IOS 26: features and supported devices

Apple introduced the iOS 26 operating system: a new design, new application and communication capabilities. The main change in the system is the new "Liquid Glass" design, which has become uniform across all Apple devices.

New design: Liquid Glass

The most important changes in Liquid Glass are the icons, buttons, and other control elements: they have become transparent, resembling liquid glass. This creates a multi-layered and deep effect in the interface.

The new design is now uniform for all Apple devices. The company decided to unify the interface across its devices to better integrate them into the overall ecosystem.

Initially, the interface elements were too transparent, which made the notification text unreadable. Apple paid attention to the criticism and reduced the level of transparency.

If this effect still bothers you, you can disable it.

Lock screen with 3D photo

Apple has significantly redesigned the lock menu. Now the clock automatically expands and contracts depending on the available screen space. And the foreground object moves away from the background, creating a parallax effect.

You can create your own 3D wallpaper from almost any image. The main thing is that it has a clear main object.

This feature is available for iPhone 12 and later models.

Updated Camera and Photos Apps

The Camera app has become more minimalist. Now you can choose only two main modes from the main screen: photo and video. To access other modes and additional settings, swipe up on the screen.

The Photos app now has Library and Collections sections. Apple believes that this makes it easier to find the photos and videos you need.

New features from Apple Intelligence

Apple continues to improve its own neural network. It is now implemented in the Messages, Phone, and FaceTime apps for simultaneous translation of text and audio.

Apple Intelligence can also combine two emojis into one.

iOS 26 also introduced Visual Search as part of Visual Intelligence. Visual Intelligence can search the web to find information about objects pointed at by the smartphone’s camera. And Visual Search recognizes objects on the device screen, including offering suggestions for apps and device settings.

Visual Search and Apple Intelligence won’t work if your system language and Siri are set to Russian. To access them, you’ll need to change them in Settings.

The new Games app

It serves as a universal hub for all the games installed on your iPhone, iPad, and MacBook. You can use the app to stay up to date with game news and updates, share your high scores, and invite friends to play. The Games app also supports game controllers like the PS5’s DualSense.

The app is designed to help Apple device owners discover new games, including games regularly curated by members of the Apple Games team. Apple Arcade subscribers will have a dedicated selection of games that they can play with a subscription at no additional cost.

"Phone" app update

Favorites, Recent Calls, and Voicemail are now all in one place. The new feature allows the iPhone to automatically answer calls from unknown numbers instead of the owner, clarifying the caller's name and the purpose of the call. All information is displayed on the screen in text format, which allows the user to decide whether to answer the call or not.

Other changes

AirPods headphones now provide studio-quality sound. Active noise cancellation and noise isolation are supported by AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2.

You can use AirPods to control the camera on your iPhone or iPad. Simply press the AirPods stem to take a photo or record a video.

Apple Music now offers song lyrics translation. And for those who like to sing without knowing a foreign language, a special pronunciation function has been added. Thanks to this, the lyrics of songs, for example, in Korean, are written in Latin letters, which allows the listener to sing along without knowing the Korean alphabet.

You can now adjust the snooze time of the alarm. The range is from 1 to 15 minutes.

Safari now displays pages in full screen mode. The floating search field has moved to the bottom and has become transparent, like liquid glass. This helps to fit more of the necessary information on the screen.

The lock screen always displays the remaining charging time. The system will tell you how many minutes it will take to charge your iPhone to 80% or 100%.

A special battery saving mode has been added. When enabled, your iPhone will automatically reduce the brightness and slow down some applications.

A new Preview app has been added. It allows you to easily edit PDF documents and quickly share them with others.

You can change the background and create polls in the Messages app. For example, you can decide together on which day of the week to hold a meeting.

Which devices support iOS 26 update

iOS 26 is supported by Apple smartphones iPhone 11 and later

iPadOS 26 - available on iPad Pro (3rd generation or later), iPad Air (4th generation or later), iPad mini (6th generation), and standard iPad (10th generation).

WatchOS 11 - available on Apple Watch Series 7 and later.

macOS Tahoe 15 - available on MacBook Air and MacBook Pro (with M1 chip or later), iPad mini (6th generation), and iPad (10th generation).