Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Apple Releases Second iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 Public Betas

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,967
39,976


Apple today released the second public betas of iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, allowing the public to test the updates ahead of their September launch. The second public betas come two weeks after the first public betas, and the updates correspond with the fifth developer betas.

iOS-26-Feature.jpg

Beta testers that have registered on Apple's website can download the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 updates by opening the Settings app, going to the General section, tapping on Software Update, and choosing the iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 Public Beta options.

iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 feature Apple's Liquid Glass design, with a visual aesthetic that focuses on transparency. Icons, menu buttons, navigation bars, and more reflect and refract light with subtle animations. There are pop-out menus in some areas, tab bars shrink down, and everything has a more rounded look.

iOS-26-on-Three-iPhones.jpg

There are new Apple Intelligence features like Visual Intelligence for screenshots, updated order tracking in the Wallet app, new features in Reminders, and Live Translation for the Messages, Phone, and FaceTime apps. Image Playground has ChatGPT style options, and Genmoji supports mixing two or more emoji characters to make something new.

ten-messages-features.jpg

2D photos have a more 3D look with a Spatial Scene feature, and Safari has updated navigation. In the Phone app, there are new Call Screening and Hold Assist features that will save you time, while the Messages app supports customizable backgrounds and polls. Apple Music has a DJ-like AutoMix feature, CarPlay has an overhauled interface, there's a new Apple Games app, and Preview has come to the iPhone for the first time.

ios-26-call-holding.jpg

For more on all of the new features in the updates, we have a dedicated iOS 26 roundup and a separate iPadOS 26 roundup. iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 will launch in September.

Article Link: Apple Releases Second iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 Public Betas
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2025/08/07/apple-releases-ios-26-public-beta-2/
  • Like
Reactions: It’s always something
3.01GB iPhone 12 & 14 Pro's

Edit: After about 30 min of trying the same actions on both phones (editing icon placement, launching/navigating apps, etc) I can say that, at least for me, this release is smoother.

The biggest issues I had w/PB1 was the constant UI stuttering/slowdown, and Safari not loading pages at times w/out me stopping and reloading them - both of which seem 'fixed'.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
  • Disagree
Reactions: thewebb, DOD250, bondr006 and 3 others
Insert_Username_Here said:
Is there anyway to permanently disable the spatial photo feature? I find it incredibly annoying.

You can turn it off on the photo, but I don’t want to ever see them in spatial format.
Click to expand...
Are you trying to turn it off on the lock screen? Or in the photos app? Just don’t press the button in the photos app.

Edit: there's a toggle in the Photos settings to turn it off.
 
alexandr said:
Installing, hopefully it'll be a bit more smooth.
Click to expand...
I’m on the dev beta on a 14PM and it’s definitely an improvement over the last iteration. Not perfect, but now that I’m through the first 48 hours it’s running quite nicely. The worst stuttering for me on the prior release was in Safari and this is much better.
 
  • Like
Reactions: alexandr
xxFoxtail said:
Are you trying to turn it off on the lock screen? Or in the photos app? Just don’t press the button in the photos app.

Edit: there's a toggle in the Photos settings to turn it off.
Click to expand...

Ideally everywhere. I turned that option off in the Photos settings, and the photos widget still showed me a spatial photo that it decided should be in spatial format (It was a photo taken years ago with a dSLR).

Pedantic I know, but just annoying when you get new "improvements" without anyway to turn off what you don't like. It's also beta, so who knows.
 
twinpeaks_sf said:
If you're familiar with betas and are OK with some bugs and visual glitches here and there, yes, this is stable.
Click to expand...
I second this, but speaking as someone on the dev beta track, which is now on beta 5

It's as stable as can be now it seems

Earlier on it was fairly decent too, but battery life of course in those earlier ones just sucked and it was just a bit too janky for me to recommend just anyone using them
 
  • Like
Reactions: mjs916 and sos47
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back