Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Apple Releases iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 With New Liquid Glass Design
- Thread starter MacRumors
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Seriously? I saw the option for both updates immediately. If you didn't see it, don't blame Apple. You're the one who entirely missing it.
Some of us lack that good old Apple "courage".
same on my end. beta updates are already off and it’s only the option and still no new iOS 26 build.
It's a wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey sort of thing.
It took 15 minutes after the bell rang then iPad OS 15.7 downloaded/installed/backedup then immediately moved to 26 download. 👍🏽
Apple today released iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, the latest operating system updates designed for the iPhone and iPad. iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 are available for free on all compatible devices. You can download Apple's new software over-the-air by going to Settings > General > Software Update. It can take a few minutes for the updates to propagate to all users due to high demand on launch day.
Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos.
iOS 26 is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and later, as well as the second-generation iPhone SE. If you have an iPhone XR, XS, or XS Max, iOS 18 is your last iOS update. As for the iPad, iPadOS 26 runs on all iPads that support iPadOS 18, with the exception of the 7th-generation iPad. Apple has also released iOS/iPadOS 18.7, iOS/iPadOS 16.7.12, and iOS/iPadOS 15.8.5 for those unable to upgrade to iOS 26.
Apple's new updates introduce Liquid Glass, the new design language that features a translucent, glass-like look for icons, buttons, menus, and other interface elements across iOS and iPadOS. Liquid Glass is designed to behave like glass does in the real world, dynamically reflecting light and allowing bits of the background to show through.
Safari, Photos, and the Camera app have simplified navigation, and many apps feature new Apple Intelligence options. Messages, FaceTime, and Phone all support Live Translation, for example. Messages includes backgrounds and new group chat features, the Phone app can screen calls for you and take over holding when you need to wait for someone.
Visual Intelligence can now understand what's on your screen and answer questions about what you're looking at, and Apple has improved Genmoji and Image Playground with new features. The Wallet app is smarter than before and can track all of your orders, and Apple Music includes a useful new AutoMix feature for song transitions.
On the iPad, Apple overhauled multitasking and windowing for a more Mac-like experience. iPad apps can be placed anywhere and they have menu bars. The Phone app is now available on the iPad, as is a new Games app. The iPad also has almost all of the iOS 26 features. Apple's full release notes for iOS 26 are below.
Design
Visual Intelligence
- Liquid Glass makes interactions across iOS more delightful, refracts and reflects content in real time, and brings even more focus to what you're viewing on your screen
- Adaptive time on the Lock Screen fluidly resizes to the available space on your Lock Screen, complementing the subjects of your photos and adapting as notifications and Live Activities appear
- Spatial scenes let you add a new 3D effect to your photo wallpapers, bringing them to life when you move your iPhone
- App icons get a fresh new look with Liquid Glass, and there are more ways to customize them with updated light or dark appearances, new color-tinted icons, and a new clear look
- Animated album art makes music playback more immersive, with full screen artist-designed animations on supported albums
Live Translation
- Learn more about the content in any app by pressing the same buttons you use to take a screenshot
- Highlight to search for something specific on your screen
- Jump into Google search results based on the content on your screen, find related items from your most-used third-party apps, or ask ChatGPT about what you're looking at
Shortcuts
- In Messages, automatically translate incoming texts, including group messages, and send a response in your preferred language - it'll be translated when it's delivered
- In FaceTime, live translated captions appear on screen during the call
- In Phone, audio is translated and spoken out loud in real time, and you can follow along with a transcription when the call is on speaker
- With AirPods, hear a translation hands-free when someone nearby speaks to you in a different language
Genmoji & Image Playground
- Intelligent actions let you take advantage of Writing Tools, Image Playground, and other Apple Intelligence features within your shortcut
- "Use model" is a new action that lets you tap directly into Apple Intelligence models to get responses that feed into the rest of your shortcut, or use ChatGPT if you want to tap into its broad world knowledge and expertise
Camera
- Make Genmoji by mixing two emoji together, or by combining an emoji with a description to create what you have in mind
- Choose expressions for your Genmoji of people, making characters look happy, shocked, and more
- Personal attributes like hairstyle and facial hair can be modified for the Genmoji that are inspired by people from your Photos library
- More styles with ChatGPT lets you explore additional styles like Oil Painting and Anime, or you can tap Any Style to describe the image and style you want
Photos
- Streamlined design makes it even easier to access the Photo and Video capture modes, with other modes still just a swipe away
- Lens cleaning hints alert you when your lens is smudged so you can capture the clearest possible photo (iPhone 15 and later)
- New AirPods gesture lets you take a photo or start recording video just by pressing the stem on AirPods 4 and AirPods Pro 2 and later
Phone
- Separate tabs for Library and Collections offers easier navigation, and you can access Search in every view
- Collections view can be customized with three different layout options, and it's easy to collapse and reorder the collections
- Recognition for events like concerts and sports lets you see the details of an event and access related content
Messages... Click here to read rest of article
- New unified layout option brings together your Favorites, Recents, and Voicemails
- Call Screening lets you screen incoming calls from unknown numbers, getting you the caller's name and reason for the call before the phone rings
- Screened calls from unknown numbers can be placed in a new area of your call list so they're out of your way
- Hold Assist keeps your spot in line while you wait to speak to a live agent, and rings you to return to the call when the live agent is there
Article Link: Apple Releases iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 With New Liquid Glass Design
I just updated on my iPhone 13, it's extremely laggy... sigh
Yes, new builds for everything. I think it all is just a small 1 version bump,
I guess I’ll be able to check out the iPad changes by Friday.
I had that issue with my iPad mini, had to restart it to be able to turn off beta updates first. Then it found the newer final version.