release and now places messages from unknown senders in a new folder. One drawback is that it now takes a couple of taps to navigate to the transactions tab.
The Games app overhaul means you can view the games you are playing or have played, Arcade games, challenges, and achievements in one place, along with suggestions for new titles. The app also shows you what your friends are playing.
Apple has finally added the Mac’s Preview app to iOS 26, allowing you to edit, annotate, and sign PDFs more easily. Meanwhile, Apple Music now has automixing for dynamic song switching, along with lyrics translation and pronunciation. You can also pin your favorite songs and playlists.
With iOS 26, Apple Maps lets you define preferred routes for your commute. If your chosen route has more traffic or any incidents, Maps sends you a notification and suggests alternative routes. The app also lets you easily view visited places through a new places library.
The Camera app in iOS 26 adopts the Liquid Glass design with only Video and Photo options visible by default. You can scroll left or right to switch between different modes. Apple has placed some controls like Flash and Night mode on the top right for easy access. For more options like filters, styles, exposure controls, and timer, you can swipe up from the bottom of the screen. If you did not like the previous Photos app design, the tabs have returned in this version.
Unlike last year’s grand launch of Apple Intelligence, this year’s operating system is light on new AI features, especially given delays in launching and rolling out capabilities. The company is making AI-powered translation easily available in apps like Messages, FaceTime, and Phone. This feature currently supports English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish.
Through iOS 26, the company is also launching live translation on AirPods, including the newly launched AirPods Pro 3, as well as AirPods Pro 2 and AirPods 4.
iOS 26 updates visual intelligence to understand the content on your screen. You press the Power and volume down buttons to bring up this menu. Apple Intelligence can then suggest events to add to your calendar. You can also ask questions about the content on the screen using Google Visual Search or ChatGPT. Apple is also releasing its own “Circle to search” feature called Highlight.
The most confusing part of this update is that the buttons used to bring up on-screen visual intelligence are the same as the screenshot button. This adds an extra step to save a screenshot, and it is easy to forget to save important ones.
Apple is updating Genmoji to let you merge two emojis with a text prompt to create something new. You can now add expression to people in both Genmoji and Image Playground. An update to Image Playground also allows you to modify attributes like hair and facial hair, along with new styles from ChatGPT.
Other features include the ability to set different snooze times for alarms from 1 minute to 15 minutes. The Wallet app update allows you to create a digital ID using a passport to present to TSA at the airport. The app also has a revamped boarding pass screen with more information about the airport and flight.
Voice recording on iOS 26 will let you pick the input source. It also offers voice isolation and the ability to capture audio and video locally on your device. This is handy for creators who record podcasts using video calls.
Apple is making reminders more intelligent by auto-generating grocery items from a recipe on a webpage. It can also surface reminders based on an email, website, or note you are looking at.
The App Store now has accessibility nutrition labels to indicate the presence of features including VoiceOver, Voice Control, Larger Text, Sufficient Contrast, Reduced Motion, and captions. Apple has updated parental controls to limit communication from new phone numbers without approval and to enable age-appropriate experiences in third-party apps and the App Store.
You can update to iOS 26 by going to Settings, then General, then Software Update, and downloading the latest version.