iOS 26.1: Users can look forward to these new features

Apple will probably present the first major update for iOS 26 as early as next week. It is supposed to bring a whole range of improvements – and also convince users of the update who initially remained on iOS 18 due to the major Liquid Glass changes in look and operation. From the beta for developers and the Public, which was last published in its fourth edition, a lot is already known about the innovations. An overview.

Alarm clock, surface, camera

First of all, Apple takes care of some annoying elements that were only added with iOS 26. This is the Liquid Glass interface itself, as well as the new alarm clock control. Apple had changed the interface of the latter in such a way that the buttons for switching off and snoozing could easily be confused, especially in a sleepy state. In practice, this means oversleeping in the worst case. The problem was solved by bringing back a well-known swipe gesture: In addition to the snooze button, you now have to press a slide switch to turn off the alarm clock completely.

With Liquid Glass, Apple is further reducing the sometimes illegible transparency effect – or making it easier to access. Now there is a switch in the “Screen & Brightness” area that colors transparent surfaces (more). This makes the entire surface more legible, even if the glass effect is of course reduced. Another new feature that would have been desirable for iOS 18 is the turn off of the swipe gesture to take photos from the lock screen. This can now be deactivated individually.

Apple Music, Security, Apple Intelligence

Apple Music comes with a useful swipe gesture in iOS 26.1 that allows you to quickly switch between songs from the music player area. In terms of security, Apple brings the so-called Background Security Improvements in iOS 26.1, which promise the faster installation of minor security fixes. Actually, there was already a similar function called Rapid Security Response – the first such updates will have to show exactly what changes here.

Apple Intelligence provides more languages for live translation, these are Italian, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese. There is also a Report, according to which the “beta” logo of Apple Intelligence is said to have disappeared – but the feature still lacks announced functions.