iOS 26 beta preview: Liquid Glass is best than you assume

At WWDC 2025, Apple revealed a serious visible shake-up for iOS (to not point out the remainder of the corporate’s working methods). That is the largest change, aesthetically, because the shift away from the stitching, textures and skeuomorphic design of the iOS 4. It additionally comes with considerably fewer AI and Siri updates this time round. Nevertheless, it’s the smaller touches that make iOS 26 appear to be a notable enchancment over its predecessor.

I’ve been working the iOS 26 developer beta for the final two weeks and here is how Apple’s new Liquid Glass design — and iOS 26 broadly — stacks up.

(Ed. word: Apple simply launched the general public betas for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 and watchOS 26. This implies you possibly can run the preview for your self, if you’re prepared to threat doubtlessly buggy or unstable software program that would trigger a few of your apps to not work. As ordinary, we extremely suggest backing up all of your knowledge earlier than working any beta, and you may comply with our information on the right way to set up Apple’s public betas to take action.)

Liquid Glass modifications every part

iOS 26 appears new and trendy. And for as soon as, how Apple describes it — liquid glass — is sensible: it’s lots of layers of clear components overlapping and, in locations, the animations are fairly… liquidy. Menus and buttons will reply to your contact, with a few of them coalescing round your finger and typically separating out into new menus.

Liquid Glass encompasses all the design of iOS. The house and lock screens have been redesigned as soon as once more, that includes a brand new skyscraping clock font that stretches out from the background of your pictures, with ever-so-slight transparency. There’s additionally a brand new 3D impact that infuses your pictures with a little bit of spatial magic, providing a contact of Imaginative and prescient Professional for iPhone customers.

The expertise within the first few builds of the iOS 26 beta was jarring and messy, particularly with clear icons and notifications, attributable to these overlapping components making issues virtually illegible. Updates throughout subsequent releases have addressed this problem by making floating components extra opaque. There may be additionally a toggle throughout the Accessibility tab in Settings to cut back transparency additional, however I hope Apple presents a slider in order that customers can select precisely how “liquid” they need their “glass” to be. For those who personal different Apple merchandise, you then’ll come to understand the design parity throughout your Mac, iPad and Apple Watch.

One noticeable change I might been ready for was the iOS search bar’s relocation to the underside of the display screen. I first seen it inside Settings, nevertheless it reappears in Music, Podcasts, Photographs and just about in every single place you may want to seek out particular recordsdata or menu objects now. If, like me, you’re an iPhone Professional or Plus consumer, you will have struggled to achieve these search bars after they have been on the prime of the display screen. It’s a welcome enchancment.

Visible Intelligence

With iOS 26 on iPhones highly effective sufficient to run Apple Intelligence, the corporate is bringing Visible Intelligence over to your screenshots. (Beforehand it was restricted to Digital camera.) When you’ve grabbed a shot by urgent the ability and quantity up buttons, you’ll get a preview of your picture, surrounded by advised actions that Apple Intelligence deduced could be related based mostly on the contents of your screenshot.

Managing Editor Cherlynn Low did a deep dive on what Visible Intelligence is able to. From a screenshot, you possibly can switch info to different apps with out having to change or choose them manually. This implies I can simply screenshot tickets and emails, for instance, so as to add to my calendar. Apple Intelligence may also determine forms of vegetation, meals and vehicles, even. If there are a number of folks or objects in your screenshot, you possibly can spotlight what you need to give attention to by circling it. There aren’t many third-party app choices at this level, however that’s usually the case with a beta construct. These are options that Android customers have had courtesy of Gemini for a yr or two, however a minimum of now we get one thing related on iPhones.

One fast tip: Be sure to faucet the markup button (the little pencil tip icon) to see Visible Intelligence in your screenshots. I initially thought my beta construct was lacking the function, nevertheless it was simply hidden behind the markup menu.

Extra broadly, Apple Intelligence continues to work nicely, however would not stand out in any explicit method. We’re nonetheless ready for Siri to obtain its promised upgrades. Nonetheless, iOS 26 seems to have improved the efficiency of many options that use the iPhone’s onboard machine studying fashions. Because the first developer construct, voice memos and voice notes are usually not solely a lot sooner, but additionally extra correct, particularly with accents that the system beforehand struggled with.

Apple Intelligence’s Writing instruments — which I primarily use for summarizing conferences, convention calls and even prolonged PDFs — would not choke with extra substantial studying. On iOS 18, it might wrestle with voice notes longer than 10 minutes, attempting to detangle or construction the contents of a gathering. I haven’t had that problem with iOS 26 to date.

Genmoji and Picture Playground each supply up completely different outcomes via the replace. Picture Playground can now generate footage utilizing ChatGPT. I’ll be trustworthy, I hadn’t used the app since I examined it on iOS 18, however the upgrades imply it has extra utility once I may need to generate AI art work, which might sometimes attain photorealistic ranges.

One helpful addition is ChatGPT’s “any model” possibility, that means you possibly can attempt to specify the model you bear in mind, which might skirt just a little nearer to contentious mimicry — particularly if you need, say, a frivolous picture of you splashing in a puddle, Studio Ghibli model.

Apple additionally tweaked Genmoji so as to add deeper customization choices, however these AI-generated avatars don’t appear to be me? I favored the unique Genmoji that launched final yr, which had the almost-nostalgic model of 2010 emoji, however nonetheless one way or the other channeled the auras of me, my family and friends. This new batch are extra detailed and elaborate, certain, however they don’t look proper. Additionally, they make me look bald. And opposite to my detractors, I’m not bald. But. This appears like a direct assault, Apple.

You may really feel in a different way, nonetheless. For instance, Cherlynn mentioned that the primary model of Genmoji didn’t resemble her, regularly presenting her as somebody with a lot darker pores and skin or of a special ethnicity, whatever the supply image she submitted.

Nonetheless, the power to alter a Genmoji’s expression, in addition to add and take away glasses and facial hair via the brand new look customization choices, is an enchancment.

A Digital camera app redesign for everybody

Apple has revisited the digicam app, returning to fundamentals by stripping away many of the beforehand provided modes and settings — a minimum of initially — to show solely video and photograph modes.

You’ll be able to swipe up from the underside to see further choices, like flash, the timer, publicity, kinds and extra. You may as well faucet on the brand new six-dot icon within the higher proper of the interface for a similar choices, although that requires a bit extra of a attain. These behave in keeping with the brand new Liquid Glass design and also you’ll see the Picture capsule increase into the settings menu if you press both space. Lengthy-pressing on icons allows you to go deeper into capturing modes, adjusting body charges and even recording resolutions.

What I like right here is that it advantages informal smartphone photographers whereas conserving all of the settings that extra superior customers demand. Not one of the updates listed below are earth-shattering, although. I hope Apple takes a very good have a look at what Adobe’s Venture Indigo digicam app is doing — there are lots of good concepts there.

One additional enchancment should you use AirPods: Urgent and holding the stem of your AirPod (if it has an H2 chip) can now begin video recording.

Apple Music tries to DJ

Alongside the Liquid Glass design touches, the massive addition to Apple Music this yr is AutoMix. Like a (a lot) extra superior model of the crossfade function discovered on most music streaming apps, in iOS 26, Music tries to combine between tracks, slowing or rushing up tempos, gently fading in drums or bass loops earlier than the following track kicks in. Twenty % of the time, it doesn’t work nicely — or Apple Music doesn’t even attempt. However the brand new capability to pin playlists and albums is helpful, particularly for suggestions from people that you simply by no means obtained round to listening to.

Messages get just a little extra enjoyable

Apple is making Messages extra enjoyable. One of many methods it’s doing so is by enabling customized backgrounds in chats, very like in WhatsApp. I instantly got down to discover essentially the most embarrassing photograph of my colleague (and frenemy) Cherlynn Low and make it our chat background. I do know she’s additionally working iOS 26 in beta, so she is going to see it. [Ed. note: Way to give me a reason to ignore your messages, Mat!]

Apple’s Reside translation now works throughout Messages, voice calls and FaceTime. Setting issues up generally is a little sophisticated — you’ll first must obtain varied language recordsdata to make use of the function. There’s additionally some inconsistency within the languages supported throughout the board. As an illustration, Mandarin and Japanese are supported in Messages, however not on FaceTime but. In chats, in case your system language is about to English or Spanish, you then’ll solely have the ability to translate into English or Spanish. For these polyglots on the market, if you wish to translate incoming Japanese texts into German, you’ll must set your system’s language to German.

Whereas I didn’t get to flex my Japanese talents on voice calls and FaceTime, iOS 26 was greater than able to maintaining with some rudimentary German and Spanish. I’m undecided if I’d depend on it for critical enterprise translation or vacation bookings, however I feel it might be a really great tool for fundamentals.

There’s additionally the power to filter spam messages to their very own little folder (purgatory). Spam texts stay a nightmare, so I recognize any potential weapons within the battle. Sadly, it hasn’t fairly handle to cope with the TikTok advertising companies and telephone community buyer companies that proceed to barrage my Messages. Nonetheless, hopefully Apple will proceed to enhance its detection algorithms.

Yet one more software within the battle in opposition to spam: You’ll be able to mute notifications for Messages from unknown numbers, though time-sensitive alerts from supply companies and rideshare apps will nonetheless attain you.

New apps are hit-or-miss

Not every part within the beta lands, nonetheless. I’ve already touched on how Liquid Glass was initially a semi-transparent mess. The Video games App, too, looks like an pointless addition. As a result of it’s a mix of the Video games tab of the App Retailer and a silo of your preinstalled video games, I’m undecided what it’s including. It’s not any simpler to navigate, nor does it introduce me to video games I need to purchase.

Cherlynn did need to spotlight that for an off-the-cuff gamer like herself, it’s intriguing to see if the Video games app may begin to suggest extra mind-numbing puzzles or farming simulations. She was additionally intrigued by the concept of a extra social gaming expertise on iOS, issuing challenges to her buddies. Nonetheless, as a result of the telephone she has been testing the beta on doesn’t have entry to all her contacts or her gaming historical past, the suggestions and options are pretty restricted for the time being.

Video games is one among two new apps that may routinely be a part of your property display screen. (Happily, they are often uninstalled). The opposite is Preview, which must be a well-recognized addition to any Mac consumer. It presents a straightforward solution to view despatched or downloaded recordsdata, like menus, ticket QR codes and extra. Throughout the developer beta, the app pulled in a handful of my paperwork that beforehand lived within the Recordsdata app. Navigation throughout each these apps is equivalent, though Preview is proscribed to recordsdata you possibly can really open, after all.

AirPods, upgraded

That is extra iPhone-adjacent, however iOS 26 contains a number of quality-of-life enhancements for some of Apple’s headphones. First up: notifications when your AirPods are absolutely charged, lastly! The Apple Watch obtained this type of notification again in iOS 14, so it’s nice to see Apple’s headphones catch up.

Apple can be promising “studio-quality sound recording” from the AirPods, augmenting recordings with computational audio enhancements. There’s a noticable bump in audio high quality. It seems that AirPods 4 and AirPods Professional 2 will document recordsdata at a pattern charge of 48 kHz, which is double the speed used prior to now. The pattern charge bump occurred final yr, however it’s depending on what the app you are utilizing. Is it “studio high quality”? I don’t assume so, nevertheless it’s an enchancment. Whereas recordings sound barely higher in quiet places, the larger change is in loud environments. The algorithm would not seem like degrading audio high quality as a lot whereas attempting to cut back background noise.

iOS 26 additionally provides sleep detection to the buds. If the AirPods detect minimal motion, they’ll change off routinely, which might be useful for the following time I’m flying long-haul.

Wrap-up

In iOS 26, Apple has prioritized design modifications and systemwide consistency over AI-centric software program and options. Whereas Liquid Glass is an enormous change to how your iPhone appears, Apple has drawn from consumer suggestions to finesse the design into feeling much less jarring and gelling higher when the house display screen, Management Heart and Notification drop-downs overlap with one another.

There are quite a few high quality of life enhancements, together with Messages and Visible Intelligence, particularly. If something, the AI elephant within the room is the dearth of any substantial updates on Siri. After the corporate talked up superior Siri interactions over a yr in the past, I’m nonetheless ready for its assistant to meet up with the likes of Google.