Desk Report:
Apple’s iOS 26 software update has been available for iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2 and later models since Monday. The main attraction of iOS 26 is Apple’s Liquid Glass design, where screen elements look transparent and shiny like glass. In addition, this new update includes Call Screening Assistant, new gaming and preview apps, system-wide in-app translation and improvements to the Zenmoji and Image Playground apps.
The numbering of this operating system update has also changed significantly, as Apple has jumped straight from iOS 18 to iOS 26. There are two reasons for this; first, to coordinate the versions of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS and VisionOS together and second, to keep the numbering consistent with the year in which most people will use this update.
Liquid Glass
The biggest visual change to iOS in a long time is the Liquid Glass design. The new design is inspired by Apple’s Vision Pro interface, where elements look like transparent glass.
Apple has been tweaking this look through beta releases since June, and some changes are expected in the new update, which will improve readability and usability. Users may take a while to get used to these new visual changes at first, and some elements may not be to their liking.
Changes to Apple apps
The Phone app now has a new unified design, where your favorite numbers are displayed in a top card format, along with Recents and Voicemail on the same screen. These can be viewed separately by tapping the Filter button in the upper right. If you don’t like the new interface, you can also go back to the old classic look.
The new call-screening feature is very useful. When a call comes in from an unknown number, the phone automatically asks for the caller’s name and the purpose of the call. If the information is received, it rings and you can participate in the conversation if you want.
Call Assist will notify you when an agent starts talking while you’re on hold at a restaurant or helpline.
The Messages app has new features that bring a chat experience similar to WhatsApp and Telegram. Features like background, new conversation flow, polls, text selection, photo previews, and typing indicator in groups have been made similar to WhatsApp and Telegram.
The spam filter has been updated and messages from unknown senders are kept in a separate folder. However, getting to the Transactions tab now requires a little more tapping, which may be inconvenient for some users.
The Games app has been redesigned to now show your games, arcade games, challenges, and achievements in one place; along with new game suggestions and friends’ game play.
The Preview app for Mac is coming to iOS 26, which makes it easy to edit, annotate, and sign PDFs.
Apple Music now supports automixing, meaning songs will be mixed automatically. Lyrics translation and pronunciation have been added. You can also pin your favorite songs and playlists.
Apple Maps will save your favorite routes while commuting and will suggest and notify you of alternative routes if there are heavy traffic or accidents on that route.
The Camera app has a new layout following the Liquid Glass design, where only video and photo modes will be visible by default. You have to swipe left or right to see other modes. Controls like flash and night mode have been placed at the top right of the screen. You have to swipe from the bottom to see options like filters, styles, exposure, timer, etc.
If you don’t like the design of the previous Photos app, the tabs have been brought back.
AI features
Compared to last year’s big release of Apple Intelligence, the AI features are quite limited this time. However, in-app translation has been made available in Messages, FaceTime, and the Phone app. Currently, this feature supports English (UK and US), French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish.
Live translation is now available on AirPods, AirPods Pro 3, Pro 2, and AirPods 4. With the Visual Intelligence update, you can ask questions about the content on the screen, add events to your calendar, and search for information using Google Visual Search or ChatGPT. The new ‘Circle to Search’ feature has been released as a highlight.
However, the buttons used to bring up Visual Intelligence are the same as the screenshot button, which sometimes causes trouble when taking screenshots.
Zenmoji can now create new content by mixing two emojis, and new styles supported by ChatGPT, including changing hairstyles and facial expressions, have been added to the Image Playground.
Other features
Alarms can be given different snooze times from 1 to 15 minutes.
A digital ID can be created in the Wallet app and used as identification for TSA at the airport. The boarding pass screen has also been updated with new information.
Voice recording can feature input source selection, voice isolation, and local video and audio capture, which will be useful for podcasters.
