iOS 26.1 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features for Your iPhone

[MacRumors]

The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more.

iOS 26.1 is currently in beta testing. The update will likely be released in the first half of November, and it is compatible with the iPhone 11 series and newer, but some features are limited to newer iPhone models.

Below, we have outlined eight new things coming in iOS 26.1.

Liquid Glass Toggle

iOS 26.1 lets you choose your preferred look for Liquid Glass.

In the Settings app, under Display and Brightness → Liquid Glass, there is a more transparent "Clear" option and a more opaque "Tinted" option.

Lock Screen Camera Toggle

In the Settings app, a new "Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera" toggle lets you turn off the ability to swipe left on the Lock Screen to quickly open the Camera app.

Slide to Stop Alarms

When an alarm goes off in the Clock app, iOS 26.1 shows a new "slide to stop" control on the screen for turning off the alarm. On previous iOS 26 versions, there is simply a large "stop" button, which could be accidentally tapped.

This change — which also applies to timers — comes after Apple significantly increased the size of the "stop" button in the Clock app on iOS 26.

Song Swiping

You can now swipe on the music player in Apple Music to switch between songs.

Apple TV+ Rebrand to Apple TV

Earlier this month, Apple announced that its Apple TV+ streaming service is being renamed to Apple TV, with a "vibrant new identity." iOS 26.1 lays the groundwork for this change by introducing a more colorful Apple TV app icon.

More Apple Intelligence Languages

Apple Intelligence is now available in Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese.

More AirPods Live Translation Languages

AirPods Live Translation works with additional languages in iOS 26.1, including Japanese, Korean, Italian, and Chinese (Traditional and Simplified).

The feature is available on AirPods 4 with ANC, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods Pro 3.

Background Security Improvements

In the Settings app, under Privacy & Security → Security Improvements, there is a new option to automatically download and install "Background Security Improvements." These are stopgap security patches issued between full iOS updates.

This is a revamp of the prior Rapid Security Responses feature.

More

Read our lists of overall iOS 26.1 features and changes in the latest beta.

Article Link: iOS 26.1 Coming Soon With These 8 New Features for Your iPhone

 

[The Cockney Rebel]

Looking forward to it.

Are you staying with clear, or going tinted?

 

[maika1305]

So no iOS 26.0.2 then?

 

[ELman]

So no iOS 26.0.2 then?

I was wondering that also. Seems strange that 26.0.2 would be released and then very soon after 26.1

 

[cbns]

That Liquid Glass toggle better actually remove the battery draining transparency effects and not just overlay a color

 

[kerr]

Some useful features, especially camera and alarm toggles.

I’ll keep waiting for the one feature I really want: per-app automatic updates.

 

[maika1305]

I was wondering that also. Seems strange that 26.0.2 would be released and then very soon after 26.1

Ikr? And it seems like it's the first time for a while that a .x.x update has been "rumoured" to be released "soon" this long. IIRC the first articles mentioning 26.0.2 were posted last week on Monday (or even 2 Fridays ago?), yet it's been almost 10 days since without it coming true

 

[macrlz9]

Background Security Improvements - Is this option on by default?

 

[ypl]

So 2 key new "features" actually provide option to turn features off because some users hates them. Interesting.

 

[jennyp]

Would be nice if the camera control button was also fixed so it doesn't fire when the phone is asleep — like it's supposed to when the 'Require Screen On' setting is toggled on (that setting doesn't do anything as it is - camera still launches when phone is asleep 😬 )

 

[SactoGuy18]

I expect iOS 26.1 to go into final beta the beginning of next week, then the Release Candidate arrives late next week for release either 3 or 4 November 2025.

 

[litedesign]

"Slide to Stop" alarms and timers? That's the most annoying thing I can possibly imagine.

 

[oMc]

You posted an article last week saying that 26.0.2 was also coming soon.

 

[iMerik]

You know when your alarm goes off and you can snooze with the physical volume button? If you have your phone in Standby (landscape alarm clock) mode, using that same physical volume button to snooze your alarm will silence the alarm and then you might oversleep because your alarm never goes off again because it wasn't snoozed.

Anyway, I wonder if that's been addressed yet in this release.

 

[tennisproha]

The swipe to stop alarm slider needs to come to the apple watch sleep alarm as well

 

[monty-ny]

So far, living large on 18.7.1

 

[boswald]

Looking forward to this release because there's a few things I'd like to adjust...

 

[randyoo]

Been waiting for a x.1 release to upgrade my iPhone and MacBook. The words "new features" make me consider waiting for for the x.1.1 release.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

A branding modification is not a new feature.

 

[MacLuvin]

I posted this to you guys, but it seems you didn't care to read my email. But here it is:

 

[Belisama]

"Liquid Glass Toggle" 🤣
I will miss you, Liquid Glass... The game "Find The Digits" was so cool!

 

[jz0309]

for me, the camera "off" toggle on the lock screen is the most important reason to upgrade, considering even running the beta just for that. Though I have a workaround, Accessibility, Touch, Tap or Swipe to wake, Off, just means have to press a button to wake the phone up ...
The Liquid Glass toggle, I'll test it but I do not have really any issues with it as of now.

 

[noanker]

Background Security Improvements - Automatically installing security patches in between full iOS updates.

Gee, what could possibly go wrong? I foresee devices boot-looping and becoming bricked after a security patch is borked.

While I fully appreciate the feature and the benefits it offers, I can also see the risk involved in adopting this. Apple will have to *really* ensure their updates are vetted and working flawlessly.

 

[ijordano]

I'm not sure the Apple TV rebrand can be called a "feature"

 

[Cisco07]

Apple needs to come up with a new Top home icons and redesign a better fresh look. For example Putting the Time(clock) in the middle and moving some icons to the left side.