iOS 26: Release date expectations, new features, and compatible iPhones

Apple just announced iOS 26, its major software update that's coming this fall to all eligible iPhones. It is the largest iOS in years and introduces a brand-new Liquid Glass design language that's consistent across iOS, macOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and visionOS.

Last year's iOS 18 was fully dedicated to Apple Intelligence, Cupertino's take on artificial intelligence, but the company has had some issues with the rollout. The most exciting part of Apple Intelligence––the smarter and more capable Siri––did not arrive this spring and was delayed to next year, which served as a major blow to the staggered Apple Intelligence rollout.

This year, we get a much more grounded round of updates, which not only brings a new consistent design across all operating systems in Apple's roster, but also boosts the inter-device continuity features and functionalities that the Apple ecosystem is known for. 

A developer beta of iOS 26 is already available for anyone with an eligible iPhone to test out. iOS 26 is compatible with iPhone 11 and newer––no iOS 26 for the iPhone Xs and the iPhone XR, sadly. 

Just as we suspected, Apple just introduced a major change to the iOS naming convention. Instead of iOS 19, the company announced iOS 26 at the WWDC'25 developer summit. It's not the outlier though: macOS, iPadOS, watchOS, and visionOS also carry the same "26" suffix. 

With this name change, Apple will help users distinguish the year in which the respective iOS version will be mostly used. That's why iOS 26 is being announced in 2025, as iPhone users will be using it for just four months this year, but more than eight months in 2026. 

This definitely helps with the consistency and synergy between the different operating systems and keeps everything very tidy. It would have been weird to have iOS 19, macOS 16, and watchOS 12; now everything has the same name. Odd how it took Apple so long to realize such a move would be beneficial. 

iOS 26 will be released this September, with a potential release date being September 16, 2025. The software will arrive alongside the iPhone 17 series, so we are fairly confident the official release of iOS 26 will take place in the same time frame.

Apple typically announces new iPhones on the second Tuesday of September and releases them ten days afterward, but new iOS versions typically get pushed to the public roughly a week after the respective iPhone event. As we expect that the new iPhone 17 series will get announced on September 9, iOS 26 is possibly coming a week later. 

However, we will get to see iOS 26 much earlier than that. iOS 26 will be showcased on June 9 during the opening keynote of the Apple WWDC'25 developer conference, which will run through June 13. 

Here's how iOS 26's potential release date might compare to previous iOS releases. 

iOS beta releases mark that magical time between WWDC and September when most iOS users are actively pondering whether they should go ahead and install the typically buggy but fresh new iOS version on their device. 

Typically, Apple releases the first iOS beta several hours after it concludes the opening keynote event at the respective WWDC event. 

That's precisely what happened this year as well: the iOS 26 Developer Beta is already available to download!

In roughly a month, we should get a generally more ironed-out iOS 26 Public Beta, which should be more suited for daily use, with most of the bigger bugs hopefully fixed. 

While many years ago Apple only allowed users with active developer subscriptions to install developer iOS betas, lately the company has not enforced this self-imposed rule, allowing just about any willing iPhone owner to install the developer beta on their device. Public betas have always been freely accessible.

All betas are expected to be extremely buggy and riddled with issues and inconsistencies, so here goes the usual advice that you should probably not install any of the betas on your daily driver device. Public ones are typically more stable, and thus it's recommended to at least aim for that one.

Based on historical records, here's when we expect each iOS 26 beta to become available.

iOS 26 beta: How to enroll

As the iOS 26 developer beta is available right now, you can already try it out on your iPhone. Have in mind that downgrading would require a complete wipe of your iPhone, resulting in a total loss of data that's not backed up. 

Enrolling in the upcoming iOS beta will be pretty straightforward and mirror previous beta releases. You need to follow these steps:

Once again, the usual warning goes: make a backup before you install the beta and avoid downloading it on your daily driver phone. 

iOS 26 is compatible with iPhone 11 and later.

As we suspected, iPhone Xs, Xs Max, and iPhone XR are no longer officially supported and they will never get to experience the Liquid Glass redesign, for better or worse. These are models released all the way back in 2017 and using a 7nm Apple A12 Bionic chip, so pretty much ancient as per today's standards. 

Here's a list of all iPhones that will get iOS 26.

The majority of changes to iOS 26 are mostly on the visual side, though we see tons of changes to some essential iOS apps as well. Interestingly, iOS 26 seems to be lighter on Apple Intelligence innovations, with Apple even opting not to address the elephant in the room that's called Siri. 

The camera app has scored a pretty drastic redesign. The two major branches of the app, still photography and video, are now distinctly separated.

You access the two different modes with a swipe to the side. Meanwhile, to access all the available camera modes, like panorama, spatial video, and portrait, you have to lightly press on the modes at the bottom and swipe up on the screen. The familiar settings then appear in a glass-like folder. 



The interface fully employs the new Liquid Glass redesign, and frankly, looks like a distraction-free change that will help you engross yourself in the photography experience. Remains to be seen if the vast majority of iPhone users will enjoy the change, though.

Safari: Apple's browser goes minimalistic

The iOS browser now displays webpages in full screen, with the tab bar being both translucent and shrinking when you swipe around for a pretty minimalistic look. All the familiar controls are now available in a distraction-free menu at the bottom, while the web address and your essential controls like refresh, back, and search are easily available at all times.

That's a pretty major change for Safari, which usually gets functionality updates, but rarely enjoys visual overhauls. This one is a pretty drastic one that will put the website you're visiting front and center, minimizing the distraction interface of the browser itself.

Phone & Call Screening: Your phone is your virtual concierge

The essential Phone app now features a more streamlined combined interface that brings together your favorites, recent calls and voicemails, making the app more intuitive than before. Your favorites are at the top, with large and expressive thumbnails that make it easier to call your besties and family members. Down below, you get your recent calls list and voicemails. Apple Intelligence uses on-device models to summarize the contents of a voicemail and will display it front and center for you to see, which is a great addition to the app.

A new iOS 26 feature dubbed Call Screening will act as a virtual agent and screen any unknown callers instead of ringing, potentially sparing you from telemarketers and spam callers. Based on Live Voicemail, the new feature will let the phone ring only when the caller and the call reason have been identified and neatly displayed on the screen, giving you the choice to answer or decline.

And, if you're stuck on hold, the revamped phone app detects hold music and will automatically wait out for you. Once a live agent joins the call, the app will alert you.

Messages

Apple's most important app ever, Messages, has now scored a very nifty message screening feature that automatically filters messages from unknown or spam senders, hiding them away in a dedicated page and thus keeping your landing page as clean as possible, populated only with threads from your contacts. Unknown senders' messages will remain silenced until you open their dedicated vault and choose how to interact with them: you can either flag a number as known or delete it.

Messages now lets you apply various dynamic wallpapers to your iMessage backgrounds, just like you can do in pretty much any other popular third-party messaging app, like Meta Messenger, WhatsApp, Viber, or Telegram. Even Apple Intelligence can join the fun and help you create a wallpaper for any thread. You can now also create polls and request, send, or receive Apple Cash in group chats.