iOS 26

iOS 26.1, which Apple released Monday, brings five features you should check out immediately after you install the update.

The biggest change gives you a way to customize the legibility of Liquid Glass, the major user interface overhaul Apple delivered to all its software platforms this year. But there’s plenty of other cool stuff you don’t want to miss.

Other key upgrades come to Apple Music and the iPhone’s alarm clock interface. Plus, there’s a setting that can keep your iPhone battery from draining in your pocket. And for iPad owners, there’s the celebrated return of Slide Over on iPad.

iOS 26.1 is expected as early as Monday, but Apple always keeps pushing ahead. As a result, iOS 26.2 beta 1 could be out on Tuesday.

The same goes for macOS Tahoe 26.2 beta 1, iPadOS 26.2 beta 1, watchOS 26.2 beta 1, tvOS 26.2 beta 1 and visionOS 26.2 beta 1.

In addition to a bunch of much-needed bug fixes, iOS 26.1 brings plenty of new features. Tweaks to Liquid Glass improve its legibility without sacrificing its cool effects. iPad multitaskers can rejoice the return of Slide Over, which returns better than before.

There are 20 new changes: A new user interface for alarms, improvements to Photos, a new gesture for quickly fast-forwarding music, a setting that fixes a long-standing problem with the Lock Screen, and much more.

Here’s the complete list. Read on or watch our hands-on video.

Apple seeded the release candidates of iOS 26.1 and macOS Tahoe 26.1 to developers and the public on Tuesday. This is usually the final step before new versions launch — which should happen next week. The highlight is a new setting that makes the controversial Liquid Glass UI less transparent.

Release candidates for iPadOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, tvOS 26.1 and visionOS 26.1 also went out to on Tuesday.

The upcoming iOS 26.1 makes it easy to disable Liquid Glass, the translucent, glasslike user interface recently added to the iPhone (and Apple’s other devices). But judging from the results of a poll of Cult of Mac newsletter readers, a large majority of users are quite happy with Liquid Glass.

There’ve been plenty of complaints about the new look, but it seems these are coming from a vocal minority.

With iOS 26.1, Apple will finally address one of the most annoying issues iPhone users face when uploading photos to third-party apps. They will no longer need to keep the app open for the upload process to complete.

Right now, only Apple’s Photos app can reliably back up your pictures to the cloud even if the app is not in the foreground.

iOS 26.1 beta 4, which Apple released to developers Monday, brings two major new updates — and they both offer ways to turn off existing features. 

Find out what the new toggles do, and everything new we have found in the first four iOS 26.1 betas so far, below.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: After OpenAI’s Sora app races to the top of the App Store charts, it’s time to consider how fantastic and terrifying it really is.

The iPhone-only app produces startlingly photorealistic videos of wacky things like Pikachu as a World War II soldier and iJustine wrestling an elephant. Will we ever be able to believe our eyes again?

Also on The CultCast:

• Former Apple design chief Jony Ive and his new BFFs at OpenAI reportedly run into some serious problems as they work to create an AI device to take on the iPhone.
• iOS 26 lets you screen iPhone calls even more efficiently than before. Griffin shows us how it the upgraded features work.
• A switcher lands a great deal on a MacBook Air, then goes all in on the Apple ecosystem. Talk about the halo effect!
• And finally, the latest iOS 26.1 beta brings some interesting new features — Griffin tells us all about them.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video version, embedded below.

iOS 26.0.1 and macOS Tahoe 26.0.1 launched on Monday, bringing a range of bug fixes to the major operating system upgrades introduced earlier this month. That includes taking care of multiple issues in the new iPhone 17 series — some quite serious. 

In addition, iPadOS 26.0.1, watchOS 26.0.2, tvOS 26.0.1 and visionOS 26.0.1 all went to users on Monday.

iOS 26 includes an anti-spam feature that can protect you from getting bombarded with text message spam on your iPhone. You just have to activate it.

It’s easy. Here’s what to do to save yourself from the hassle and potential cost of spam texts.

Taking a cue from the iPhone’s Messages app, Meta is adding message translations to WhatsApp. With this feature, you can directly translate chats in a conversation into a familiar language.

At launch, the translate tool will support over 19 languages on the iPhone. 

Code found in iOS 26 beta 1 reportedly reveals that Apple is prepping a new feature: Background Security Improvements. These will patch security problems and won’t need the user to be involved or even be aware that a patch is being applied to their iPhone.

This is apparently the replacement for Rapid Security Responses, an iPhone security tool that Apple introduced but then hasn’t used in years.

A week after the release of iOS 26, Apple has stopped signing iOS 18.6.2. So, you can no longer downgrade your iPhone from iOS 26 to iOS 18.

This move is standard practice for Apple. It usually stops signing older iOS builds shortly after a major update goes public.

This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: Now that we’re all running the latest software versions on our iPhones and Apple Watches, it’s time to go over the coolest new features.

Yes, Apple’s new Liquid Glass user interface takes some getting used to, but it’s pretty sweet in the end. And there are a bunch of other great additions we love. Join us for the conversation!

Also on The CultCast:

• A MacBook Pro with a touchscreen?!? It might be in the pipeline.
• The updates in iPadOS 26 finally fix the tablet’s multitasking problem.
• The Mac App Store is currently broken — but there’s a workaround.
• Cult of Mac’s buyback program buys everything from AirPods and iPhones to MacBooks and Magic Keyboards, damaged or not. Get your quote now.

Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.

Liquid Glass in iOS 26 brings dramatic change to the look of the iPhone user interface, so it’s no surprise that some people hate it. If it’s just not for you, the option to turn off Liquid Glass exists. And it’s easy.

The same setting is available in macOS Tahoe and iPadOS 26, so you can turn off Liquid Glass on all your devices. Here’s how:

iPhone users who just installed iOS 26 might notice a reduction in their battery life, or that their phone is heating up. The devices might even be running a bit slower. A new Apple support document explains that this is temporary as the iOS update process continues in the background.

In iOS 26, the awesome new Spatial Scenes feature lets you convert an ordinary 2D photo to a 3D scene that moves in your hand. It doesn’t have to be a recent picture or one taken with a special camera, either. You can try out Apple’s new 3D effect on any decent photo, even if it’s from 20 years ago.

You can play with Spatial Scenes in the Photos app, converting images and seeing how the effect works. But the best part is that you can set one as your iPhone’s Lock Screen wallpaper, and see it every time you unlock your phone. It even works with the excellent Photo Shuffle feature, so you’ll keep getting new ones to gawk at.

Check out the GIFs below that show how Spatial Scenes work, or watch our hands-on demo video.

iOS 26 introduces a new Adaptive Power mode to extend your iPhone’s battery under load. And Apple’s newest iPhones — iPhone 17, iPhone 17 Pro and iPhone Air — will ship with this feature enabled by default. 

On older iPhones, you must manually enable Adaptive Power to boost their runtime.

iOS 26 is a major new update that brings the biggest visual redesign in 12 years — on top of more than 70 new features. It’s easy to overlook the new goodies that Apple sprinkled throughout the operating system because the shiny Liquid Glass user interface takes center stage.

But iOS 26 brings loads of great enhancements to Apple’s major apps. Group chats in Messages become much more useful. The Phone app gets a fresh design and plenty of smart new features. Other great enhancements level up Safari, Passwords, Maps, Photos, Journal and other Apple apps. And just like previous years, Apple added an expansive list of useful accessibility features you should check out.

iOS 26 is out now. Here’s where to find the good stuff — keep reading or watch our video.

Apple is finally ready to release iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26 and macOS Tahoe to the public. After initially showcasing these operating systems at WWDC25 this spring, the company will release the first stable build on September 15.

So when will iOS 26 actually land on your compatible iPhone? With all the new features packed in, you’ll want to be first in line to grab the update. Here’s when iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26 and macOS Tahoe go live in your region.

Apple on Tuesday seeded to developers and the public the release candidates for iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe. This is usually the final step before new versions launch — which should happen next week.

The release candidates for iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26 also went out on Tuesday.

Following months of beta testing since WWDC25, Apple is finally ready to release iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe to the public. These operating systems finally have a release date.

The updates will start rolling out as early as September 15, just a week after Apple’s Awe Dropping event.

Everyone eager to get their hands on iOS 26 should mark September 15 on their calendar as the launch day. Based on years of previous Apple OS releases, that’s almost certainly when the new Liquid Glass user interface, plus all the other enhancements in the new iPhone operating system, will debut.

The same goes for iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26 and visionOS 26. All of these should go out on September 15.

But macOS Tahoe 26 might be different. There’s evidence to suggest Apple might wait an additional week or even more for that upgrade.

For the first time in 18 years, Apple redesigned the oft-overlooked Phone app. The overhaul coming soon in iOS 26 simplifies the Phone app’s layout, putting your favorites, call history and voicemails in one tab, and providing easier access to search.

Its fancy Liquid Glass-inspired layout goes hand-in-hand with the Phone app’s excellent call filtering features.

Here’s how you can learn to love the new design — and how to nope out of it if you don’t like it.

Apple will reportedly take on OpenAI and Perplexity with its own AI-powered web search. Known internally as the World Knowledge Answers, the feature should launch by next year.

The company will integrate it directly into Siri and may eventually bring it to Safari and Spotlight.