At WWDC 2025, Apple officially unveiled iOS 26, the next big update for iPhone—and this time, the name reflects the year. The rebranded version ditches the traditional numbering system for a more unified lineup across Apple platforms, bringing iOS in sync with iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, visionOS 26, and tvOS 26.
“iOS 26 shines with the gorgeous new design and meaningful improvements to the features users rely on every day, making iPhone even more helpful,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering. “Experiences are more expressive and personal, from the Lock Screen and Home Screen, to new capabilities across Phone and Messages that help users focus on the connections that matter most. And with powerful new Apple Intelligence capabilities integrated across the system, users can get things done easier than ever.”
Liquid Glass
iOS 26 introduces Liquid Glass, a new design language that draws heavily from visionOS, the interface behind Apple Vision Pro. It brings a glossy, translucent look to buttons, toolbars, and app surfaces, blending layers of interface elements with light-bending effects. The dock, widgets, and even text inputs float above your wallpaper now, with rounded edges and dynamic color changes depending on what’s behind them.
Camera and Safari redesign
The Camera app is getting stripped down for simplicity. Instead of a clutter of tiny icons, it now features just two controls—Camera and Video—with swipes for different modes and a more intuitive gesture layout. The Photos app also moves to a cleaner setup, anchored by a Liquid Glass-inspired menu bar that’s easier to use than the previous scroll-heavy UI.
Safari adopts the translucent aesthetic too, with edge-to-edge webpages and a floating tab bar that shrinks as you scroll. It’s a small change, but it gives everything a more fluid, touch-focused feel.
Messages
Apple is giving the Messages app some love with support for custom and dynamic chat backgrounds, live polls in group chats, and typing indicators for everyone in the thread. The background options include your own photos or AI-generated images via Image Playground.
New spam screening tools help clean up your inbox by sequestering unknown senders, while Apple Intelligence powers Live Translate, allowing you to send and receive messages in your recipient’s language as you type. It even works in FaceTime, which now supports live captions and translations.
Messages also expands the Genmoji feature: now you can combine two emoji to create your own, or use ChatGPT integration to generate emoji with a prompt.
Phone app
The Phone app has undergone its biggest redesign in years. Everything—contacts, call history, voicemail—is now on one scrollable screen. A new translucent toolbar at the bottom gives quick access to contacts and options.
Two standout features here are Call Screening and Hold Assist. Call Screening will answer unknown calls and only ring your phone if the caller identifies themselves and explains why they’re calling. Hold Assist listens to hold music so you don’t have to, then alerts you when a real human picks up.
Visual Intelligence and smarter screenshots
iOS 26 pushes deeper into AI with Visual Intelligence, a feature that lets you take a screenshot and instantly act on what’s in it. See a jacket you like in a post? Screenshot it and search for it online. Take a photo of an event poster, and Visual Intelligence will help you add it to your calendar. You can also highlight parts of the image to refine your query, or ask ChatGPT directly for more context.
Apple Music, Maps, Wallet, and new Games app
Apple Music now supports live lyrics translation and pronunciation features for songs in other languages, along with a new AutoMix tool that DJs your playlists. You can also pin artists and playlists to the top of the app.
Apple Maps gets more personal with features like routine-aware routing and a new Visited Places log so you can easily revisit landmarks, businesses, or cities. It will also ping you when your usual route is backed up with traffic.
Apple Wallet supports digital IDs separate from your government-issued ones, and boarding passes will include indoor airport maps for smoother travel. Meanwhile, Apple Pay can now track deliveries from third-party stores using Apple Intelligence.
The Games app is finally breaking out as its own thing. It pulls in your full App Store game library, features a dedicated Apple Arcade tab, and adds a Challenges mode so you can compete with friends—even in single-player games—through leaderboard comparisons.
Availability
iOS 26 is available now in developer beta, with a public beta launching in July and a general release expected this fall alongside the iPhone 17 lineup. Apple Intelligence features require an iPhone 15 Pro or newer, while most of the redesigned apps—including Camera, Photos, and Safari—will roll out across all devices that support iOS 26. Some features, like Genmoji and writing tools, are only available in U.S. English at launch.
