iOS 26.1 to iOS 26.4 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

[pappl]

Major update: Bigfoot Emoji
I guess this will be a separate .1 release.

 

[mxrider88]

Interesting on the Passport..."Apple says it is not a replacement for a physical passport, and it cannot be used for international travel and border crossing purposes." Last time I checked, a passport's main purpose is for international travel and border crossing...

It can be used to prove your identity when you post on Reddit though. To protect children obviously!

 

[ZipZilla]

iPhone 13 on iOS 18.7.1 until there is some compelling reason to upgrade. RCS 3.0 and improvements in Siri would do it

 

[x86dude]

Be aware there is a lot of controversy around digital passport, leading to digital ID and CBDC central bank digital currency, that can be “programmed”. I don’t know, just saying.

 

[boswald]

Looking forward to these releases.

 

[Sammy in SoCal]

No they won’t, because I won’t install them.

You’re a rebel without a cause

 

[Xade]

Wow! More emojis I won't use.

 

[Gathomblipoob]

Totally expect another article in a week or two how feature XY is delayed.

But seriously, if only Apple focused more on fixing bugs, even from prior years, instead of pointless features or reworking animations etc.

Apparently, I can use my "3D" lock screen animations with Reduce Motion on with beta 3, which I've been waiting on for a while. It's a small change, but one I appreciate.

 

[bmark]

Personalized Siri is making good progress to make it delayed to 2027!

 

[dontwalkhand]

You can still use the digital passport (as I have used regular digital drivers licenses) to get through TSA, but you will still need the physical passport book to get onto the flight itself. This is still important, because the TSA line is the place where you are most hectic, so keep the book put away until you get to your gate, sit down, and pull it out then. This prevents the passport from getting lost, or stolen. So yes, this is still quite a useful feature.

 

[rishiomedia]

I’m bummed out about this list because there was nothing about bug fixes or performance improvements which are more exciting than any of the other things mentioned.

 

[mjs916]

Totally expect another article in a week or two how feature XY is delayed.

But seriously, if only Apple focused more on fixing bugs, even from prior years, instead of pointless features or reworking animations etc.

Marketing need something to work with so we’re all on their schedule unfortunately.

 

[djgamble]

More features and changes will follow in future versions, ranging from later iOS 26.1 beta versions through to iOS 26.4. These are only the features that are known so far, and there will surely be many others added over the next year or so.

Decreased clutter and substantial improvements to battery life?

Oh and improve text selection functionality so that it doesn't constantly bug out.

 

[Dirty Mac]

If one doesn’t have real id, passports or password cards are needed for domestic travel. Only a select few airports will, at the beginning accept digital passports.

Not being 'merican how can one there get a passport if you don't have a real ID? Unless you mean you don't have your real ID on you but who does that especailly under the current regime? ICE baby ICE.

 

[snek]

Ah yes the apple core emoji. Really? How about at least make something useful? The Unicode Consortium is weird.

 

[TwoBytes]

iOS 18 had amazing battery life. Very much regret updating as iOS 26 will never be as good as it’s a total battery hog

 

[Sowelu]

The 'Distorted Face' emoji pairs well with most of the 'OS 26' releases.

 

[Scoobie2]

RCS will be playing catch up with iMessage in many ways. iMessage conversations with blue bubbles have already supported end-to-end encryption by default since iOS 5. In addition, iMessage has supported in-line replies since iOS 14, while the options to edit and unsend iMessages were introduced with iOS 16.

Lol, no iMessage is now catching up with RCS 3.0. Android folks already have E2E encryption across OEMs, Apple only has it between iPhones.

RCS support as a whole was added to the iPhone with iOS 18, which supports ‌RCS‌ Universal Profile 2.4

 

[Rorosbutt]

These are great but how about I get my photos tab back in iMessages???

 

[ElvenPrince995]

Stop with the dang emoji already. Nobody is asking for this. Do they not have anything to improve so they have to throw in a new emoji to say there's something new? Annoying

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Not being 'merican how can one there get a passport if you don't have a real ID? Unless you mean you don't have your real ID on you but who does that especailly under the current regime? ICE baby ICE.

You can get a US Passport without a RealID because they're issued by different agencies via different channels.

 

[artifex]

Would be nice if you'd make a little box in these iOS articles saying what will apply to iPadOS users.

 

[hunter_a]

Can we start with fixing the stuttering mess that is Safari currently? It’s like ProMotion is broken.

Agreed. And not just ProMotion either. Why are websites/JavaScript constantly crashing and refreshing with or without extensions? I’m talking the most milquetoast mainstream slops like Facebook or Reddit. For the nth time, an (almost) $4 trillion company, folks.

 

[platinumaqua]

So I guess iOS 26.5 is the one where they’ll fix the terrible microstuttering on all animations even on the latest iPhone 17 Pro?

it could be in the 26.6/June 2026 release or never lol

 

[W£S]

Never understand why a few new emojis are considered a feature