iOS 26: Release date, new features, and compatible iPhones

Ever since iOS 7, Apple's mobile OS has relied on mostly the same flat and minimal interface design language, which superseded the skeuomorphic design of old, but no more, says Apple. 

The most significant change with iOS 26 is the new design language that greatly changes the appearance of the operating system. Apple calls it Liquid Glass, and it takes some serious inspiration from the company's visionOS aesthetics. Liquid Glass as a design language is consistent across iOS, watchOS, macOS, iPadOS, and of course, visionOS.

The new appearance combines fluidity and transparency to emulate real glass and dynamically reacts to how you use and even move your device around. Interfaces are rethought with translucency and adaptability in mind, adding a functional layer that is consistent when you move between apps and screens. Notifications, Control Center, and most iOS interfaces are now transparent.

The translucent folder backgrounds that blend around with the background when you swipe around, the Control Center is now fully transparent (which isn't good from a usability perspective and should probably be addressed by Apple in a future beta), and even most native apps have scored a major visual redesign with the glass-like aesthetics. Even the lock screen notifications are now transparent. 



iOS 26 now also introduces a new spatial effect for lock screen wallpapers, which react to the way you move your device, just like parallax wallpapers. Lock screen clock faces can be stretched to occupy a larger portion of the lock screen, but will shrink once notifications start piling up.

Other changes include more tinting customization to home screen icons, which can now adopt a new "clear" style that desaturates them. You can now also use an eyedropper to pick a tint color from your wallpaper for the ultimate match made in heaven.  

The majority of changes to iOS 26 are mostly on the visual side, though we see tons of changes to some essential iOS apps as well. Interestingly, iOS 26 seems to be lighter on Apple Intelligence innovations, with Apple even opting not to address the elephant in the room that's called Siri. 

The camera app has undergone a pretty drastic redesign. The two major branches of the app, still photography and video, are now distinctly separated.

You access the two different modes with a swipe to the side. Meanwhile, to access all the available camera modes, like panorama, spatial video, and portrait, you have to lightly press on the modes at the bottom and swipe up on the screen. The familiar settings then appear in a glass-like folder. 



The interface fully employs the new Liquid Glass redesign, and frankly, looks like a distraction-free change that will help you engross yourself in the photography experience. Remains to be seen if the vast majority of iPhone users will enjoy the change, though.

Safari: Apple's browser goes minimalistic

The iOS browser now displays webpages in full screen, with the tab bar being both translucent and shrinking when you swipe around for a pretty minimalistic look. All the familiar controls are now available in a distraction-free menu at the bottom, while the web address and your essential controls like refresh, back, and search are easily available at all times.

That's a pretty major change for Safari, which usually gets functionality updates, but rarely enjoys visual overhauls. This one is a pretty drastic one that will put the website you're visiting front and center, minimizing the distraction interface of the browser itself.

Phone & Call Screening: Your phone is your virtual concierge

The essential Phone app now features a more streamlined combined interface that brings together your favorites, recent calls and voicemails, making the app more intuitive than before. Your favorites are at the top, with large and expressive thumbnails that make it easier to call your besties and family members. Down below, you get your recent calls list and voicemails. Apple Intelligence uses on-device models to summarize the contents of a voicemail and will display it front and center for you to see, which is a great addition to the app.

A new iOS 26 feature dubbed Call Screening will act as a virtual agent and screen any unknown callers instead of ringing, potentially sparing you from telemarketers and spam callers. Based on Live Voicemail, the new feature will let the phone ring only when the caller and the call reason have been identified and neatly displayed on the screen, giving you the choice to answer or decline.

And, if you're stuck on hold, the revamped phone app detects hold music and will automatically wait it out for you. Once a live agent joins the call, the app will alert you.

Apple Messages

Apple's most important app ever, Messages, has now scored a very nifty message screening feature that automatically filters messages from unknown or spam senders, hiding them away in a dedicated page and thus keeping your landing page as clean as possible, populated only with threads from your contacts. Unknown senders' messages will remain silenced until you open their dedicated vault and choose how to interact with them: you can either flag a number as known or delete it.

Messages now lets you apply various dynamic wallpapers to your iMessage backgrounds, just like you can do in pretty much any other popular third-party messaging app, like Meta Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, or Telegram. 

Even Apple Intelligence can join the fun and help you create a wallpaper for any thread. You can now also create polls (finally!), as well as request, send, or receive Apple Cash in group chats. Deciding where to eat and splitting the bill afterward will be a breeze.