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Apple held off on announcing two iOS 26 features that it still plans to release this year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

iOS-26-Feature.jpg


In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained that Apple did not want to risk repeating WWDC 2024, where it announced an array of features that were ultimately delayed by months or still haven't arrived. As a result, at least two iOS 26 features were not shown at WWDC, but are still apparently scheduled to arrive as part of iOS 26 this year.

The first of these is live translation of conversations using AirPods. If an English speaker with AirPods is talking to someone who is speaking Spanish, the ‌iPhone‌ will detect the audio, translate the speech, and relay it back in English to the person wearing AirPods. The person speaking English will then be able to respond and have their response translated to Spanish and spoken aloud by the ‌iPhone‌.

Apple's ‌iPhone‌ Translate app can already be used for conversations like this, but having the function included in the AirPods will streamline the exchange. Apple announced a wide range of language translation features at WWDC this year, but the widely rumored AirPods live translation feature was noticeably absent.

The second feature is the ability to sync public network login information across devices. The system will allow users to enter login details for captive Wi-Fi networks, commonly found in hotels, airports, and coffee shops, just once, and then automatically sync that information across their iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. The time-saving feature should eliminate the frustration of repeatedly logging into the same network portal across multiple Apple devices.

"When you go to a new hotel, office building or gym, you're often asked to fill out a web form on all your devices before you can access the internet," Gurman said in May. "This new feature will let you enter that information on one device and have it synched to your other products."

iOS 26 is set to officially release as a free update for the iPhone 11 or newer in the fall.


MacRumors has partnered with Bloomberg to offer our readers a limited-time trial offer for the Bloomberg.com Tech Newsletter bundle, which includes access to Mark Gurman's Power On plus all of Bloomberg's other subscriber-only tech newsletters: Tech In Depth (daily reporting and analysis on tech and AI), Game On (gaming), Soundbite (podcasting and the music industry), and Q&AI (AI). MacRumors readers can get their first month's subscription for $1.99, after which it will be priced at $11.99/month.



Article Link: Two New iOS 26 Features Coming This Year Still to Be Announced
 
You can keep your liquid glass. They need to stop releasing beta updates that get worse not better.
 
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First feature would be part of an AirPods Pro 3 announcement.

Second feature would have been on the final bento slide in any year but this one. The Siri vaporware claims made Apple rethink preannouncing features that aren’t working in the current beta.
 
I wish we could of got split screen apps, but it’s nice there’s new features we are getting
 
“Still To Be Announced” or perhaps “Announced But Not Released” should become Apple’s new official mottos under Tim Spindler’s apt stewardship, just like “The Power To Be Your Best” or “Think Different” once were.
 
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“Still To Be Announced” or perhaps “Announced But Not Released” should become Apple’s new official mottos under Tim Spindler’s apt stewardship, just like “The Power To Be Your Best” or “Think Different” once were.
Or it could be "Announced, But When Released will Still Be Bug Ridden."
 
Or maybe fix the horrible syncing experience with anything iCloud, etc before introducing additional syncing features? 🙄
 
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Live translation will be good. But waiting for more languages to be supported.
 
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You can keep your liquid glass. They need to stop releasing beta updates that get worse not better.
I'm sorry?

Honestly, from DB 1 to 2, it's leaps and bounds better not only in the way of performance, but the control center is much better (and plus, they have an accessibility feature you can turn on to reduce this effect even more if you're having readability issues)
 
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I don’t see how the WiFi info syncing feature would be useful. I travel a lot. Every hotel you fill out a captive portal form that asks for your room number and last name, and you select which plan you want. But you only do that once. On additional devices, you click a different link to add the device to your existing plan - it seems like the ‘sync’ feature would result in you signing up for multiple separate plans and getting charged more. Maybe Apple realized that, and that’s why it was punted.
 


Apple held off on announcing two iOS 26 features that it still plans to release this year, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.

iOS-26-Feature.jpg


In the latest edition of his "Power On" newsletter, Gurman explained that Apple did not want to risk repeating WWDC 2024, where it announced an array of features that were ultimately delayed by months or still haven't arrived. As a result, at least two iOS 26 features were not shown at WWDC, but are still apparently scheduled to arrive as part of iOS 26 this year.

The first of these is live translation of conversations using AirPods. If an English speaker with AirPods is talking to someone who is speaking Spanish, the ‌iPhone‌ will detect the audio, translate the speech, and relay it back in English to the person wearing AirPods. The person speaking English will then be able to respond and have their response translated to Spanish and spoken aloud by the ‌iPhone‌.

Apple's ‌iPhone‌ Translate app can already be used for conversations like this, but having the function included in the AirPods will streamline the exchange. Apple announced a wide range of language translation features at WWDC this year, but the widely rumored AirPods live translation feature was noticeably absent.

The second feature is the ability to sync public network login information across devices. The system will allow users to enter login details for captive Wi-Fi networks, commonly found in hotels, airports, and coffee shops, just once, and then automatically sync that information across their iPhone, iPad, and Mac devices. The time-saving feature should eliminate the frustration of repeatedly logging into the same network portal across multiple Apple devices.

"When you go to a new hotel, office building or gym, you're often asked to fill out a web form on all your devices before you can access the internet," Gurman said in May. "This new feature will let you enter that information on one device and have it synched to your other products."

iOS 26 is set to officially release as a free update for the iPhone 11 or newer in the fall.


MacRumors has partnered with Bloomberg to offer our readers a limited-time trial offer for the Bloomberg.com Tech Newsletter bundle, which includes access to Mark Gurman's Power On plus all of Bloomberg's other subscriber-only tech newsletters: Tech In Depth (daily reporting and analysis on tech and AI), Game On (gaming), Soundbite (podcasting and the music industry), and Q&AI (AI). MacRumors readers can get their first month's subscription for $1.99, after which it will be priced at $11.99/month.



Article Link: Two New iOS 26 Features Coming This Year Still to Be Announced
The Live translation tool will be quite useful for those that do not speak the native language of the area they are located likewise the shared public WiFi information would be somewhat useful, but I rarely connect to hotel WiFi networks any longer.
 
Really?! The translation app doesn't even work properly now. Frequently it does not translate at all (written or spoken words) or gets half way through a sentence and then gives up. It doesn't feel to me ready to live translate. It is like Siri's cousin on vacation. It has let me down so many times, often in the middle of important conversations.
 
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