Neglect Liquid Glass. I am ready for these 7 iOS 26 options.

iOS 26 is coming, and it’s set to be an enormous deal. The brand new working system will get an all-new naming scheme, getting rid of the model numbers and sticking to numbers based mostly on the upcoming 12 months as an alternative. But it surely’s not simply the naming conference that’s altering. iOS 26 brings with it a sequence of main new options, an all-new design, and extra. In truth, it may properly be the largest iOS replace in a few years.

So what are crucial new options to look ahead to? I’ve been utilizing the beta model of iOS 26 because the finish of June. Listed below are my favourite new options.

A unified Cellphone app

Liquid Glass is the large new design language throughout all of Apple’s software program — however Liquid Glass itself isn’t actually a characteristic. It does, nonetheless, carry with it a sequence of secondary design modifications throughout Apple’s apps, like the brand new Cellphone app.

Within the new Cellphone app, the tab bar on the backside of the display is remodeled right into a pill-shaped bar with solely three tabs: Calls, Contacts, and Keypad. So the place are your voicemails and favorites? They’re built-in into the primary “Calls” tab, the place you’ll be able to view voicemails hooked up to any current calls, and see your favourite contacts on the high of the display. It helps make the Cellphone app really feel much less cluttered, however in case you desire the outdated method, you’ll be able to swap again to the “Classic” view to separate issues out once more. Earlier than you accomplish that, observe that you would be able to filter the calls within the Calls tab — so you’ll be able to filter the view to solely present voicemails, with out having to scroll endlessly by way of all these spam calls simply to discover a voicemail that was left final week.

Name screening

Credit score: Christian de Looper / Apple

The iPhone can be doing a greater job of maintaining spam calls at bay. There’s a brand new name screening characteristic that offers you some management over what occurs when a name is available in from somebody who’s not in your contacts. It may be accessed by opening the Settings app, scrolling down the Apps, and choosing Cellphone. From there, you’ll be capable of select from three call-screening choices beneath the title “Screen Unknown Callers.”

The primary choice is to by no means display, which principally implies that your cellphone will all the time ring, whether or not the decision is from an unknown individual or not. The second choice is “Ask Reason for Calling,” which implies that a caller can be requested a couple of questions on why they’re calling, earlier than your cellphone rings, and also you’re supplied with a transcript of their solutions so you’ll be able to resolve for your self whether or not or to not reply. The final choice is “Silence,” which basically silences all calls from unknown numbers and sends them straight to voicemail. 

Higher Visible Intelligence

Credit score: Christian de Looper / Apple

Apple Intelligence could not have fairly lived as much as the hype from final 12 months’s iOS 18, but it surely’s nonetheless getting higher. In iOS 26, you’ll notably get higher Visible Intelligence options. Visible Intelligence basically provides Apple Intelligence entry to the world round you, utilizing the iPhone’s digital camera — so you’ll be able to level it at an indication for translation, for instance. In iOS 26, the large change is that it gained’t simply aid you higher perceive the world round you, but in addition what’s in your iPhone, by way of the power to make use of Apple Intelligence with screenshots. 

To make use of this characteristic, all you could do is take a screenshot, after which you’ll be capable of put it aside to your Photographs, such as you all the time have, however you’ll even be given new “Ask” and “Search” buttons within the backside corners. These are the identical buttons you’ll see on the common Visible Intelligence display. Faucet one among them relying on what you need to do.

Spatial Scenes in your lock display

Credit score: Christian de Looper / Apple

Spatial Scenes makes use of AI to present your photographs an entire new depth. Mainly, Spatial Scenes can take 2D photographs and provides them depth by taking objects within the photograph and creating layers, then filling in a few of the lacking info with AI. When a Spatial Scene is created, you’ll be capable of tilt your cellphone to see the picture shift. It’s a neat impact, and positively provides an entire new dimension to photographs. And, to be clear, you are able to do this with many photographs straight from the Photographs app.

However my favourite use case for the characteristic is placing them on the lock display. To do that, merely maintain down in your lock display to customise it. Alongside the way in which, you’ll see a brand new hexagonal button, which is the button for creating Spatial Scenes. You possibly can toggle it on or off, and the impact ought to present up in real-time, so you’ll be able to preview it earlier than you put it aside.

Backgrounds in iMessage chats

Credit score: Christian de Looper / Apple

iMessage is getting slightly extra customizable, too. In iOS 26, you’ll be capable of add backgrounds to your chats, which is usually a photograph, a easy coloration, or one of many preset photos of the sky, water, and so forth. It isn’t a significant change, but it surely’s a neat method so as to add slightly extra customization to your iMessage chats.

So as to add a background to a chat in iMessage on iOS 26, open the chat and faucet on the identify of the contact or group chat on the high. Then faucet on the Backgrounds tab and select from one of many choices. The background can be seen for all individuals within the chat who’re working iOS 26 or later, so maintain that in thoughts.

Safari is extra minimalistic

Credit score: Christian de Looper / Apple

One other app that’s getting the Liquid Glass minimalism therapy is Safari. In iOS 26, Safari will get out of the way in which and places the content material on the internet web page entrance and heart. If you first open Safari in iOS 26, you’ll see the identical buttons, however changed into hovering bubbles as an alternative of a typical menu bar. You’ll get the buttons for ahead and again, the three-dot menu button, and the primary URL bar. As you scroll down an online web page, nonetheless, all of these controls shrink right down to only a small illustration of the URL bar, maximizing the area that the net web page can take up on the display.

The trade-off is that the controls aren’t fairly as accessible. To get the controls again on the display, scroll up slightly or faucet on the small URL bar. Having used iOS 26 for a couple of months now, I can say that it hasn’t actually interrupted how I take advantage of the net on cell a lot. I are likely to open and shut tabs as I am going, so I’m not utilizing the URL bar or controls past that preliminary navigation to an online web page. However others could not have the very same expertise. 

Stay Translation

Yet one more cellphone name characteristic in iOS 26 comes within the type of Stay Translation, which does precisely what it seems like. With the characteristic, you’ll basically be capable of have cellphone calls in two completely different languages. When the individual on the opposite finish of the decision speaks, an AI voice will say the interpretation in your language, and also you’ll see the translated phrases on the display. Then, once you discuss, your phrases can be translated, and the individual on the opposite finish of the decision will hear a translation of what you’re saying.

Maybe the most effective factor about this characteristic is that all of it occurs on your iPhone. That implies that the opposite individual within the name could be on any random cellphone — your iPhone does the translating and sends audio of your translated voice instead of your precise voice. The characteristic solely works for one-on-one calls, and helps English, French, German, Portuguese, and Spanish — although it’s doubtless different languages can be added down the road.