The dust has barely settled from Apple’s WWDC 2025 keynote, and the star of the show is undoubtedly iOS 26. This major update is poised to significantly redefine the iPhone experience. Let’s dive into what makes iOS 26 a landmark release, from its captivating “Liquid Glass” aesthetic to Apple Intelligence updates, substantial app upgrades, and the brand-new Apple Games app.
A Dazzling New Look: Liquid Glass
Apple is rolling out its new Liquid Glass software design language across each of its operating systems, and iOS 26 is no exception. Liquid Glass is described as “a new translucent material that reflects and refracts its surroundings, bringing greater focus to content, and delivering a new level of vitality across controls, navigation, app icons, widgets, and more.” You can read more about the design philosophy behind Liquid Glass and how it will span across every Apple operating system and device here.
This new design philosophy extends across this new version of iOS. The Home Screen and Lock Screen become “more personal and expressive,” with new customization options for app icons and widgets, including a “stunning clear look.” On the Lock Screen, the time display “fluidly adapts to the available space in an image,” and innovative “spatial scenes bring wallpapers to life with a 3D effect when users move iPhone.”
Core iPhone apps also receive a Liquid Glass refresh. The Camera app now features a “simplified, streamlined Camera layout” to help users focus on capturing the moment. The Photos app is updated with “separate tabs for Library and Collections views” for better organization. In Safari, web pages now “flow from the top edge to the bottom of the screen,” offering more content visibility while keeping essential actions accessible.
For apps like Apple Music, News, and Podcasts, the tab bar is redesigned to “float above users’ content, dynamically shrink when users are browsing… and then expand when they scroll back up,” cleverly maximizing screen real estate for content.
To ensure a consistent and polished experience across the board, Apple is providing developers with an “updated set of APIs” to integrate Liquid Glass materials into their own apps, allowing them to appear “just as dynamic and delightful.”
New Apple Intelligence Features
Apple has also announced a slew of new Apple Intelligence-powered features in iOS 26.
Live Translation: Integrated directly into Messages, FaceTime, and Phone, this feature provides on-the-fly text and audio translation. Crucially, it’s “enabled by Apple-built models that run entirely on device, so users’ personal conversations stay personal”. Supported languages vary slightly between Messages and Phone/FaceTime calls.
Visual Intelligence Expansion: Visual Intelligence has allowed iPhone users to take a photo and quickly find out more about it. Now Apple is extending this AI capability to what is currently on their screen, allowing users to “search and take action on anything they’re viewing across apps”. Imagine asking ChatGPT questions about on-screen content, or searching Google or Etsy for similar images and products. Visual Intelligence can also recognize events on screen and suggest adding them to your calendar, pre-filling details like date, time, and location (initially available in English on iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max).
Improved Genmoji and Image Playground: Offering new ways to mix emoji, Genmoji, and descriptions to create unique visuals.
Smarter Shortcuts: Shortcuts become more powerful with “intelligent actions,” a new set of capabilities enabled by Apple Intelligence, including dedicated actions for Writing Tools and Image Playground.
Order Tracking Summaries: Apple Intelligence can now automatically identify and summarize order tracking details from emails, consolidating information in one place, even for purchases not made with Apple Pay.
Foundation Models Framework: This new framework gives developers direct access to the on-device foundation model at Apple Intelligence’s core. This means “powerful intelligence that’s fast, built with privacy at its core, and available offline, using AI inference that is free of cost” for developers.
Everyday Apps, Elevated: What’s New in Your Go-To Tools
iOS 26 brings meaningful enhancements to the apps used daily, often focusing on reducing friction and adding convenience.
Phone: Features a “unified layout that combines Favorites, Recents, and Voicemails all in one place.” Building on Live Voicemail, Call Screening gathers information from callers to help decide whether to answer, while Hold Assist notifies when a live agent becomes available on a call. Both support multiple languages.
Messages: Users gain more control with the ability to screen messages from unknown senders, which are silenced in a dedicated folder until accepted. Conversations are enhanced with custom backgrounds (generatable with Image Playground) and the ability to create polls, which Apple Intelligence can even suggest when appropriate. Group chats now feature typing indicators, and support for requesting, sending, and receiving Apple Cash (US only).
CarPlay & CarPlay Ultra: Already used over 600 million times per day, CarPlay gets a design refresh including a “new compact view for incoming calls” so directions aren’t obscured. Messages in CarPlay gain Tapbacks and pinned conversations, while widgets and Live Activities help drivers stay informed safely. These updates also extend to CarPlay Ultra, which aims to bring “the best of iPhone and the best of the car together for a deeply integrated, unified experience across every screen” , signaling Apple’s ambition for deeper in-vehicle integration.
Apple Music: Introduces Lyrics Translation and Lyrics Pronunciation to help users understand and sing along to songs in different languages. AutoMix intelligently transitions between songs like a DJ, using time stretching and beat matching.
Apple Maps: Visited Places helps users remember locations they’ve been, with data protected by end-to-end encryption. On-device intelligence now better understands daily routes, offering preferred routes and proactive delay notifications with alternatives.
Apple Wallet: Users can choose to pay with installments or rewards for in-store Apple Pay purchases. Refreshed boarding passes now support Live Activities for real-time flight updates and offer convenient access to relevant travel info like airport maps via Maps and item tracking via Find My.
Game On: Introducing the Apple Games App
Gaming on iOS gets a significant boost with the “Apple Games” app, a “brand-new app that gives players an all-in-one destination for their games”. It’s designed to help players easily jump back into titles, discover new favorites, and connect with friends.
The app will also keep users informed about major events and updates across their games. Apple positions it as “the best way to experience Apple Arcade,” its subscription service featuring over 200 games.
More to Explore: Other Noteworthy iOS 26 Enhancements
Beyond the headline features, iOS 26 delivers a host of other valuable updates:
AirPods: Become more versatile with features like “studio-quality audio recording” for iPhone, iPad, and Mac users, and a camera remote function by pressing and holding the AirPods stem.
Parental Controls: Simplified Child Account creation and enhancements to Communication Limits, Communication Safety (including blurring sensitive content in FaceTime and Shared Albums), and App Store parental approvals.
Safari Privacy: “Advanced fingerprinting protection extending to all browsing by default,” a significant step for user privacy.
Accessibility: Introduces powerful features like Accessibility Reader for a customized systemwide reading experience, Braille Access for an all-new interface with connected braille displays, and updates to Live Listen, Background Sounds, and Personal Voice. These demonstrate a continued commitment to making the platform inclusive.
Getting Your Hands on iOS 26: Availability & Compatibility
Eager to try out these new features? The developer beta of iOS 26 is available starting today. A public beta will follow next month through the Apple Beta Software Program.The final version will be available “this fall as a free software update for iPhone 11 and later.”
However, it’s important to note the specific requirements for the new Apple Intelligence features. While iOS 26 itself has broader compatibility, Apple Intelligence will require supported devices, which include all iPhone 16 models, iPhone 15 Pro, and iPhone 15 Pro Max. Additionally, Siri and the device language must be set to a supported language, initially including English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, or Chinese (simplified), with more languages to follow by year-end.
