Apple’s iOS 26 software update for iPhone will be available to iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2 and others afterwards on Monday. The marquee feature for iOS 26 is Apple’s Liquid Glass Design. This includes on-screen elements that resemble “glass-like” appearance. Other features include Call Screening Assistant, new game and preview apps, system-wide in-app translations, and updates to the Genmoji and Image Playground apps.
The operating system update also went through a major numerical change as Apple jumped from iOS 18 to iOS 26 for two main reasons. First, I wanted to sync all my operating systems like iOS, iPados, macos, watchos, vos, visionos, etc. They also wanted to reflect the number of years the majority of people use this update.
Liquid glass
Liquid glass design has been the most important visual overhaul for iOS for many years. Apple’s intention with this redesign was to take inspiration from the Vision Pro interface and apply it to all operating systems. The elements are intended to appear to be made of semi-transparent glass. This has created challenges in terms of readability and what the background elements look like.

Since June, Apple has changed the interface multiple times through its beta release. The company is releasing a stable version of iOS 26 today, but we may expect visual tweaks to improve readability and usability in the coming months. This visual change can take a little time for the user to adjust and may not like certain elements immediately.
Apple app
The phone app has a new unified look with favorites above in card format with recon and voicemail on the same screen. You can also view these sections individually by tapping the filter button in the top right corner. (If you don’t like the new interface, Apple also offers the option to switch to a classic look.)
iOS 26 brings call screening capabilities to your iPhone. This is my personal favorite. When an unknown number calls you, the system asks for their name and the purpose of the call. Once they provide this information, the system will call the ringer and notify you of the call. You can watch the conversation and intervene at any time. Voicemail transcription doesn’t work well in all languages, but call screening reduced the number of calls I had to cover.

There is also a holding assist when restaurants and helplines put you on hold. You can use call assist to notify you when an agent starts talking again.
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The Messages app uses other chat apps such as WhatsApp and Telegram within the group, as well as other chat apps such as Telegram, as well as other chat apps such as Telegram, and Telegram. Apple has been working on SMS filtering for several years. The company said it updated its spam filtering with the release. Additionally, it places messages from unknown senders in a new folder. One thing I didn’t like about this update is[トランザクション]It takes a few taps to go to the tab.

Overhauling a gaming app means you can see the games you are playing (or played) your arcade games, challenges and achievements in one place and see suggestions for new titles. The app also shows what your friends are playing.
Apple eventually added the preview app for Mac to iOS 26. This means that you can edit, annotate and sign PDFs more easily.
Meanwhile, Apple Music has automation for dynamic song switching, along with lyrics translation and pronunciation. Plus, you can pin your favorite songs and playlists.

With iOS 26, Apple Maps allows you to define preferred routes on your commute. If the route selection is more traffic or incident, the map will send a notification along with suggesting alternative routes. This app also allows you to easily view locations you have visited through your new location library.
The iOS 26 camera app uses Liquid Glass Design, which only has videos and photos visible by default. You can scroll left or right to toggle between different modes. Apple has controls such as Flash and Night mode in the top right corner, allowing you to turn them on and off with just one touch. Other options such as filters, styles, exposure controls, and timers can be swiped from the bottom of the screen.

If you didn’t like the design of the previous photo app, the tab will revert to this version.
AI Features
Unlike last year’s large-scale launch of Apple Intelligence, this year’s operating system is being downplayed by AI capabilities, especially given the delay in feature launch and deployment. The company makes AI-powered translations easy to use in apps such as messaging, FaceTime and phone. Currently, this feature supports English (UK, US), French (France), German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain).

Through iOS 26, the company has begun live translations on AirPods, including the newly launched Airpods Pro 3, Airpods Pro 2, and Airpods 4.
iOS 26 updates visual intelligence to understand content on screen. You must press the Power + Volume Down button to view this menu. Apple Intelligence can suggest events to add to your calendar. You can also use Google Visual Search or ChatGPT to ask questions about content on-screen. Apple is releasing its own “Circle to Search,” called Highlight.
The most confusing part of this update is that the buttons used to discover visual intelligence on the screen are the same as the screenshot buttons. For this reason, additional steps were required to save the screenshot, and I forgot to save the important screenshot.

Apple can update Genmoji with iOS 26 to integrate two emojis with text prompts and create something new. Now you can add expression to both Genmoji and Image Playground people. Updated Image Playground allows you to change attributes such as hair and facial hair, along with new styles in ChatGpt.
Other features
Now you can set the alarm snooze time from 1 to 15 minutes. With the wallet app update, you can create a digital ID through your passport and present it to the TSA at the airport. Additionally, the app has improved the boarding pass pass screen, which comes with detailed information about the airport and flight. Audio recording on iOS 26 allows you to select an input source. It also offers audio quarantine and the ability to capture audio and video locally. This is useful for creators who use video calls to record podcasts. Apple makes reminders intelligent by automatically generating groceries from recipes on web pages. You can also view reminders based on email, websites, or notes you are viewing. The App Store has accessibility nutrition labels and shows the presence of features including voice over, voice control, greater text, sufficient contrast, reduced movement, and captions with updated parental controls that allow Apple to limit communication from new phone numbers without approval and allow for age-appropriate experiences with third-party apps.
Here is a list of small but useful iOS features. Updated to iOS 26[設定]>[一般的な]>[ソフトウェアの更新]and you can go to the latest version download.
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