iOS 26

iOS 26
Version of the iOS operating system
iOS 26 Beta 1 running on an iPhone 16 Pro
Developer	Apple
Written in	C, C++, Objective-C, Swift, assembly language
OS family	iOS
Source model	Closed with open-source components
Latest preview	26.0 beta 2[1] (June 23, 2025; 5 days ago (2025-06-23)) [±]
Available in	42 languages[2]
List of languages Arabic, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese Simplified, Chinese Traditional (Hong Kong), Chinese Traditional (Taiwan), Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English (Australia), English (United Kingdom), English (United States), Finnish, French (Canada), French (France), German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kazakh, Korean, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese (Brazil), Portuguese (Portugal), Romanian, Russian, Slovak, Slovenian (iOS 18), Spanish, Lithuanian, (Latin America), Spanish (Spain), Swedish, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Vietnamese
Platforms	iPhone
Default user interface	Liquid Glass
Preceded by	iOS 18
Official website	apple.com/os/ios
Tagline	New look. Even more magic.
Support status
In developer beta, with public beta in July. Drops support for all iPhones with an A12 Bionic chip, iPhone XS/XS Max and iPhone XR.
Articles in the series
iPadOS 26 macOS Tahoe visionOS 26

iOS 26 is the nineteenth and the next major release of Apple's iOS operating system for the iPhone. It was announced on June 9, 2025, at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC),^[3] and is expected to be released in September.

It is the direct successor to iOS 18; its version number was brought forward to 26 due to a newly-announced policy of unified version numbers for Apple operating systems, which are now based on the year that follows their release (similarly to vehicle model years).^[4][5]

iOS 26 introduces a new unified neumorphic design language, known as Liquid Glass, across all Apple platforms. Influenced by visionOS, the design replaces the flat design language introduced in iOS 7 to utilize rounded, translucent elements with the "optical qualities of glass" (including refraction), which would react to motion, content, and inputs. It also resembles skeuomorphism from iOS 6 and earlier, most notable in the Camera app's new icon (which resembles the icon from iOS 6 and earlier). Multiple apps (including the camera and Safari) have redesigned user interfaces to reflect the new design language.^[6][7]

Widgets on the lock screen can now also be placed at the bottom, rather than necessarily at the top below the time. The height of the time shown on the lock screen is dynamic, and it can increase or decrease depending on the objects recognized in the background, whether they are at the bottom or top, or even based on the stack of notifications growing from below.

In addition to the Dark, Light and Tinted themes, iOS 26 adds a "Clear" theme that changes the Home Screen to use icons that use the glass-like effects introduced with Liquid Glass.

When customizing the lock screen, the user can apply a 3D effect to a Home Screen wallpaper, making subjects appear to pop out of the screen as the user moves the phone.

• Adaptive power: A new, less aggressive energy-saving mode has been introduced which is used when device usage is higher than normal. It makes minor adjustments, like reducing screen brightness or slowing down processes, without blocking background activities as the traditional mode does.
• Charge Time: the estimated time to full charge is now displayed on the Lock Screen and in Settings.
• Improved Battery Usage Stats: In the Settings app, daily battery consumption is color-coded: orange for higher usage, blue for lower or typical usage. Each app shows whether it sent more notifications, ran in the background longer, or consumed more battery than usual.

• Reader Mode: a new system-level reading mode designed to assist users with blindness, low vision, or other reading impairments, making text easier to read.
• Braille Access: it turns the user's phone into a full braille note-taking tool, eliminating the need for external devices. It supports braille input (via screen or braille display), Nemeth code for calculations, reading braille files, and app navigation. It also provides real-time conversation transcripts on the braille display.^[8]
• Head Tracking: it allows you to control the pointer on the screen by tracking head movements and perform customized actions based on facial movements (raise eyebrows, open mouth, smile, stick out tongue, eye blink, etc.)
• Equalizer: a new audio equalizer with two modes, "Comfort" and "Focus", for automatic frequency adjustment, has been added in the Accessibility settings under Audio and Visual Effects.

iOS 26 introduces new Apple Intelligence features; Apple Intelligence models were made more efficient and support additional languages.^[9] It will support live translation of voice and text conversations using on-device models, while Genmoji can now be invoked to merge existing emojis together rather than needing to use a prompt.^[10][7]

Visual Intelligence and Image Playground will also feature additional ChatGPT integration.^[10]

The new Foundation Models framework will allow Apple Intelligence features to be integrated into third-party apps; Apple stated that a Swift app can implement the framework in as little as three lines of code.^[9]

Spelling Words: One can now spell out a word when dictating, which is helpful for complex or unrecognized words.

Wallpaper Blur for AOD: A new setting lets the user apply a blur effect to the wallpaper image of the AOD.

• Wi-Fi Aware: introduced the support for the new Wi-Fi standard that allows a device to discover other nearby devices and communicate with them securely without using an Internet connection or access point.
• Captive Assist: when you access a public Wi-Fi network on an Apple device by filling out a web form, this information is automatically shared with the other Apple devices you own, making it easier to connect to the same network.

Emoji descriptions: when you press an emoji key, the description of that emoji appears below in the search box (e.g. grinning face), so you can be sure you've chosen the right one.

In the General Settings there is a new section for configuring screenshots.

• Full-screen previews: a new screenshot capture mode that keeps the captured screen in full-screen view instead of minimizing it to an icon in the bottom-left corner of the screen.
• HDR captures: it is now possible to capture HDR screenshots and screen recordings.

eSIM transfer with Android: it is now possible to directly transfer an eSIM between an iPhone and an Android device without having to request a QR code from the mobile carrier.

• Call Screening automatically answers calls from unknown numbers to determine if they’re from a real person or spam. It asks the caller to identify themselves and state the reason for the call. If the call is deemed legitimate, it’s passed through and the phone rings.
• Hold Assist lets one put a call on hold and notify the caller when they're ready to resume the conversation.
• Tap Recents to Call: this setting when disabled prevents accidental calls from being made by tapping a name or number in one's call history.
• Live Translations in Calls allows real-time translation of the caller's voice, converting it into the desired language during the call.
• Phone Haptics: the Phone app now provides haptic feedback, delivering a vibration when the call is answered on the other end.

The Messages app now supports custom backgrounds, polls, and the user indicator for typing in group chats. The user can also select and copy part of the text in a message, instead of the entire message.

• Antispam: Spam messages from unknown senders are automatically recognized and moved to a separate list.
• Live Translations for Messages: One can activate translation in real time, to make sure that everything written in one language is sent as a message written in another language.

• Songs and Album Pins: The user can pin favorite songs or albums at the top of the Library.
• Translation and pronunciation of live lyrics allows one to understand the lyrics of the songs in other languages and to sing them even if said person doesn't know the pronunciation.
• AutoMix: switches from one song to another using Time Stretching and Beat Matching techniques to get a more continuous mix.
• Playlist Folders: One can create folders in which to put playlists.
• Live Radio Widget: a new widget for the Home screen that allows direct access to 6 radio stations.
• Fullscreen artwork: the album cover of the playing song extends to full screen on the Lock Screen.

The changes to the Photos app in iOS 18 are reverted. In its place is a new layout with a command bar at the bottom that allows you to quickly switch to the Library, Collections, Search.

• Spatial Scene: it is possible to apply a 3D effect to a photo in order to make it appear that the subjects represented come out of the screen when the phone moves. This is the same visionOS technology that has been brought to the iPhone.

The Camera interface is now simpler, with two main buttons, "Photo" and "Video" initially visible and placed at the bottom. An expandable and scrollable command bar reveals other shooting modes. Menus are also more intuitive: to access controls like flash, timer, and photo format, you only need to tap the grid-shaped button at the top of the toolbar, without the need for a swipe gesture.

• Lens Cleaning Hints is a new setting that displays a suggestion when the camera lens should be cleaned to improve image quality.
• Improved Camera control: the items in the side menu can now be reordered, allowing the preferred control to be placed in the first position.

The Notes app can record and transcribe calls into notes, while Markdown is added as a new export option.^[11]

It is possible to add the Reminders control to the Control Center, allowing you to quickly create a reminder directly from there.

• Preferred Routes automatically learns the routes you take every day, such as those between home, school, and work, and notifies you in advance of any delays, without needing to check manually.
• Favourite Places: you can save your favorite places that you visit, such as bars or parks, so as to find them immediately.

• A third "Compact" (floating) style has been added for the tabs, alongside the existing "Tab Bar" (bottom) and "Single Tab" (top) styles.
• Added support for HDR images and SVG icons.^[12]

• Folder Customization: you can now color folders and assign custom icons for easier identification.
• File Types per App: from the File app you can quickly assign the default app that needs to open that file type.
• Audio Files as Ringtone: you can directly use audio files (MP3, M4A, etc.) as ringtones by selecting the file, tapping Share, and choosing "Use as Ringtone".

Alarms: the "Snooze" duration can be adjusted from 1 to 15 minutes. The buttons to stop or snooze the alarm are displayed in large size for easier access when waking up.

Math Notes: the equations in 3 variables and 3D graphs are now supported.

• Password History allows to view previous passwords along with their change dates.
• Export Passwords allows to securely export passwords, passkeys, and verification codes to other password manager apps.

Multiple journals: you can create several distinct journals, rather than just one.

Enhance Dialogue: a new option that enhances the podcast audio by emphasizing the voice and reducing background noise and music. It is located in the menu that appears to adjust the podcast speed.

Home only supports the redesigned Apple Home architecture introduced in iOS 16 and ends support for the legacy architecture.^[13]

A new Games app provides an interface to games from App Store and Apple Arcade, as well as Game Center social features.^[7][14]

The Apple Wallet app adds additional functions for boarding passes, including the ability to display interior maps of the respective airport, and real-time flight information as a Live Activity. Users in the United States will also be able to add their digital passport to Wallet.^[15][16]

AI Actions: new actions enable you to create commands leveraging AI capabilities. These commands begin with an action that selects an AI model or "engine", such as Cloud (Private Cloud Compute), On-Device, or ChatGPT.

In the privacy and security settings, there is a new permission that allows or denies the use of accessories connected to the phone via cable when the phone is locked. The options you can choose are: always ask, ask for new accessories, allow automatically when the phone is unlocked, always allow.

A new section is available in the privacy and security settings that collects all blocked contacts across various apps, such as all unknown phone numbers automatically classified as spam.

Recovery Assistant is a feature that allows the iPhone to automatically attempt to recover if the device fails to start up successfully.^[17]

iOS 26 requires a device with an Apple A13 Bionic processor or newer, thus dropping support for the iPhone XS, XS Max, and XR.^[18][19] The Apple Intelligence feature requires an Apple A17 Pro processor or newer.^[20][21]

Device	Supported	Apple Intelligence support
iPhone 11
iPhone 11 Pro & 11 Pro Max
iPhone SE (2nd generation)
iPhone 12 & 12 Mini
iPhone 12 Pro & 12 Pro Max
iPhone 13 & 13 Mini
iPhone 13 Pro & 13 Pro Max
iPhone SE (3rd generation)
iPhone 14 & 14 Plus
iPhone 14 Pro & 14 Pro Max
iPhone 15 & 15 Plus
iPhone 15 Pro & Pro Max
iPhone 16 & 16 Plus
iPhone 16 Pro & 16 Pro Max
iPhone 16e

The first beta of iOS 26 was released on June 9, 2025, for developers, with a revised build of the first beta being released on June 13 for the iPhone 15 series and the iPhone 16 series.

• iPadOS 26
• macOS Tahoe

• "Apple elevates the iPhone experience with iOS 26". Apple Newsroom. Retrieved 9 June 2025.