All the latest features of the new iPhone operating system, including FaceTime updates

Prepare yourself because Apple iOS 26 (not iOS 19) is going to you this fall with new nice features that you will try. What is the most exciting? The redesign of the house and the fresh locking screen that we have been waiting for for years. Nicknamed Liquid Glass, the new look and the sensation will extend in all the next Apple operating systems. The overhaul was one of the many major changes to come on iOS, MacOS, iPados and the rest of Apple’s software suite, which were all presented during the company’s opening note on June 9.

After having overprotted the plans of AI last year, Apple kept its iOS roadmap focused more on the basic improvements in quality of life this year. There are several useful additions to come to telephone applications and messages on your iPhone, for example: Apple managers have described the possibility of eliminating spam SMS or other unknown shippers and an option to hold your place on a telephone call when you wait for a representative to pick up. In addition, a precious functionality that we have held for acquired is to return (index: it is in the photo application).

Siri, meanwhile, is in a maintenance scheme. Apple previously clarified that its smarter vocal assistant – promised for the first time at WWDC 2024 – is delayed up to a certain point “during the coming year”, so you should not expect major changes in current beta. But there are reports that Apple aims to give Siri a larger brain transplant by based it on models of third -party artificial intelligence like the Chatpt of Openai or the Claude d’Anthropic, which could make 2026 a pivot year.

If you are a developer, you can consult the iOS 26 Beta 2 now; The public beta version is coming this month. With each beta version, it seems that new additional improvements appear, as a newly discovered facetime functionality that will freeze your video if it detects nudity. Most recent iPhone models are eligible to download iOS 26 (both beta and the final version). Do you want to see the full list of new features to come this fall? Read the rest.

What is iOS 26?

While the current iPhone operating system is iOS 18, Apple jumps the numbering at iOS 26 later this year. The company has decided to align its iOS version numbers with a year -based system, similar to car model years. Thus, even if iOS and its exploitation systems of brothers and sisters will be published in late 2025, they are all designated “26” to reflect the coming year. (Meanwhile, iOS 18 still gets new versions this summer too.)

What is liquid glass design?

Let’s be honest. On all that is announced at WWDC this year, the new liquid glass design was the star of the show. The house screens and locking of the iPhone look almost the same year after year – the last exciting thing (in my opinion) was the possibility of adding your own aesthetics to your home screen by customizing your applications and widgets. So seeing the new lifting of home screens and locking is refreshing.

So what is liquid glass? Apple calls it a “new translucent material” because, well, applications and widgets are clear. However, the screen can always adapt to dark and light modes, depending on the environment. You will also notice buttons with a new floating design in several applications, such as the phone and cards. They are designed to be less entertaining than current buttons, but are always easy to see. While the design overhaul has proven to be controversial since its announcement, some – including becoming Hardawar of Engadget – like the new direction, even if it somewhat recalls the translucent conceptions of Microsoft Windows Vista Aero almost twenty years ago.

That said, from the recently published iOS 26 BETA 2, Apple has already incorporated user comments into the design, by reborn transparency in at least certain places. And although it will continue to evolve, Apple users will not be able to escape it: Liquid Glass has been designed to make all Apple OLs more coherent. Here is an overview of the appearance of translucent aesthetics with the new Tahoe 26 macOS on your desk.

What are the new features and notables of iOS 26?

IOS 26 has a list of new features. Among the most valid:

Redesign of the telephone application: You can finally scroll through contacts, recent calls and voice messages on a single screen. It is also delivered with a new feature called Hold Assist which will inform you when an agent will arrive on the phone so that you can avoid music from the elevator and continue with other tasks.

Live translation in the phone, FaceTime and Messages: iOS 26 provides the possibility of having a conversation by telephone or SMS call with someone who speaks another language. The live translation will translate your conversation into real time, which results in some stop interactions and Go in the examples that Apple shared during its presentation.

Surveys in group cats: Tired of sorting what seems to be hundreds of messages in your group cat? You and your friends can soon create surveys in group messages to decide things like the brunch that you eat or of which you make a car.

Filtering of unknown shippers in messages: If you have not received spam texts on unpaid tolls or other quotes, you are lucky. For those of us who did it, these boring messages will soon be filtered in a separate file.

Visual intelligence: Similar to an inverted Google image search, this new feature will allow you to search for everything on the screen of your iPhone. For example, if you spot a pair of shoes that someone is carrying on an Instagram photo, you can capture it and use visual intelligence to find these (or similar) shoes online.

The photo tabs are back: For all those who are always frustrated by changes in the photos made last year, you will be happy to know that your tabs come back. The library and collections will have their own separate spaces so that you do not have to scroll through Infinity to find what you are looking for.

Easy “communication safety”: A more recent addition to iOS 26 seems to be the function of “communication security” Facetime which takes a pause of communications if and when nudity is detected. The function seems to be a safety functionality of children who use the detection on devices, which thus avoids any problem of confidentiality based on the cloud.

What iPhones can go to iOS 26?

Some iPhone models that run the current version of iOS – iPhone XR, XS and XS Max – will not be compatible with the latest upgrade. But all the iPhones published in 2019 or later will be eligible for the iOS 26 update.

Not listed, here are the new alleged models iPhone 17 (or maybe the iPhone 26?) Which are almost some announced and published in September.

When will the iOS 26 be available?

The IOS 26 public beta version will be available this month (July) via Apple Beta software. If you are not already a member, you will have to register to try all the latest features. Just visit Beta.apple.com and register with your phone number or email address. It’s free.

Once you are and the beta version is available, you can install it by going Parameters > General > Software update and select IOS 26 Public Beta.

A warning word: do not register with your main iPhone unless you agree with the risks that occur with the use of an operating system that is not finalized.

When will the final version of iOS 26 be published?

iOS 26 will be published to the public this fall. It usually arrives in September, during the week following the Apple iPhone event. Last year, it was reduced to iPhone users on September 16 – exactly a week after the IPhone 16 range announces.

If you are more interested in the features of Apple Intelligence to come, here is all that Apple revealed for iOS, MacOS and more during WWDC. Also discover how iOS 26 screenshots could be an intriguing overview of Apple delayed Siri retouching.

Update, July 3: Noted from the new Facetime feature found in the developer’s beta version.

Update, June 30: Noted the current versions of iOS 18, and reports that Apple envisages additional external LLMs for Siri.

Update, June 25: Noted changes added in iOS 26 beta 2.

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