iOS 26 brings Apple’s first major redesign in over a decade with a new “Liquid Glass” look that’s sleek, customizable, and already dividing opinions. Alongside the visual refresh, Apple is introducing smarter Apple Intelligence features like Live Translation and Visual Intelligence, enhanced spam call and message blocking, updates to Apple Maps, and small but useful upgrades across Messages, Phone, Photos, AirPods, and CarPlay.
iOS 26 is finally here. And Apple has finally redesigned iOS once again, after nearly 12 years. This time around, Apple went with a liquid glass theme, which seems to be pretty polarizing. But that’s not all that’s new in iOS 26.
There are quite a few other useful iOS 26 features, which we are going to go over right here. The iOS 26 beta is now available. The iOS 26 final release will be available this Fall.
Liquid Glass
The biggest of the iOS 26 features is the new Liquid Glass redesign. Apple calls it “beautiful, delightful, and instantly familiar”.
This redesign makes iOS more expressive and delightful. That’s something we’ve heard recently from another smartphone platform – Material 3 Expressive. This new design extends to the home screen, lock screen, and menus, making it more personal and expressive than ever before.
Now, with your home screen, you can choose from light mode and dark mode icons, that was introduced in iOS 18 last year. But you can also use a clear look, which looks really nice. Not everyone will like it, so it’s a good thing that it is just an option.
Apple Intelligence gets much more helpful
Surprisingly, Apple did talk about Apple Intelligence a bit during the keynote. It’s much more helpful now, with a handful of new features being included here.
First up is Visual Intelligence. This can now see what’s on your screen. It’s a mixture of Android’s Circle to Search and Google’s Pixel Screenshots app. Essentially, now when you take a screenshot, you get the usual markup tools at the top, with new options for Visual Intelligence at the bottom. You can also search across your most used apps.
The biggest Apple Intelligence feature that we’re seeing here is Live Translation. In iOS 26, you can automatically translate texts in Messages, display live translated captions in FaceTime and get spoken translations for calls in the Phone app.
Apple also introduced a number of features in the Phone and Messages apps to help combat spam. In the Phone app, unknown numbers are now automatically screened. Your iPhone will ask the caller why they are calling, and then ring your phone afterwards. So you can decide if you want to answer or ignore the call.
Also in the Phone app, Apple has added Hold my Call, which is similar to what the Pixel already has. Essentially, iOS 26 will be able to identify hold music, and hold for you. Once a customer service rep comes on the line, the phone will ring, so you can come back and get your problems delt with.
The Phone app got a redesign too. Now merging the phone calls list in with voicemails. So you can see it all in a single tab.
Onto the messages app, it automatically screens new senders. All messages from unknown senders will appear in the “Unknown senders” tab. Those messages will continue to go there, until your approve the known number. Which should help to drastically cut down on the number of spam messages you get notified about.
Also in Messages, Apple is adding the ability to change the background, as well as add Polls in groups.
Apple Maps continues to school Google Maps
Apple Maps has also gotten a handful of new features with iOS 26. Remember with iOS, Apple’s apps are not updated separately, but as part of iOS updates.
With Apple Maps in iOS 26, it’s able to understand your preferred routes. Maps is able to learn the routes you travel regularly and alert you about significant delays. And if your routine changes, iPhone can adapt to the changes.
Apple has also added Visited Places in Maps. So now you can never forget a place with the option to remember where you’ve been.
And much more
There’s loads more coming in iOS 26. For example, in the Photos app, there’s a new layout now with two tabs for library and collections. Making the new Photos app that debuted in iOS 18 a bit easier to use.
AirPods is also getting a rather interesting feature. You can start recording video by pressing and holding on AirPods or AirPods Pro with the H2 chip. Definitely a nice feature for content creators.
With CarPlay, widgets and Live Activities are on the way with iOS 26. You can also react with a Tapback in Messages.
