Apple released iOS 26 on September 15, 2025. The headline change is a system-wide aesthetic called Liquid Glass: a translucent, glass-like UI that extends across apps, the lock screen and home screen. You can’t fully disable it, but you can reduce its transparency in Accessibility settings.
Quick highlights
- Liquid Glass — translucent UI across iPhone, iPad and Mac (adjustable: Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Reduce Transparency).
- Phone app redesign — contacts, recents and voicemail on one screen; new Hold Assist to notify you when an agent answers so you can avoid waiting on hold.
- Live Translation — real-time translation for Phone, FaceTime and Messages using Apple Intelligence.
- Polls in group messages — create polls to decide quickly in group chats.
- Filtering unknown senders — spam and unknown senders are filtered into a separate folder in Messages.
- Visual Intelligence — search what’s on-screen (like reverse image search).
- Camera & Photos — simplified camera controls, lens-cleaning alerts, and Photos tabs restored.
- New Screenshot tools — highlight-to-search, Google search and ChatGPT image queries.
- Preview app — scan, edit PDFs, remove image backgrounds and annotate.
How to make Liquid Glass less clear
If the new translucent look isn’t for you, try these settings:
- Reduce Motion: Settings > Accessibility > Motion > Reduce Motion
- Reduce Transparency: Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Reduce Transparency
- Change an app appearance: long-press an app > Edit Home Screen > Edit > Customize > choose Default, Dark or Tinted
AirPods & other updates
iOS 26 adds AirPods features like Live Translation support when paired with compatible AirPods and an iPhone running iOS 26. Looking for AirPods Pro 3? Search on Amazon: AirPods Pro 3 on Amazon (affiliate).
Should you update?
iOS 26 is available now to supported iPhones (2019+ models). Apple also released iOS 18.7 for devices not eligible for iOS 26 to address security fixes. If you prefer stability, wait for early bug-fix updates (26.1). If you want the new features, go ahead and upgrade.
Official Apple pages: Apple iOS overview · Apple Newsroom release
Which iOS 26 feature are you most excited to try? Reply below — I’d love to hear.