After a summer time of beta updates, iOS 26 is right here. So long as you could have a appropriate iPhone, you’ll be able to set up the brand new software program proper now. Head to Settings > Basic > Software program Replace, and prepare for a Liquid Glass makeover.
iOS 26 gives Apple’s greatest visible change to its software program since iOS 7. (That was when Jony Ive’s flat design changed Scott Forstall’s skeuomorphic one.) This time round, the software program adopts a translucent materials theme: Liquid Glass. Though it is not a return to skeuomorphism, it does reincorporate a way of depth, simulating a pleasantly refractive glass. Count on colours and visible results that reply to their onscreen environment.
Apple has taken flak from trade pundits for not speeding headfirst into AI. (Or, at the least it hasn’t with the identical manic frenzy as its opponents.) The corporate is taking a extra measured strategy, step by step incorporating it into its software program. This 12 months’s Apple Intelligence additions embrace dwell translation in messages, FaceTime and Cellphone. Visible Intelligence additionally expands past the digicam and into screenshots. And your Genmoji and Picture Playground creations may look much less… unusual than final 12 months’s variations.
Even Apple Music will get a brand new AI characteristic. Its new automix generates transitions between songs, aiming for DJ-like progressions. I discover that it really works finest with danceable genres like EDM or hip-hop. It often will not hassle attempting to combine much less beat-driven singer-songwriter-type stuff.
Arguably handier than new AI options is Apple’s revamp of its communication apps. Name screening enables you to collect data from callers earlier than deciding whether or not to choose up. Maintain Help saves you from having to hearken to the Muzak. And the Messages app provides new screening choices and filters. It’s also possible to add customized backgrounds and even conduct polls in your messaging threads. Lastly, the Cellphone app cleans up its interface, unifying its tabs right into a single record.
There’s far more on faucet, in fact. For that, you’ll be able to take a look at Engadget’s iOS 26 preview.
It is not all concerning the iPhone. Apple’s different software program updates are right here right this moment, too. iPadOS 26 provides the pill its most Mac-like productiveness increase up to now. watchOS 26 provides sleep scores and an AI coach. And macOS 26 Tahoe provides a Cellphone app and souped-up Highlight search. All of these (together with visionOS 26 and tvOS 26, which nonetheless exist) undertake the brand new Liquid Glass aesthetic. You possibly can obtain every by way of Settings > Basic > Software program Replace.
