iOS 26 official

Apple has introduced iOS 26, a major update that brings a beautiful new design, intelligent experiences, and improvements to the apps. Apple Intelligence gets even more capable. Updates to the Phone and Messages apps. iOS 26 also introduces new features in CarPlay, Apple Music, Maps, Wallet, and Apple Games, a brand-new app that gives players a single destination for all their games.

 

iOS 26 features

 

New Design 

The new design makes apps and system experiences more expressive and delightful, while keeping iOS instantly familiar.  Liquid Glass — 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. The new design extends to the Home Screen and Lock Screen, making them more personal and expressive than ever. Liquid Glass also brings new customization options to app icons and widgets, including a stunning clear look. On the Lock Screen, the time fluidly adapts to the available space in an image, and spatial scenes bring wallpapers to life with a 3D effect when users move iPhone.

New Capabilities Powered by Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence elevates the iPhone experience and helps users get things done easier than ever, while unlocking new ways to communicate and do more with what’s on their screen. Live Translation is integrated into Messages, FaceTime, and Phone to help users communicate across languages, translating text and audio on the fly. Live Translation is enabled by Apple-built models that run entirely on device, so users’ personal conversations stay personal.

visual intelligence extends to a user’s iPhone screen so they can search and take action on anything they’re viewing across apps. Users can ask ChatGPT questions about what they’re looking at onscreen to learn more, as well as search Google, Etsy, or other supported apps to find similar images and products.

Genmoji and Image Playground provide users with even more ways to express themselves, including mixing their favorite emoji, Genmoji, and descriptions together to create something new.

Shortcuts are now more powerful and intelligent than ever. Users can tap into intelligent actions, a whole new set of shortcuts enabled by Apple Intelligence, and will see dedicated actions for features like Writing Tools and Image Playground. Apple Intelligence can now automatically identify and summarize order tracking details from emails sent from merchants and delivery carriers, giving users the ability to see their full order details and progress notifications all in one place — even for purchases not made with Apple Pay.

 

Phone app now offers a unified layout that combines Favorites, Recents, and Voicemails all in one place. Call Screening builds on Live Voicemail and helps eliminate interruptions by gathering information from the caller and giving users the details they need to decide if they want to pick up or ignore the call.

In Messages, users can now screen messages from unknown senders, giving them more control over who appears in their conversation list. Messages from unknown senders will appear in a dedicated folder where users can then mark the number as known, ask for more information, or delete. These messages will remain silenced until a user accepts them. iOS 26 also offers enhancements to conversations, including custom backgrounds and the ability to create polls.

CarPlay — now with iOS 26, it receives updates that make it even more beautiful and easy to use. The stunning design includes a new compact view for incoming calls, allowing users to see who’s calling without missing key information like upcoming directions.  brings Tapbacks and pinned conversations to Messages in CarPlay, and with widgets and Live Activities, users can stay in the loop without losing focus on the road.

 

Updates to Apple Music, Maps, and Wallet

In Apple Music, Lyrics Translation helps users understand the words to their favorite songs, while Lyrics Pronunciation allows everyone to sing along, regardless of language. AutoMix uses intelligence to transition from one song to the next like a DJ, using time stretching and beat matching to seamlessly move from one song to the next.

Apple Wallet help make everyday interactions with the physical world easier than ever. Users can choose to pay with installments or rewards when they make in-store purchases with Apple Pay using iPhone. Refreshed boarding passes in Wallet offer the ability to see and share Live Activities for real-time updates on a flight.

Apple Games  gives players an all-in-one destination for their games. It helps players jump back into titles they love, find their next favorite, and have even more fun with friends. They’ll find out what’s happening across all their games, including major events and updates, so they never miss a moment. The Games app is also the best way to experience Apple Arcade, Apple’s game subscription service with more than 200 award-winning and highly rated games for the whole family.

AirPods  AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), and AirPods Pro 2. Building on the benefits of Voice Isolation, studio-quality audio recording allows iPhone, iPad, and Mac users to record their content with great sound quality and enjoy even clearer calls. With camera remote, users can press and hold the AirPods stem to take a photo or start and stop a video recording on iPhone or iPad.

Parents can now create or move kids into Child Accounts even more easily, taking advantage of a wide set of parental controls designed to keep children safe. Enhancements across Communication Limits, Communication Safety, and the App Store include parental approvals for contact requests from kids, blurring out sensitive content in FaceTime calls and photos in Shared Albums, and enabling parents to grant an exception for their child to download an app with an age rating that exceeds the app content restriction they set.

Browsing in Safari gets even more private with advanced fingerprinting protection extending to all browsing by default.

Accessibility Reader, which provides a customized systemwide reading experience, and Braille Access, an all-new interface for iPhone devices with connected braille displays. Updates to Live Listen, Background Sounds, Personal Voice, and more bring a new level of accessibility across the Apple ecosystem.

The new Apple Games app is shown on iPhone 16 Pro. The Child Accounts menu is shown on iPhone 16 Pro, with copy that reads, “Age-Appropriate Experiences in Apps.” Communication Limits are shown in a Messages conversation on iPhone 16 Pro.

All of these features are available for testing starting today through the Apple Developer Program at developer.apple.com, and a public beta will be available through the Apple Beta Software Program next month at beta.apple.com It will be available for iPhone 11 and later.