Apple has officially opened the public beta for iOS 26, the next major update to its iPhone operating system, following its debut at WWDC 2025. This release represents one of the most significant upgrades in years, with a bold new visual language, deep app redesigns, and sweeping intelligence enhancements across the platform.
Liquid Glass Redesign: A New Look for iOS
iOS 26 introduces the striking “Liquid Glass” design philosophy, blending translucent material effects and fluid motion to make the interface feel faster, livelier, and more personal.
- Dynamic icons, controls, and widgets now reflect and refract on-screen content, creating immersive depth throughout.
- The Lock Screen time adapts fluidly to backgrounds and features 3D wallpaper effects that react to device motion.
- Home Screen elements like app icons, widgets, and menus look and feel smoother and more cohesive.
Developers can tap into updated APIs to bring Liquid Glass effects into their own apps, ensuring visual consistency across the iOS ecosystem.
Major App Redesigns & Updates
Phone App Overhaul
- Unified layout blends Favorites, Recents, and Voicemail into a single streamlined view, with an option to revert to the classic design.
- Call Screening: iOS can now answer unknown calls, gather caller information, and let you decide to answer or ignore.
- Hold Assist: The phone notifies you the moment a human picks up, so you don’t waste time listening to hold music.
- Other enhancements include unknown caller filtering, in-call SharePlay, and AI-generated voicemail summaries.
Messages
- Customizable backgrounds via default options, user photos, or AI-generated images using Image Playground.
- Powerful new tools like polls with live results, improved group chat indicators, spam control, Apple Cash support, and an easier “Add Contact” flow.
- Smarter search, improved selection, and a revamped info panel boost usability.
Camera
- Streamlined interface for faster access to photo and video capture.
- Lens cleaning reminder and the ability to capture images or video using the AirPods stem.
Photos
- Returns to a beloved two-tab layout (Library & Collections).
- Collections layout is now customizable, and spatial scene views add depth to images.
- Enhanced event details and easier browsing.
Apple Music
- AutoMix: AI blends tracks seamlessly for a smooth, DJ-style experience.
- Lyrics: Automatic translation and pronunciation guides help users sing along to foreign-language tracks.
- Pinning for favorite content in libraries ensures instant access.
Apple Maps
- Preferred Routes: Learns daily travel habits and proactively suggests alternate routes in case of delays, even when not actively navigating.
- Visited Places: Securely tracks recent locations, allowing users to revisit or share with privacy protections.
CarPlay
- Adopts Liquid Glass style, updated icons, and more vibrant visuals.
- Widgets like Calendar and Weather can be added directly from iPhone.
- Banners for calls, support for Live Activities, Smart Display Zoom, Tapback for Messages, and smoother AirPods handoff enhance the driving experience.
Additional Highlights
- Apple Games: Central app for tracking, discovering, and playing App Store games, including Apple Arcade titles.
- Wallet: Adds AI order tracking, installment payments for Apple Pay, real-time flight updates, and lost bag reporting.
- AirPods: New features like studio-quality audio recording and improved call clarity.
- Parental Controls: Simpler child account setup and new privacy features.
- Accessibility: New Accessibility Reader, modernized Braille, and more robust systemwide tools for all users.
Apple Intelligence: Smarter, More Private Features
iOS 26 supercharges on-device AI with the Apple Intelligence suite, elevating user privacy and convenience in many areas:
- Visual Intelligence: Analyzes screen content (including screenshots), creates events, or performs app searches using Apple’s models or ChatGPT integration.
- Live Translation: Real-time audio/text translation in Messages, Phone, and FaceTime—all processed privately on-device.
- Shortcuts: New actions, AI-powered background and poll generation, and complex automations.
- Genmoji & Image Playground: New creative tools to mix/animate emojis, design images, and interactively generate content.
Order tracking in Wallet, smarter reminders, and improved categorization of notes leverage these intelligence advances as well.
Supported Devices & Availability
- Public Beta: Available now for iPhone 11 and later through the Apple Beta Software Program.
- Full Release: Scheduled for fall 2025.
- Apple Intelligence: Requires newer hardware—iPhone 16, iPhone 15 Pro/Pro Max, iPad mini (A17 Pro), or Macs/iPads with M1 or later chips.
Supported languages include English, French, German, Italian, Brazilian Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Simplified Chinese, with an expanded roster (including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese [Portugal], Swedish, Turkish, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese) promised by the end of 2025.
iOS 26’s public beta brings sweeping modernization and intelligence, promising a more expressive, responsive, and personal iPhone experience built on privacy and innovation.