Apple unveils iOS 26 — new design and many improvements for iPhone 11 and later

The anticipated change in the numbering of Apple’s operating system versions has taken place — the company introduces iOS 26 in new design of Liquid Glass and many changes for greater comfort.

In addition to the new look, the new design means new features. The clock on the lock screen can be stretched to cover almost the entire display. The «Camera» app has a simplified interface, with many controls now hidden to make it look cleaner. Web pages in Safari have more room to play, and the tab bar floats above the content.

Apple is adding improvements to the phone app. Among them are call filtering, including answering from where on behalf of the user, and the function of keeping in touch while the user is away.

Notifications have also changed. Backgrounds are now customizable — Apple will suggest options, but you can also add your own photos or images generated by Image Playground. You can create polls in messages, and Apple Intelligence can suggest where it’s appropriate to do so. Group chats will get typing indicators.

To create new emojis, Apple has allowed to combine two emojis using Genmoji, along with the existing text description generation. Image Playground will receive the function of creating images using ChatGPT from OpenAI.

Apple Music now includes translation and pronunciation of lyrics. The new AutoMix feature allows you to switch songs from one to another like a DJ. You can also pin your favorite artists and playlists to the top of the app.

Apple Maps will be able to learn and suggest routes for the user. The program will send notifications about traffic jams or other delays on the selected route. Work with visited places will be improved, and they can be shared with friends.

The new «Games» app lets you control your library of downloaded games from the App Store and browse the Apple Arcade. The «Play Together» tab shows you what your friends are playing, as well as leaderboards for the games they’re playing.

The new Visual Intelligence feature will allow using AI to learn more about the content on the iPhone screen. In a demonstration, Apple showed an example of searching for a jacket in a photo in a social networking app — using visual search, it was found on Google. It will also be possible to ask ChatGPT about something on the screen.

Other interesting features include the translation of messages and conversations, which we write about separately. It’s also interesting that Apple seems to have postponed a major Siri update for later. iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2, and newer devices will receive iOS 26.

Source: The Verge