iOS 26 brings a new Liquid Glass look and practical upgrades to calls, messages, and photos.
iOS 26 is Apple's biggest iPhone software redesign in years, and it changes far more than the wallpaper, from the way calls are screened to how messages, photos, and games work.
Apple announced iOS 26 at WWDC in June 2025 and released it that September, jumping straight from iOS 18 to iOS 26 so the version number matches the year most people use it.
The update is available for iPhone 11 and later models, including the second-generation iPhone SE and newer, although some Apple Intelligence features need a newer iPhone such as the iPhone 15 Pro or later.
Here are the 12 new features worth trying first, with simple steps for each one, so you can get the most from the update without digging through every settings menu.
Key Highlights of iOS 26
Liquid Glass redesign. Translucent, glass-like controls now run across the Lock Screen, Home Screen, Control Center, and Apple apps, giving the whole system a lighter and more modern feel.
Smarter Phone app. A unified layout, Call Screening for unknown numbers, and Hold Assist for long waits make the oldest iPhone app feel genuinely new again.
Better Messages. Polls, custom backgrounds, spam screening, and live translation turn group chats into a faster and less noisy place to plan things together.
Visual Intelligence everywhere. Screenshots can now be searched, shopped, and turned into calendar events, which turns a quick capture into a useful action in seconds.
A dedicated Games app. All your games, achievements, events, and friends' activity now live in one place, instead of being scattered across the App Store and Game Center.
Live Translation built in. Messages, FaceTime, and phone calls can now be translated in real time, which is a genuine help for travel, family, and international work.
1. Liquid Glass: The New Look
Liquid Glass is the headline design change in iOS 26, replacing flat buttons and menus with translucent, layered controls that reflect and refract light as you scroll and swipe.
You will notice it first on the Lock Screen, where the clock adapts to your wallpaper and notifications, and in Control Center, where toggles and sliders now look like frosted glass panels.
App icons can also take on a clearer, glass-like style, and Safari pages now stretch edge to edge, with a compact tab bar that shrinks as you scroll down the page.
If the new look feels too bright or busy, open Settings, then Accessibility, then Display and Text Size, and try Reduce Transparency or the later Liquid Glass tint options to calm the effect down.
Tip: give yourself a few days before judging the design, because most users find Liquid Glass feels strange on day one and natural by the end of the first week.
2. A Smarter, Unified Phone App
The Phone app now combines favourites, recents, and voicemail into a single scrolling view, so you can find a contact, a missed call, and a voicemail without switching tabs constantly.
The unified layout also makes the app faster to use one-handed, because the most common actions sit near the bottom of the screen, within easy thumb reach on larger iPhones.
If you prefer the old layout, you can still switch back in the Phone settings, which is worth knowing before you assume Apple has removed your familiar tab bar for good.
Tip: pin your most-called contacts as favourites first, because the new layout rewards a tidy favourites list far more than the old tabbed design ever did.
3. Call Screening for Unknown Numbers
Call Screening is one of the most practical iOS 26 features, because it answers calls from unknown numbers, asks who is calling and why, and shows you the answer before your phone rings.
You can then decide whether to pick up, send the call to voicemail, or ignore it completely, which cuts spam, scam attempts, and awkward calls from numbers you do not recognise.
To turn it on, open Settings, then Apps, then Phone, and look for the unknown caller options, where you can choose to ask unknown callers for a reason before ringing.
Tip: tell friends and delivery drivers to state their name clearly when prompted, because a mumbled answer can make a genuine call look like spam at first glance.
4. Hold Assist: Never Wait on Hold Again
Hold Assist detects hold music on a call and lets you put the phone down, so you can do other things while the call stays connected in the background.
When a real person finally answers, your iPhone alerts you and tells the agent you will join in a moment, which saves you from listening to hold music for twenty minutes straight.
Hold Assist works on iPhone 12, the third-generation iPhone SE, and later models, and availability varies by country and carrier, so check the Phone settings if you cannot see the option.
Tip: use Hold Assist for airlines, banks, and customer service lines, because those are exactly the calls where hold times are longest and the feature saves the most time.
5. Messages Polls for Group Chats
Messages now supports polls in group chats, so you can ask everyone where to eat, when to meet, or which film to watch, and collect the votes in one tidy message.
Apple Intelligence can even suggest a poll when it spots a decision in the conversation, such as friends debating dinner plans, which removes the need to set the poll up manually.
To create a poll, open a group conversation, tap the plus button, choose Poll, add your options, and send it, then watch the votes update live as friends respond.
Tip: keep polls short with three or four options, because long polls slow down decisions, while a tight list usually produces a clear winner within minutes.
6. Messages Backgrounds and Spam Screening
Messages also gains custom backgrounds, so you can give each conversation its own look, using built-in dynamic designs, your own photos, or an image created with Image Playground.
Backgrounds are a small touch, but they make it much easier to tell conversations apart at a glance, especially when you juggle family, work, and hobby group chats every day.
On the practical side, messages from unknown senders are now screened into a separate inbox, while urgent texts such as verification codes still reach your main list without delay.
Tip: check the screened inbox once a week, because a genuine message from a new number can occasionally land there, even though most screened messages are spam.
7. Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime, and Calls
Live Translation is the iOS 26 feature most likely to impress travellers, because it translates text in Messages, captions in FaceTime, and spoken words on phone calls in real time.
In Messages, incoming texts arrive in your preferred language, while in FaceTime, translated captions appear above the video, so you can follow a conversation even when you share no common language.
On a phone call, you hear the translation spoken aloud as the other person talks, which is slower than a normal chat but far better than struggling through a language barrier unaided.
Tip: download the languages you need before a trip and test a short call first, because translation quality and speed vary by language pair and network conditions.
8. Visual Intelligence From Any Screenshot
Visual Intelligence used to work mainly through the camera, but iOS 26 extends it to screenshots, so anything on your screen can now be searched, identified, or acted upon.
Take a screenshot and you can search for a product in the image, find a similar item in a shopping app, or ask ChatGPT about something you see on social media.
You can also create a calendar event from a poster or flyer in a screenshot, which is perfect for concerts, sales, and community events you spot while scrolling.
Tip: use Visual Intelligence for shopping research and event planning first, because those are the tasks where a screenshot search saves the most copying, pasting, and typing.
9. The New Apple Games App
The new Games app gathers everything gaming-related into one hub, including your installed games, achievements, leaderboards, challenges, and in-game events, in a single view.
It also shows what friends are playing, which makes it easier to discover new games, join a challenge, or jump back into a game you had forgotten about months ago.
For parents, the Games app makes it simpler to see what children are playing, although Screen Time controls remain the right place to set limits and approve purchases.
Tip: open the Games app after updating and let it rebuild your library, because the first launch can take a moment while it gathers your games and achievements together.
10. Photos: Library and Collections, Separated Again
The Photos app splits back into separate Library and Collections tabs, which fixes one of the most common complaints about the previous redesign, where everything felt merged into one endless scroll.
The Library tab keeps your photos in date order for browsing and searching, while Collections groups albums, memories, trips, and shared albums into a cleaner, more organised view.
You can also customise which collections appear and in what order, so the Photos app can focus on the albums you actually open, rather than every category Apple thinks you need.
Tip: spend five minutes reordering Collections after updating, because a tidy Photos app makes it far easier to find holiday pictures, receipts, and family memories later.
11. Spatial Scenes and a More Expressive Lock Screen
iOS 26 can turn an ordinary photo into a spatial scene, giving it a subtle three-dimensional effect that shifts as you move your iPhone, which makes favourite photos feel more alive on the Lock Screen.
The Lock Screen clock also adapts to your wallpaper, growing, shrinking, and repositioning itself so it never covers the most important part of the image you chose.
Combined with the new Liquid Glass controls, the Lock Screen now feels more personal and expressive, without requiring you to install a third-party wallpaper or widget app.
Tip: pick a wallpaper with a clear subject and empty space above it, because spatial scenes and the adaptive clock both work best when the photo has room to breathe.
12. Safari, CarPlay, and Everyday Polish
Safari gets a floating, rounded tab bar that sits at the bottom of the screen and shrinks as you scroll, giving web pages more room while keeping search and refresh within thumb reach.
CarPlay adopts the Liquid Glass design too, with translucent controls, compact incoming-call banners, and widgets that keep navigation visible even when a call or message arrives.
Smaller touches add up across the system, including order tracking summaries in Mail and Wallet, smarter Reminders suggestions, Markdown import and export in Notes, and multiple journals in the Journal app.
Tip: explore CarPlay and Safari first if you drive or browse daily, because those two apps show off the new design and the new compact controls better than any other part of iOS 26.
How to Update to iOS 26
Before updating, back up your iPhone to iCloud or a computer, and make sure you have at least a few gigabytes of free storage, because a failed update with no backup is a painful lesson.
Then open Settings, tap General, tap Software Update, and follow the prompts to download and install iOS 26, keeping your phone plugged in and connected to Wi-Fi during the process.
After the update, your iPhone may feel warm and slightly slower for a few hours while it reindexes photos and files, which is normal, so judge speed and battery life after a full day, not immediately.
If an app misbehaves after updating, check the App Store for an update first, because most launch-week glitches are fixed quickly by app developers rather than by Apple alone.
Compatibility: Will Your iPhone Get iOS 26?
iOS 26 supports iPhone 11 and later, including the iPhone SE from the second generation onwards, which covers most iPhones sold in the last six years.
Older models such as the iPhone X and iPhone 8 do not receive iOS 26, although Apple typically continues to provide important security updates for older software for a limited period afterwards.
Apple Intelligence features, including the most advanced writing, image, and translation tools, require an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, or a later model with sufficient on-device processing power.
If your iPhone is not eligible, you can still benefit from app updates and security patches, but the Liquid Glass design and the new Phone and Messages features will remain exclusive to supported models.
Tips for a Smoother iOS 26 Experience
Turn on Call Screening and Hold Assist on day one, because those two Phone features deliver immediate, everyday value, unlike design changes that are mostly cosmetic at first.
Customise the Lock Screen and Control Center early, since a few minutes of setup makes the new Liquid Glass design feel intentional, rather than something Apple imposed on your phone.
Review the new Messages screening inbox and notification settings together, because the goal is fewer interruptions from strangers, not missing messages from people who actually matter.
Finally, update your apps and restart your phone once after the upgrade, because that simple step clears many of the small glitches that appear in the first days after a major iOS release.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is iOS 26 free? Yes, iOS 26 is a free software update for eligible iPhones, delivered over the air through Settings, then General, then Software Update.
Which iPhones support iOS 26? iPhone 11 and later models, including the second-generation iPhone SE and newer, support iOS 26, while Apple Intelligence features need an iPhone 15 Pro or later.
Can I go back to the old Phone layout? Yes, the Phone settings include an option to restore a more classic layout, so you are not forced to keep the new unified view if you dislike it.
Does Liquid Glass drain the battery? The redesign itself should not cause major battery drain, although any major update can use extra power for a day while the phone reindexes content in the background.
Should I update immediately or wait? Most users can update once the first point release is out, but cautious users may prefer to wait a few weeks for early bugs to be fixed in a follow-up update.
iOS 26 is more than a fresh coat of paint, because Call Screening, Hold Assist, Live Translation, and Visual Intelligence all solve real daily annoyances on the iPhone.
Start with the Phone and Messages upgrades, try one spatial wallpaper, and then explore the Games app and Photos tabs, because those are the features you will still be using months from now.