Despite a long WWDC Kynote, Apple did not have time to advertise each new feature with iOS 26. As such, we continue to learn more about new features and smaller changes than beta testers explore the new operating system. These testers have sniffed a new addition which is small, but fun: your iPhone obtains a new ringtone.
Technically, he obtained a different version of an existing ringtone. At least, this is how Apple apparently sees things: after the release of iOS 26 Beta 2, Apple, for the first time, added an alternative version of one of its signature ringtones – in particular, “reflection”, the default iOS ringtone that Apple initially introduced with the iPhone X. Rounding settings. Press this and you will see two options: “default”, which is familiar tone, and “Alt 1.” It’s your new ringtone.
What is perhaps more interesting than the tone itself is the fact that the observers of Beta Keen found it buried in the first beta for iOS 26: although Alt 1 was not an option in the ringtones, the Sound file itself was Present in the IPSW file for the operating system, as this user X discovered on June 18. You can hear the ringing itself in the integrated post:
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I hear similarities between the Alt 1 versions and by default of the reflection, but, to be honest, Alt 1 seems unique enough to my ear to deserve its own entry. Apple could have called this “rumination” or “refraction” or anything really, and I do not think that many have complained that it sounded too close to the existing default ring.
What do you think so far?
To be fair, however, Alt 1 East A pretty cool name for a ringtone. And who knows – Apple could change the name or make a separate entry before the operating system is officially released. It could also add more alternative tones or completely delete Alt 1. We will not know before the final version of iOS 26 deploys this fall.
