Apple is refining iOS 26, one of the most important software updates that the company has made for its phones for years. And as usual, the American giant offers the public to test the beta version still under development now.
All you need is an iPhone 11 or more recent, and great tolerance for unusual behavior.
After all, there is no guarantee that the applications you use will work properly or that you will not encounter overheating or faster discharge problems than normal battery.
Do you prefer to play the security card? No problem, I tested this software for you for several weeks. Some (or all) of this information is likely to change, but here is a first overview of the four major changes to which you will have to get used to or that you may want to adopt from the first day.
1. The “Liquid Glass” has arrived
Whether you like it or not, your iPhone will have a very different appearance this year thanks to the “Liquid Glass”.
As its name suggests, the iOS aesthetics that you have known for a long time will take on a brilliant and glassy appearance which, by the way, cannot be completely disabled. It is not only the icons of applications that can become transparent: notifications, menu bars, buttons, applications of applications and many other small elements of the interface that have largely kept the same aspect for years will become more or less transparent.
This new visual language is certainly striking, but we can assure you that it becomes easier to accept after a while. However, it seems that there are still many settings to make: in certain situations, orders and icons are still difficult to see, because they reveal a large part of what is behind them.
Apple seems to have taken the many initial criticisms seriously, because the company is still trying to precisely define the appearance that everything should have.
Pro advice: If you install this beta software and find that the overhaul makes it more difficult to perform the tasks you need, let Apple know. You will find a new comments application (“Feedback”) on your phone to share your point of view.
2. The phone application has become smarter
I hate using my phone for calls. You too, maybe. The latest update offers certain features that could help you.
Take, for example, the daily frustration I felt when I saw an incoming call from a clearly fraudulent phone number. This feeling has disappeared since I activated a tool that forces the appellant to explain what he wants before my phone rings.
The new Apple software also has an intelligent tool that you can activate when you are on hold during a call. He then goes in the background and your phone rings again when he detects a voice, which allows you to resume your activities.
Until now, this tool is very practical, with the exception of a small problem: Apple’s software does not seem to make the difference between a human being and a recorded voice, like those who sometimes interrupt waiting music to convince you that “your call is really important to us”. It is therefore not uncommon to hear several sounds to attract your attention before a human being is ready to help you.
3. A heterogeneous set of Apple Intelligence tools
You will find in this update a handful of new and updated tools fed by Apple Intelligence, but I sincerely wonder how often you use them.
You can, for example, activate the lively subtitles live during calls FaceTime, but it should be noted that the display of these translations can take some time. More impressive, the translation tool for telephone calls allows you to hear a voice translating your interlocutor’s comments into English, and vice versa.
The catch? For these live calls, iOS 26 can only translate in English only French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. In text conversations, the messages application can also translate Italian, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.
As for the Apple Visual Intelligence tool, it is no longer content to tell you what is in front of your camera. When you take a screenshot, a full screen overview opens and you can ask Chatgpt what is in the image, search on Google elements in specific parts of the image or wait for Apple Intelligence to make you suggestions, such as adding event dates to your calendar.
Pro tip: if, like me, you take tons of screenshots to remember certain things, you can deactivate this preview in full screen by going to settings → General → screenshot.
This is almost everything about major changes. The rest of the changes to Apple Intelligence in iOS 26 aims to help you create better shortcuts, personalized emojis and (slightly) more sophisticated images in the company’s playground. Some old features that Apple had previously disabled have also returned, such as the possibility of summarizing the notifications of news applications.
IOS clearly specifies when it presents this option that “the summary can modify the meaning of the original titles”, but the results have not been particularly wrong, for the moment.
4. A more refined camera
The iPhone cameras are excellent, but its camera application, on the other hand, has just undergone a much necessary overhaul.
Now, many of its most exotic recording modes, such as panorama or space capture, are masked by default. You no longer need to guess the meaning of certain icons: most camera settings are now labeled and are behind a menu button that really looks like a menu button.
Everything is much easier to read remotely, which should help users adjust their photos and videos a little faster. And it is not only the design that is more refined: your iPhone will now tell you when your lenses are dirty and need deep cleaning.
Some new modifications seem particularly useful for those who consider themselves creators: you can finally use external microphones during recording, for example, and certain versions of Apple AirPods can be used as a remote control to trigger photos or videos. This latest feature is particularly practical, even if it has a notable drawback: AirPods must be in your ears; You cannot control the camera while simply holding them in your hands.
