Everything New in iOS 26 Beta 5

[MacRumors]

Apple seeded the fifth developer beta of iOS 26 today, and while the number of significant changes has dropped, there are quite a few smaller tweaks. Apple is continuing to refine button placement, animations, and design in preparation for launching iOS 26 in September.

Camera

Apple added a toggle in the Camera app to allow users to toggle on Classic Mode, a setting that reverses the scroll direction when you swap from mode to mode.

Mail

There is now a dedicated Select button in the Mail app, instead of the button being tucked away inside of the "..." menu.

AirDrop Icon

There is a new AirDrop icon in the Share Sheet.

Lock Screen

There is an animation when entering your passcode on the Lock Screen, with the numbers jumping in to place. There's also a new animation when locking the iPhone when playing music.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1952857743879987336

Control Center

There's a new bouncy animation when swiping through Control Center pages.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1952830489779188053

Control Center Wi-Fi

The Wi-Fi button in Control Center now shows whether a Wi-Fi network is private or public when long pressing on the Wi-Fi icon. If a Wi-Fi network is password protected, it has a lock next to the Wi-Fi symbol.

Traveling Features

Apple is adding a predictive Siri feature that can determine when you are about to travel, showing suggestions for cellular connectivity while you are out of your home country.

Wallet

In the Wallet app, the "Payments" button for Apple Card is now labeled "Preauthorized Payments" to make it more clear what the button is for.

Splash Screens

There are iOS 26 Splash Screens for more apps, giving people a preview of what's new.

Battery

There is a Dynamic Island low battery warning when the battery hits 20 percent on an iPhone.

Dock

The Liquid Glass surrounding the Home Screen dock is wider

Fitness

There is a new icon for Fitness+ in the Fitness app.

Read More

We have additional info on all of the new features in iOS 26 in our roundup.

Article Link: Everything New in iOS 26 Beta 5

 

[sniffies]

That low battery indicator looks like a condom.

 

[sergekills]

“Classic mode” sounds like users hate all the new features 💀
I wonder what iOS 26 will end up be comparing to the WWDC variant

 

[sergekills]

That low battery indicator looks like a condom.

Safe sex is important!

 

[jz0309]

Battery

There is a Dynamic Island low battery warning when the battery hits 20 percent on an iPhone.

all these battery notifications and settings are getting a bit out of hand ... there are people out there who do not use their phone 15hrs per day non-stop ...

 

[TMRJIJ]

I think the Low Battery icon would look a little better without that additional outline oval.

 

[RichTF]

That low battery indicator looks like a condom.

“Tap here if you need something to help you last a bit longer…”

 

[eatrains]

All these options to revert UI changes really show a lack of confidence on Apple's part.

 

[dustin_]

the camera changes are bad. hiding toggle swipe options in settings is dumb. unnecessary change for the sake of change.

 

[macjaffa]

Wow holy mackerel these features are incredible. Truly deserving of particular note is the bouncy control panel animation.


Anyone else make their control panel fit exactly on one screen so i don’t have to do stupid scrolling? Control panel should be 1st order accessibility. That is the point of it.

 

[Octavius8]

How many really new things, beyond glossy look?.
1 year or more of development wasted in this… apple R&D budget should at its minimal end years.
How about better auto predict keyboard?, customizable keyboard size?. Apple does not need to innovate, just copy Android vendors features.

 

[Octavius8]

Any improvements to Calendar?. Apple purchased last year and killed a nice calendar app for nothing????!!
Just buy and kill the comoetitors, never compete, just buy them, is cheaper.

 

[alexandr]

That low battery indicator looks like a condom.

Considering that in some cultures 'condom' is an offensive way to address someone, this makes perfect sense — don't be a condom, plug your damn phone in!

 

[Reeneman]

all these battery notifications and settings are getting a bit out of hand ... there are people out there who do not use their phone 15hrs per day non-stop ...

In that case you probably won’t even get in touch with this new a animation, so why do you bother?

 

[Reeneman]

How many really new things, beyond glossy look?.
1 year or more of development wasted in this… apple R&D budget should at its minimal end years.
How about better auto predict keyboard?, customizable keyboard size?. Apple does not need to innovate, just copy Android vendors features.

You’re free switching to android.
I don’t mean this in a bad way. With some features android is better than iOS.
Only complaining in forums won’t push apple. Sending them feedback or not buying an iPhone anymore probably will help a tiny bit more.

 

[Kkspire]

Love all the new things. Beautiful animations. Why are some cool notification magic options not a thing? I just knew this was a great opportunity to have something better than a standard bar notification.

 

[JoshuaBru]

All these options to revert UI changes really show a lack of confidence on Apple's part.

Ran to the comments to say the same thing. If you feel like you need to add an option to turn off your fancy new feature it begs the question whether that new feature was really a feature at all.

 

[applefan8254]

Can we please get multiple users? Thank you

 

[tomchr9]

Any changes to the Photos app and video player?

I prefer the 'old' iOS 17 version of the video player app. Any suggestions apart from VLC and Infuse?

 

[KoolAid-Drink]

Freeform looks out of place — the application icon is on top of the splash screen, while the two other applications (Music and Notes) do not. Apple should standardize it.

 

[cybercommand]

Does the MagSafe charger work?

 

[Moonlight]

Ran to the comments to say the same thing. If you feel like you need to add an option to turn off your fancy new feature it begs the question whether that new feature was really a feature at all.

All these options to revert UI changes really show a lack of confidence on Apple's part.

You "ran" to the comments to say that? This is Beta software. There will be tweaks and refinements. If you can't handle how beta software evolves, maybe just stick to the main releases. So you don't have to run anywhere unnecessarily. All software goes through changes in Beta, doesn't show a lack of confidence, if anything it shows that they care about beta feedback and want to deliver the best main release they can. And their "need" to add an option to turn of UI appearance can be for accessibility and compromised vision users.

 

[Macbookey]

Whimsy on the low battery icon. Love it! Now give us Mickey’s glove hand and compact tabs back on the Mac!

 

[Johnny907]

Step One: Settings -> Accessibility -> Display and Text Size -> Reduce Transparency.
This build is pretty stable but that blurry nonsense is like trying to focus when you’re drunk or someone smeared Vaseline all over your screens. Whomever thought that was an improvement needs to go back to working the gift shop or whatever they were doing before joining the UI team.

 

[Moonlight]

I like the bouncy control center icons, it gives the phone more personality and is fun!