iOS 26 brings Liquid Glass, new UI features, and many useful improvements

Liquid Glass: a new visual image

The biggest change is the revamped Liquid Glass design, which brings a translucent, glassy look and takes inspiration from the Apple Vision Pro interface. While it's visually appealing, test versions have shown some readability challenges, so Apple is still tweaking elements to improve the user experience.

What's new in Apple apps

Application “Phone” now has a unified view, with favorite contacts displayed at the top, recent calls and voicemail on the same page. Users also have the option to return to the classic interface. iOS 26 brings call screening assistant: when a call is received from an unknown number, the system asks for the name and purpose of the call, and then informs the user. A “holding assist” function has also been added, which alerts the user when an agent answers while waiting for a call.

“Messages” They get a range of new features, such as conversation backgrounds, polls, photo previews, text highlighting and typing indicators in groups. Spam filtering has been upgraded, and messages from unknown senders are now in a special folder.

Application "Games” allows you to review games, achievements and challenges in one place – with suggestions for new titles and insight into the games your friends are playing. An application has also been added “Preview”, downloaded from Mac, which allows you to edit, sign, and mark up PDF documents.

“Apple Music” brings the function ""automixing" for dynamic song transitions, lyrics translation, and the ability to pin favorite songs and playlists. “Apple Maps” now allows you to set favorite routes, warn about traffic jams and a library of visited places.

Application “Camera” is simplified: by default, only photo and video options are visible, and additional settings such as filters, lighting, and timer are accessible by swiping up.

Artificial intelligence features

Although Apple paid a lot of attention to “Apple Intelligence” last year, this year there is less artificial intelligence functionality. What’s new is artificial intelligence translation in the “Messages”, “FaceTime” and “Phone” apps, which currently supports English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. Live translation is now also possible through AirPods headphones (Pro 3, Pro 2 and AirPods 4).

Visual intelligence recognizes content on the screen with the Power + Volume Down shortcut. Apple Intelligence then suggests calendar events or additional information via “Highlight,” Apple’s version of “Circle to search,” where you circle content on the screen to learn more about it.

Other useful innovations

• Option to set alarm clock snooze times (1–15 minutes).
• Updated application "Wallet” allows for the creation of digital identification and a redesigned screen for airline tickets.
• Audio recording now allows source selection and voice isolation, which is useful for podcast creators.
• Application "Reminders” can automatically generate a grocery list based on a recipe from a website.
• The App Store has acquired accessibility tags for easier understanding of functions.
• Parental controls are improved by restricting communication from new numbers unless the parent gives approval.

iOS 26 is a major overhaul of Apple's mobile operating system, combining aesthetic changes, practical features and the first steps towards more accessible artificial intelligence. The update is now available to all users on iPhone 11 and iPhone SE 2.