iOS 26 makes massive changes to your iPhone’s home screen and major apps

Macworld

When you update to iOS 26 this fall, your iPhone is going to feel dramatically different. There are always lots of new features in each major yearly release, but few are as in-your-face as those this year. There’s an all new design and dramatic changes to some of the apps you use most, including Phone, Camera, Messages, and Safari.

Here are the biggest changes coming to iOS this year.

Jumping up to 26

Apple is changing its naming scheme from sequential version numbers (which were all over the place, with different devices having different version numbers) to a year-based system. The OS versions that will carry Apple through 2026 will all be version “26.” So you’ll have iOS 26, macOS 26, visionOS 26, tvOS 26, and so on.

So don’t be confused—on your iPhone, 26 comes right after 18!

Liquid Glass

Apple’s bringing an all-new design to iOS and all its other operating systems. The featured element is something it calls Liquid Glass, which means interface elements look almost like glass…transparent, 3D, reacting to light and your touch.

This affects icons and widgets, which now have a new “transparent” option in addition to light, dark, and tinted modes. But it’s also a big change to how interfaces work. Groups of controls no longer occupy a rectangular bar at the bottom of the screen, but are stuffed into floating elements that pop out additional controls, change as you move between views, and tuck away when you scroll.

Apple

This new look will be found in Apple’s major apps, and across devices from Apple TV to Mac and Apple Watch.

Your wallpapers will get new dynamic powers, too. On the Lock Screen, for example, the time grows and shrinks automatically to fill available space on your photos, and your photos slide up as notifications come in.

Apple

Big app updates

There are always updates to apps in the big iOS update, but it’s rare to see so many of the most-used apps changing so dramatically. Here are some of the updates you’ll see this fall:

Camera: The Camera app gets a new simplified interface that emphasis just Photos and Videos and gets most of the other elements out of the way. Swipe to the side to show other modes like Panoramic or Slow-mo, swipe up to show all your other photo controls, or access all your format settings at the top of the screen.

Apple

And the Photos app is sure to please those who hate the changes from iOS 18, because it now has two separate views: one for your library and one for collections, so you can kinda go back to the way it was before.

Phone: The main screen will pins your favorite contacts at the top, and then shows recent calls and voicemails in a single chronological list below. Apple Intelligence summarizes voicemails, too. If you need your contacts or keypad, you’ll find them in little “Liquid Glass” flyout menus at the bottom of the screen. Apple says the new view will be optional so if you like the old way you can keep it.

But Apple is doing more with AI to address pain points with your phone. A new Call Screening option will answer calls silently in the background and let someone describe why they’re calling. Then, you can see the text of what they said on your screen and decide whether to pick up or not. Hold Assist is another helpful option. It automatically detects hold music and can mute the call, allowing you to use your iPhone for other things or work oso something else without hanging up. Then, when the live agent connects, you’ll get a notification that it’s time to pick up.

Apple

Messages: There’s a new polls feature that’s sure to be popular. You can add a poll to iMessage group chats and watch people vote in real time, and AI will suggest polls when you ask a question that requires multiple responses. Message threads can now have persistent backgrounds (there are new dynamic backgrounds, or you can choose your own image). When you get a text from an unknown sender, it now goes into a separate list you access through one of the Liquid Glass menus tucked away in the corner. They come in silently until you decide if that sender is legit or spam. But Apple will use AI to make sure you don’t miss important info such as one-time authentication codes or texts from a restaurant or other waitlist.

Apple Music: You can pin the music you like most, whether it’s an artist, album, or playlist. A new auto-mix option uses AI to flow between songs like a DJ, fading between them and matching beats.

Maps: New AI tools will recognize your preferred routes and surface them with info about travel time, and you can optionally let AI automatically detect the places you visit and keep them in a list so you can easily recall or share details about places you’ve been. They’re all stored with end-to-end encryption, so nobody else (including Apple) knows where you’ve been. And you can delete any stored place with a swipe.

Games: A new Games app brings together your whole games Library, all the Apple Arcade games, and your friends list. It’s designed to be used in either portrait or landscape and to be navigated with a controller, too.

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Live Translation

New live, real-time translation tools permeate iOS 26.

For example, you can get real-time captions on FaceTime calls. If you make a voice call, an AI voice can translate what you say to the person you’re calling, and translate what they say back to you. And that works even if the other person doesn’t have an iPhone.

Apple

In Apple Music, you can get live translation for lyrics on songs in a foreign language. And for some languages, you can get a pronunciation guide in real time, so you can sing along in the foreign language.

And of course, Messages gets translation tools, too. What you type can be translated into another language as it is sent to someone else, and their replies can be automatically translated to your language.

Visual Intelligence everywhere

Finally, one of the best features of iOS 18 (on supported iPhones) is getting a lot more useful.

Visual Intelligence used to be sort of a camera mode—it opens a camera view and you have to take a photo of something to get information about it, or add details to your contacts or calendar.

Apple

Now, Visual Intelligence essentially works with screenshots. Just grab a screenshot of any webpage, social media post, or whatever else you’ve got on your screen. You can then highlight an object or area you want to get info on or search for, but Visual Intelligence will also just look at your screenshot to make suggestions like calendar events or contacts so you can add them with a tap.

Of course there are dozens of other features in iOS 26, so be sure to check out all our WWDC coverage as we dive into the details.

Compatability

Apple says iOS 26 will be compatible with the following phones: