With the full-on iOS 26 update set to roll out today, here are a few features that you can expect. To increase design and OS consistency across platforms, a new design language has been implemented across the system. The approach gives applications and controls a translucent appearance with optical qualities. Apple says the aim is to provide a sense of fluidity across platforms for uniformity.
Some of the standout new features that users will notice include the date and time font and design automatically adapting to the wallpaper used. Applications will have a translucent appearance with optical qualities to resemble glass. The home screen will feature redesigned app icons with options for light and dark appearances, color tints, and a clear, see-through design.
Control Centre elements have been designed to respond to their surroundings and refract colors and shapes. While this new design language has been directed towards a more coherent feel across devices, in the beta version, several users complained of text mix-ups and icon logos being hard to distinguish when placed against a transparent background.
Apple Intelligence Integration
Users will get a host of new intelligence features, such as Live Translation, which can automatically convert text in messages into another language, provide captions during FaceTime calls, or deliver spoken translations in the phone application.
New visual intelligence features will allow the user to act directly on content displayed. Users will be able to add details to a photograph or an event, and add them to the calendar, or extract information from an email and convert it into reminders. The same system will also enable cross-app search and image creation.
Through the new Image Playground, users can mix emoji and text descriptions to generate customized graphics. Personalized emojis will further enhance this new feature.
Communication Tools
Expected new features include call screening, automatically answering unidentified numbers, or prompting the caller to state their name and purpose before the phone rings. Messages will include similar screening tools as well.
A new Hold and Assist feature will also be added, notifying the user once an agent picks up their call. Expect an enhanced filter for messages as well. In group chats, users will be able to create polls to let participants vote on decisions such as where to meet.
Discovery and Entertainment
Maps will now have an increased intelligence quotient-they will actively track regular travel plans and issue alerts about preferred routes when a journey begins. If the travel routine changes, the application will adapt accordingly.
Apple Music will introduce a new Auto Mix feature that can seamlessly blend songs using beat matching and time-stretching techniques, similar to a DJ set. Another feature will translate lyrics into a user’s chosen language and offer additional context when listening to international music.
Eligible Devices
iOS 26 will be available for iPhone 11 and later models, as well as the second-generation iPhone SE and newer. The full list includes the iPhone 12, 13, 14, 15, and 16 series, along with the newly launched iPhone 17 and iPhone Air:
- iPhone 17
- iPhone 17 Pro
- iPhone 17 Pro Max
- iPhone Air
- iPhone 16e
- iPhone 16
- iPhone 16 Plus
- iPhone 16 Pro
- iPhone 16 Pro Max
- iPhone 15
- iPhone 15 Plus
- iPhone 15 Pro
- iPhone 15 Pro Max
- iPhone 14
- iPhone 14 Plus
- iPhone 14 Pro
- iPhone 14 Pro Max
- iPhone 13
- iPhone 13 mini
- iPhone 13 Pro
- iPhone 13 Pro Max
- iPhone 12
- iPhone 12 mini
- iPhone 12 Pro
- iPhone 12 Pro Max
- iPhone 11
- iPhone 11 Pro
- iPhone 11 Pro Max
- iPhone SE (2nd generation and later)
Note: Not all features will be released worldwide at launch. Language and regional availability may limit some functions, particularly those reliant on translation and artificial intelligence models.
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