For any generated image, you can look through multiple options and choose your favorite, plus you can iterate as many times as you want because image generation is done on device. Images that are generated can incorporate your friends and family because you’re able to pull their likenesses from the Photos app. You can create fun images of people that you can then send in a message, with all of the image creation done privately on device.
How to install the latest version of iOS
Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.
Do more with visual intelligence.
After debuting a highly anticipated iPhone 17 lineup earlier this month, including the thinnest iPhone ever with the 17 Air, Apple also confirmed that the general release of iOS 26 would happen on Monday, Sept. 15. Another thing to do after installing the software update is to head to the Camera app, which has a dramatically streamlined interface in iOS 26. The controls have been pared down to buttons that let you toggle between photo and video modes — if you want more specialized modes like portrait or pan you scroll left or right. Elements automatically update along with iOS updates, automatically including new interface rules.
App Icons
Game developers are now able to take advantage of Personalized Spatial Audio to create more immersive audio for their games. With iOS 18.1, Apple opened up the NFC chip to developers, allowing them to offer in-app contactless transactions that are separate from Apple Pay and Apple Wallet. The earbuds continuously monitor the environment and reduce loud sounds like traffic or concerts. Hearing protection is available across modes, such as Transparency and Active Noise Cancellation. Voice Isolation cuts down on background noise so your voice sounds clearer to the person you’re speaking with on a phone call.
To update, open the iPhone’s Settings app, click on General, then Software Update. Next, choose Download and Install, and the software will download from there. This is a smallish download, less than 1GB on my iPhone 17 Pro Max, 989.9MB, to be precise.
Basically, animated dots at the edges of the screen represent changes in vehicle motion, reducing sensory conflict without interfering with the main content. The option can be set to show automatically on the iPhone and it can be turned on and off in Control Center. Third-party apps can create Control Center controls for the first time, so there are a lot more quick access options that you can assign. Apple has also added a power button that’s activated with a long press, and there are some new Control Center options like Translate, Tap to Cash, Shortcuts, and numerous Accessibility controls.
Live Translation uses artificial intelligence to translate text messages, phone calls and FaceTime calls on iPhones, iPads and Apple Watches, according to the Apple website. He’s been covering personal technology since 1999 and was in the building when Steve Jobs showed off the iPhone for the first time. He’s been evaluating smartphones since that first iPhone debuted in 2007, and he’s been following phone carriers and smartphone plans since 2015. He has strong opinions about Apple, the Oakland Athletics, old movies and proper butchery techniques. Switch that one, and smile with the knowledge that you’ll never have to answer a call from someone offering you a dodgy vacation package again. I’d also recommend a visit to Safari, which introduces a more compact tab layout in iOS 26.
- IOS 26 was made widely available as a free software update on Sept. 15, 2025.
- CarPlay wasn’t mentioned in the list of fixes and some users have noted that the issue, where connection drops, is still happening.
- Selectors can appear anchored at the bottom or in line with the content (called date selectors).
- Apple will also be able to roll back Background Security Improvements, showing the iPhone maker learnt from the snafu it suffered with the early Rapid Security Response.
Screen new senders.
For now, if you are a business user, or you can’t stand bugs that come with iOS 26—which so far include the usual battery drain and more—iOS 18.7 is probably the best update for you. Apple’s iOS 26 is here, alongside an update for those who want to wait to upgrade to the latest iPhone software, iOS 18.7. These three models are supported by iOS 18, but Apple has dropped them this year in iOS 26. Last fall, iOS 18 was supported by all the same iPhones that could run iOS 17.
iOS 26: Here’s the list of iPhone models compatible with the update
There is a grid design where you can move your controls, resizing them to be bigger or larger for easier access. Some controls like Remote can only be as big as four tiles or as small as one tile, while others like Home can be as large as an entire page. Others like volume are limited to two vertical squares, and some, like music, can be four vertical squares or an entire page. Controls like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are still grouped together, and can be made larger or smaller.
There are Highlights in Safari that surface key information about a webpage like a summary of an article, the location of a restaurant, or access to a map on a webpage for a shop. The Notes app supports live audio recording and transcription, along with Math Notes that can automatically solve equations and expressions. There’s a Genmoji feature in the Messages app that lets you create any emoji you want without being limited to the built-in options. You can enter a short description of what you want, even including your friends, and Apple Intelligence makes it for you. After you agree to download and install iOS 26, you can wait for your iPhone to finish installing the update.
Siri can refer complex requests to ChatGPT, such as generating images or writing from scratch. With Writing Tools, ChatGPT can create and illustrate original content from scratch, which is above and beyond what Siri does. There is a built-in type to Siri feature, which can be activated by double tapping the bottom of the iPhone’s display. When activated, there’s a glowing light around the edges of the display to denote that Siri is listening. Apple’s concepts are organized into categories like themes, places, costumes, and more.
One other new iOS 26 feature you’ll want to enable is Visited Places in Maps. Once you opt in, Maps will keep a list of the places you go to, which makes it easier to remember that name of the restaurant you liked or any other details about locations you’ve been to. The first time you launch Maps after updating to iOS 26, the app will prompt you to opt in to the Visited Places beta. My colleague Josh Render runs down some of the more noteworthy things changed by Liquid Glass. It’s worth reviewing that before you install iOS 26 if you’ve yet to try out the new software just to see what you’re in store for.
- If you were discussing fireworks, for example, it might show suggestions that involve fireworks.
- Siri can search your entire device for information and knows your history, so it is prepared to help you with all your everyday tasks.
- Switch that one, and smile with the knowledge that you’ll never have to answer a call from someone offering you a dodgy vacation package again.
- Apple redesigned the default Tapback response options to make them more colorful than before, plus there is support for using any emoji or sticker to respond to a message.
- The new iOS 26 software cycle, including iOS 26.0.1, works for all iPhones from 2019 on.
- This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay.
But iOS 18.7 and iOS 26 fix a long list of security issues, which means you must update what is ios developer to one of them ASAP. For example, there are 20+ new Apple Intelligence features in iOS 26 that are exclusive to newer iPhones. There are a ton of new feature additions that don’t fit into specific categories, so we’ve listed some of the other useful updates available with the new software. Apple announced several new accessibility features coming to iOS 18 in May, giving us a quick preview of what to expect. When apps request access to your contacts in iOS 18, you now have the option to share just a few contacts instead of sharing your entire address book. You are able to select exactly which contacts an app is able to access, if any.
If you were discussing fireworks, for example, it might show suggestions that involve fireworks. Maps now includes topographic maps and trail networks, including detailed maps of all 63 U.S. national parks. Hikes can be saved for offline access, and you can create custom walking and hiking routes. If you don’t have a cellular or a Wi-Fi connection, you can still text family and friends using Messages via satellite on the iPhone 14 and later. You can text iPhone users with iMessage or Android users with SMS, but only iMessages are end-to-end encrypted. Siri better understands language, can keep track of what you asked in a prior request, and knows what’s on your screen so you can ask about it.