(Almost) A Year With iOS 26

[Henry762]

Just a few I used all the time that were useful:
-File management. My phone could essentially act as a flash drive. Handling documents was a breeze on the go and transferring them to my desktop was a breeze. Just plug it in.

-Split window. Enough said, most will say it’s pointless on a phone, I can assure you it’s not.

-Widgets were scrollable and interactive which made them more efficient to use.

-Keyboards on Android are in a different league with regard to predictive text and autocorrect.

Some awesome Samsung features:

Floating calculator. Could have a small floating window on top of any app which was really handy.

Side panel. This was opened with just a quick swipe from the right side. This could house apps, specific contacts to call or text, tasks, etc.

Customize gestures. custom swipe motions to do different things. Pull down notifications with a quick swipe anywhere on the either side you set, open recent apps with a swipe up on any side you set, a diagonal swipe to launch split screen, etc.

I was not a fan of the duplicate apps on Samsung (calendar, email, etc) even though the core Samsung apps were better than the Google ones.

I’m not saying Apple is terrible. It’s still a great device with great hardware. But the software and some limitations are downright silly. I understand wanting a device that gets out of the way, but it’s almost overdone. I really want to call the iPhone my last mobile device and just upgrade after for 4 or 5 years to another iPhone. After iOS26 I’m not sure that’s gonna happen. I do like my MacBook though. It’s from 2014 and cannot be updated anymore but it still runs fine which is impressive to say the least.

This is also not to say Android doesn’t have its share of bugs. But I feel Android in general over the last 3 years or so has been more stable than iOS. I had less app crashes and better performance on Android in general than I’ve experienced on the iPhone including ios18.

Thank you so much for the comprehensive and detailed reply!

Yeah, those all do sound really cool. 🤩

The number one thing that has absolutely kept me away from android is the UI / UX; Even the latest, most current flagship android phones with the most powerful processors and other resources, ALWAYS seem to act as if they are stuck in a mix of molasses and gravel.

Just navigating around the OS is; “tap… wait a second… wait some more…. The thing you tapped appears…. Tap a menu… wait for it to appear… it disappears… wait some more & tap it again…” Android has just ALWAYS been so laggy, stutters, and just NOT smooth, polished & refined. Not being a jerk; just my honest experiences. If they fixed that, I’d buy an android tomorrow.

Can you please comment on how smooth most recent android devices and OS are? Just navigating around on an average, daily basis.

I feel like this is some sort of a fundamental problem with android & the core design language / code, as things like Google’s iOS apps definitely do not have the same level of polish as Apple’s native apps do, IMO.

I’ve definitely considered getting an android tablet to play around with.
Thanks!

 

[01cowherd]

Just navigating around the OS is; “tap… wait a second… wait some more…. The thing you tapped appears…. Tap a menu… wait for it to appear… it disappears… wait some more & tap it again…”

At first I thought you were referring to iOS 26 with Liquid Glass.

 

[Henry762]

i’m sorry, but the “they shouldn’t add wallpapers and emojis” argument is so tired, and pointing out its flaws while making the same argument does not negate that point.
The emojis and wallpapers are made by graphic designers, these people are not put in charge of bug squashing.
It’s a bit like complaining that you don’t like the apple silicon team because the iPhone Air’s shade of blue isn’t to your liking, the two things are not even related.
In fact during this last beta cycle for 26.5, the new wallpaper literally wasn’t added to the system until the release candidate. Meaning that during the entire beta testing process, they were squashing bugs… Before they put in the wallpaper. During the beta test, literally the part of the software development where the bugs would be squashed, the wallpaper wasn’t even a factor.

You didn’t read my entire post.

What I said was that; any resources at ALL that Apple devotes to emojis, wallpapers, graphic design; anything NOT related to software bug fixing & improvement; Apple should terminate those positions and instead hire more engineers to fix bugs, flaws and otherwise improve iOS functionality.

It’s kinda like if you went and bought a Ferrari that had a 2-stroke engine that is also super unreliable. Looks great on the outside, but can’t really take you anywhere…..

Emojis, wallpaper, and even liquid glass do not *DO* anything; they are eye candy & 100% irrelevant to making phone calls, sending emails, browsing the internet, etc.

 

[Henry762]

At first I thought you were referring to iOS 26 with Liquid Glass.

LOL well yes, sadly, this definitely now also applies to iOS 26. 😂🤬😮‍💨

 

[jerryjohnson]

Liquid Glass looked futuristic at launch, but a year later it still feels oddly unfinished. The random icon redraws and inconsistent translucency are way more immersion-breaking than people admit. iOS 27 needs polish more than new features.

 

[I7guy]

You didn’t read my entire post.

What I said was that; any resources at ALL that Apple devotes to emojis, wallpapers, graphic design; anything NOT related to software bug fixing & improvement; Apple should terminate those positions and instead hire more engineers to fix bugs, flaws and otherwise improve iOS functionality.

It’s kinda like if you went and bought a Ferrari that had a 2-stroke engine that is also super unreliable. Looks great on the outside, but can’t really take you anywhere…..

Emojis, wallpaper, and even liquid glass do not *DO* anything; they are eye candy & 100% irrelevant to making phone calls, sending emails, browsing the internet, etc.

You know Apple isn’t going to do what you suggested. Moar emojis I say!

 

[Luftkopf]

You didn’t read my entire post.

What I said was that; any resources at ALL that Apple devotes to emojis, wallpapers, graphic design; anything NOT related to software bug fixing & improvement; Apple should terminate those positions and instead hire more engineers to fix bugs, flaws and otherwise improve iOS functionality.

It’s kinda like if you went and bought a Ferrari that had a 2-stroke engine that is also super unreliable. Looks great on the outside, but can’t really take you anywhere…..

Emojis, wallpaper, and even liquid glass do not *DO* anything; they are eye candy & 100% irrelevant to making phone calls, sending emails, browsing the internet, etc.

Apple isn’t a small scrappy startup needing to allocate a small amount of resources to where they’ll get the most value! They can afford to keep the graphic designers on while also expanding a validation and testing team!

 

[flybub]

Thank you so much for the comprehensive and detailed reply!

Yeah, those all do sound really cool. 🤩

The number one thing that has absolutely kept me away from android is the UI / UX; Even the latest, most current flagship android phones with the most powerful processors and other resources, ALWAYS seem to act as if they are stuck in a mix of molasses and gravel.

Just navigating around the OS is; “tap… wait a second… wait some more…. The thing you tapped appears…. Tap a menu… wait for it to appear… it disappears… wait some more & tap it again…” Android has just ALWAYS been so laggy, stutters, and just NOT smooth, polished & refined. Not being a jerk; just my honest experiences. If they fixed that, I’d buy an android tomorrow.

Can you please comment on how smooth most recent android devices and OS are? Just navigating around on an average, daily basis.

I feel like this is some sort of a fundamental problem with android & the core design language / code, as things like Google’s iOS apps definitely do not have the same level of polish as Apple’s native apps do, IMO.

I’ve definitely considered getting an android tablet to play around with.
Thanks!

I can say, unequivocally, the pixel was quicker and more responsive than my iPhone. You have the ability to turn off or at least “reduce” the time of transitions. I always turned this off, I was never waiting for something to open to tap a menu to get to where I wanted to go. What you just described is iOS, especially 26.

The simplest example I have is accessing a screenshot. Screenshot can be done on both iPhone and pixel using volume and power buttons. Screenshot on pixel goes to the gallery, open the app there’s your screenshot. iPhone you have to open photos, tap collections, tap screenshots. 3 taps to access a screenshot on iOS 26, 1 tap on the pixel.

I’d be careful with an Android tablet if it isn’t a premium device. Android leaves a bad taste is peoples mouths because they buy a cheap budget device and wonder why it has problems.

 

[Powerbooky]

I've had several issues with iPadOS 26. One in particular with scrolling - for unclear reasons an iPad (2022) of the grandparents suddenly would only scroll content by touching scroll bars on the right of the screen. When that happend it also had problems with swiping any app to a close, resulting in numerous apps staying open. The last time I had to reboot it twice to fix it and even doing that was a hassle. The slider to turn off the iPad was very unresponsive.

I only have iOS26 on a company iPhone and it's horrible. As many complaints in this thread, often there are bars covering screen content and you can't move it. Many UI elements are just too oversized and blurred edges make it look cluttered. Personally, I was very fond of Aqua at the time, where windows on MacOS were clearly separated by the light shadows.

After I'd seen macOS 26 on the MacBook Pro of my oldest kid - she was eager to update immediately - it dawned on me that I probably would skip this one. So I stayed with Sequoia on my MacBook Pro (2019). My own iPad Pro remains on iPadOS 18, same as my iPhone (iOS 18). The HomePod mini and AppleTV 4K's(2017) all did upgrade to version 26, but there's barely any difference. Sometimes the ATV menu's in 4K mode do stutter a bit, but overall every Arcade game or streaming service works as smooth as it always has.

 

[Mac Guy in Brighton]

Hello Mac Rumours People!

Apple User for 25 years - long time reader of the site, and first time contribution.

iOS26 has actually changed my life. Ive found it gives me incredible phone fatigue so I hardly ever use it now apart from banking, and tend to live much more in the 'real' world.

The dot updates, whilst sorting some issues of usability with tinting options etc, seem to increase new visual bugs that just make the device a real pain to use. Premium hardware let down by terrible software unfortunately.

This is one of my favourite visual glitches that came with the .5 release - a big black block showing over the inbox (actually emails blurred out for privacy). iPhone 15 PM for reference. I've reinstalled from scratch and the issue persists.

It's been an exhausting ride. Mac is thankfully still on Sequoia.

Cheers

 

[I7guy]

I can say, unequivocally, the pixel was quicker and more responsive than my iPhone. You have the ability to turn off or at least “reduce” the time of transitions. I always turned this off, I was never waiting for something to open to tap a menu to get to where I wanted to go. What you just described is iOS, especially 26.

Anecdotal observation.

The simplest example I have is accessing a screenshot. Screenshot can be done on both iPhone and pixel using volume and power buttons. Screenshot on pixel goes to the gallery, open the app there’s your screenshot. iPhone you have to open photos, tap collections, tap screenshots. 3 taps to access a screenshot on iOS 26, 1 tap on the pixel.

I’d be careful with an Android tablet if it isn’t a premium device. Android leaves a bad taste is peoples mouths because they buy a cheap budget device and wonder why it has problems.

The above would be true if the preview option was turned off. Turning on the preview option causes a thumbnail of the screen to appear in the lower left of the screen. At which time the preview window can be tapped to edit the preview.

 

[I7guy]

Hello Mac Rumours People!

Apple User for 25 years - long time reader of the site, and first time contribution.

iOS26 has actually changed my life. Ive found it gives me incredible phone fatigue so I hardly ever use it now apart from banking, and tend to live much more in the 'real' world.

The dot updates, whilst sorting some issues of usability with tinting options etc, seem to increase new visual bugs that just make the device a real pain to use. Premium hardware let down by terrible software unfortunately.

This is one of my favourite visual glitches that came with the .5 release - a big black block showing over the inbox (actually emails blurred out for privacy). iPhone 15 PM for reference. I've reinstalled from scratch and the issue persists.

It's been an exhausting ride. Mac is thankfully still on Sequoia.

Cheers

Hello back:

15PM person here. One visual glitch the compact tab bar in safari. This happened sometime after the update to iOS 26.5.

I don’t understand what visual glitch the attachment is purported to show.

 

[Small White Car]

Screenshot on pixel goes to the gallery, open the app there’s your screenshot.

(?) That is exactly how it works on my iPhone too.

 

[flybub]

Anecdotal observation.

The above would be true if the preview option was turned off. Turning on the preview option causes a thumbnail of the screen to appear in the lower left of the screen. At which time the preview window can be tapped to edit the preview.

Well, I’ve got egg on my face don’t I. Thanks for clarifying

 

[I7guy]

Well, I’ve got egg on my face don’t I. Thanks for clarifying

Part of the issue for today is the amount of options that has grown for iOS. Many of them there are some internal help for. Others there aren’t. But always happy to help and learn something myself.

 

[Mac Guy in Brighton]

Hello back:

15PM person here. One visual glitch the compact tab bar in safari. This happened sometime after the update to iOS 26.5.

I don’t understand what visual glitch the attachment is purported to show.

There is a big black block blocking the list of emails. I blurred out the emails that are visible. But half the screen is just blacked out! That's not my editing - that's iOS 26.5 magic. I can close mail (swipe up) and it goes away, but without rhyme or reason it comes back.

 

[Luftkopf]

There is a big black block blocking the list of emails. I blurred out the emails that are visible. But half the screen is just blacked out! That's not my editing - that's iOS 26.5 magic. I can close mail (swipe up) and it goes away, but without rhyme or reason it comes back.

That’s not normal. I’ve got no idea what about your setup is triggering that bug, but I don’t know that many people have that bug.

That would be annoying as!

 

[Mac Guy in Brighton]

That’s not normal. I’ve got no idea what about your setup is triggering that bug, but I don’t know that many people have that bug.

That would be annoying as!

I can't work it out. It didn't happen in 26.3 or 26.4 and I've not installed any different apps or changed any settings with 26.5. Even an Erase and Reinstall hasn't fixed it. I miss iOS 18.

 

[Happy_John]

iOS 26 kicked my dog

“Liquid Glass Ate My Hamster.”

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

You didn’t read my entire post.

What I said was that; any resources at ALL that Apple devotes to emojis, wallpapers, graphic design; anything NOT related to software bug fixing & improvement; Apple should terminate those positions and instead hire more engineers to fix bugs, flaws and otherwise improve iOS functionality.

That is not at all how massive companies the size of Apple operate.
You don’t fire the people working on the marketing media like images and wallpapers because iOS has a super niche glitch.
Once again, it’s like saying they should fire the entire Apple Silicon team because you don’t like the shade of blue used on the MacBook Air.
In other words, it’s a silly and useless point.
iOS 4 was insanely glitchy and buggy when it first launched, especially on the older iPhone 3G, should Apple have fired the entire marketing team because of that? No. Of course not.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

It’s kinda like if you went and bought a Ferrari that had a 2-stroke engine that is also super unreliable. Looks great on the outside, but can’t really take you anywhere…..

Emojis, wallpaper, and even liquid glass do not *DO* anything; they are eye candy & 100% irrelevant to making phone calls, sending emails, browsing the internet, etc.

That is an awful comparison, because as far as I can tell, absolutely no one, even in this exact thread, has said that liquid Glass is stopping them from making phone calls, sending text messages or browsing the web.

 

[HouseLannister]

absolutely no one, even in this exact thread, has said that liquid Glass is stopping them from making phone calls, sending text messages or browsing the web.

wouldn’t they be unable to tell us because they can’t browse the web?

 

[Luftkopf]

I can't work it out. It didn't happen in 26.3 or 26.4 and I've not installed any different apps or changed any settings with 26.5. Even an Erase and Reinstall hasn't fixed it. I miss iOS 18.

Wow, that’s nuts! It persists even after resetting your phone! That’s definitely something to contract Apple about.

I’m sorry you have to deal with this!

 

[iLuddite]

wouldn’t they be unable to tell us because they can’t browse the web?

"I have no mouth and I must scream"

 

[Henry762]

You know Apple isn’t going to do what you suggested. Moar emojis I say!

Wha.....what?!?
This isn't a direct line into Apple's C-Suite?!? I thought this forum was ONLY Apple Executives, who are waiting with pen & paper and baited breath to fulfill all my iOS desires..... Have I been fooled?!? 🤷‍♂️ 😵😭