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iOS 26 - 20+ NEW Standout Features!
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- Published on Jun 19, 2025
- iOS 26 - 20+ NEW Standout Features! | iOS 26 Features & Changes
Apple just dropped iOS 26 Beta for the iPhone and it's jam-packed with a lot of new features and changes, along with a radical redesign! Here's what features stood out to me within the first hour on iOS 26 Beta 1. Enjoy!
iOS 26 Preview: nr.apple.com/D...
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Chapters:
0:00 iOS 26 Beta 1 is here!
0:24 iOS 26 Redesign
2:21 This is design mastery
2:40 Folders
2:50 Lock Screen
4:33 Messages
6:13 Auto Translate Messages
6:39 This makes group chats more fun
7:39 Typing in Group
7:58 Live Translate8:23 Floating Tab Bar
8:48 Camera Redesign
10:26 Apple FIXED the Photos app!
11:35 Circle to Search on iPhone
12:39 Music app redesign
13:29 AudioMix is better than expected
14:16 AirPods features
15:10 Late Night Mode
15:31 Battery Intelligence
16:31 Adaptive Power Mode
16:55 This shouldn’t be a standout feature
17:21 Preview app
17:50 Games app
18:23 Custom snooze
18:23 Action Reminder
18:41 A lot more to come
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Have a fantastic day & I'll see you soon!
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Want to see more iOS 26 features? Here you go: ruclips.net/video/eucQmWiMMEA/video.htmlsi=L1pvtOiUl1MkJYma
I am
I actually like it more than the current design
yes
Yes
So far yes. I've been using it for 2 hours
Overall, I don’t hate the redesign. It definitely needs some work though. Some of the glass effects are way too much like on the control center; it clashes with the background. I also think some of the icons are hard to read on certain wallpapers when they’re fully transparent. I’m certain it will all look better with the final release though.
True!
It will cause more distraction even though for some folks it will look cool but it will drain battery too
How are you certain?
@@barabongosindare1275 Because many people are already talking about it online and finding it distracting.
@@barabongosindare1275because people will complain or report it as a bug in the betas if they can’t see the icons
its looks hella ugly with that glass shit
Apple’s new glassy UI in iOS looks sleek, but is anyone else finding it harder to read content? The transparency can get distracting.
this was the first thing I noticed as well with the transparency and the white text on it, hard to read the content.
No, they’ll just blindy accept it.
looks ugly.
It’s horrible to actually read things. I hope we can turn it off.
@@elladbonlinesame, but hopefully it’s just part of the very first beta test. i installed it on my main phone and this thing is so unstable. but im excited to use these features early. especially carplay
The loyalty is real. Couldn't watch another creator talk about this new update but you!!
Appreciate that man!
Same! I opened another video, thinking it was Brandon because the thumbnail resembled his, but I clicked out as soon as I realised it wasn’t him
ok
Same
Same here! Lol
New iOS features and design are cool yeah but YOU’RE TELLING ME I CAN FINALLY PIN ALBUMS IN THE MUSIC APP??? THAT IS ALL I WANT. I HAVE WANTED THIS FOR YEARS. LETS GOOOOOOOOOOOO
Can’t wait for the 260+ iOS 26 features movie to be out in a few months. Great work as usual!
Yessir! The mini movie is coming this week, full movie in September 😎
@@BrandonButchwhy don't you make in 60fps it will be useful to see smoothness
@@Utubex00 His graphics card will blow up lol, 60 fps is also not good for video viewing, it has been proven it look unnatural and weird to the eye so it’s not realistic like the 30fps.
@@jashar7 that is absolutely not true at all
I love the idea but that control center looks crazy unreadable
Can change the transparent setting for now
It’s a developer beta, relax.
@@bren.r You understand that feedback is extremely important for a beta right? Relax.
@@Nufreak01yes. Settings>accessibility>display and text size>reduce transparency
It is not unreadable. Wth are you talking about?
Shout out to the livestream squad!
Loved the live stream
Come on 🙌
Tysm!!
Great Stream
Right here!
The control centre looks terrible. The notifications I can barely read. They didn’t have to make everything translucent
they will definitely improve it just like when they released ios 7 beta which was a mess and then they slowly solved
Apple just gets worst and worst every damn year
See better
If things stay the same, I will seriously consider leaving the iphone instead of upgrading to the 17
Translucency is completely fine. But they didn't have to do away with the level of blur that iOS had and also, the bur effect currently also darkens the background which 26 doesn't which makes things harder to see.
Visual accessibility went out the window, at least in this first iteration. The beta was buggy as hell, but I’m excited to see how it is at launch! Fun to see some changes finally
It's a Beta, they're always buggy
@@BrandonButchfor sure! Probably doesn’t help that I’m on a 13 either lol
@@alec_onlinetrue lol. It gets much better once everything processes on the backend
If you turn on reduce transparency in accessibility settings it changes the glassy look to a semi translucent gray look.
@@CommanderCodeyI tried that, it was better but still a lot of contrast issues. I’m sure it’ll get way better with time and feedback though
The homescreen and control centre glass is too refractive, it should be a bit opaque. It's going to give a head ache or cause people to run their eyes again and again. A Frost gradient will be much more functional to separate the actions from the background. In app options are decent but i really think they should do a frosted gradient like the one they showed on the WWDC banner. It had some depth and slight gradient
Your cat is a boss
I love the way you can change the size of the time in the wallpaper and almost holographic display in wallpaper. Really cool!
I can’t believe I’m genuinely excited that they brought back parallax effects
Like most fads or trends, they come and go. Now is the time for parallax effects to make a come back. Who knows? We may be heading for the quiet return of skeuomorphism with a silicon twist.
hopefully it can be turned off
Actually parallax still exists. It just stops working if you scroll to the App Library. Restart your phone fresh and don't view the App Library and tilt your phone around. You'll see the icons move again (iOS 18)
The video we all waited for, thanks Brandon!
I honestly prefer the flat design we have in iOS 18, it looks purer. I love your cat by the way!
Music staying in headphones feature is something I’ve been wanting for a while. I hate when I’m on a phone call or listening to something in my AirPods and it connects to the car.
I hope this will also work with hearing aids. People with aids often want the audio to stay with them rather than go to the car
@@Anilu777 aids like HIV?
I love the glass look they’re going with, it’s awesome. I feel like the clashing issue with the transparency can be solved easily by simply adding an opacity slider, even if it’s just a couple options in the settings to stay consistent to the software and iPhone, like more opaque, less opaque.
Definitely like the new design. I'm also happy to see that Apple seems to have put a lot more focus on making the entire interface way more user friendly. Can't wait until its out.
In the fall season in 9/2025 :)
cap. this ugly
iOS 26 feels like a modern take on Skeumorphism and I love it
I have it downloaded and it’s hard to see. The menus blend in with whatever app you’re in
My god… I’m downloading this right now to my iPhone and… I almost feel like we’re going back to 90’s/early 2000s “Graphicdome”. Like AOL on windows XP or something. God I love it.
The glass effect on control centre is way too much. Hopefully the tone it down a bit on future betas. Was hoping they would add different clock fonts. Very happy they finally added light mode for tinted icons instead of just dark like we have now.
I agree. More clock fonts.
I love the design. Sure, it needs some tweaks, but overall, it’s great. Also, the performance has significantly improved over time with this beta. Initially, it was terrible, really slow and laggy, but now it’s actually fine.
I downloaded it right away! I’m loving it, most of the early bugs I’m noticing haven’t been weighing on my phones performance!
Is it me or my battery drain faster than usual
@@saumon1950it probaly is it almost always will with this big of a beta, but it’s usually worse than it is in 26 for me
@@saumon1950To be fair it is day one. Mine was a little laggy at first but it’s doing better as time goes on. Hope it improves in beta 2!
I’m having battery problems too, but not too bad. The most annoying thing to me is the damn stutters. Lol
@isaiaheaves7294like i lost 6 percent in 10 min 😭 i wanna revert 😭😭
For beta 1, this is running surprisingly well on my iPhone 12. Battery life hasn’t taken too much of a hit either. I think I’ve had 3 crashes in the last 24h, a big improvement from iOS 18 beta 1 for me.
I really hope we’re able to adjust the opaqueness of the glass. I’ve seen some screenshots on Twitter that look horrible depending on what’s in the background. Almost unreadable horrible.
I haven't been excited about an iOS update in so many years, this one finally hyped me up again.
15:10 if you are mowing the grass with your AirPods in and you have to move the car this is a nice update. Or if you’re a trade guy and gotta move your truck mid-job. It’s a welcome update!
This is so much better than all those horrible leaks 🙏🏼
I activated the new SCREEN MY CALL feature. It works flawlessly! Already had 2 telemarketers cuss my little annoying assistant out! 😂😂😂 now I get to laugh! Priceless! And when I mean, it works very well. It works flawlessly. I’m so shocked because this is Beta 1
Pixel phones have this since 2022. 😅
I’m almost tempted to install this on my primary device just for that feature alone along with sending spam text to the spam folder.
@@123fourfivesix-g4iugh the temptation is real. It’s so hard not to download but I just can’t deal with all the bugs. Waiting for the public beta.
@@nestorpujols2919 Good for you. Now the iPhone has it, Apple always does it better!
This feature is what I’m looking forward to
Please see if they made Night Stand any different, use it nightly, love it, but would change a couple things if I could... thanks for the recap!! Fun times ahead for 26!
I don’t notice any changes in it but I don’t have a screenshot handy of precisely what it looked like before
@@jonathonhambleton2747 thanks, I am looking for more larger size numbers for the clock options. The current one the 5 and 6 look too close together, the 5 has a long hook around the back and looks like a 6. SO my blind a.s cannot tell clearly if 5 or 6 so I see 6 and think I overslept or I see a 5 and am like yes another hour when it was a 6 and the alarm goes on soon after, LOL....
The Liquid Glass seems like it would be a difficult for people with vision problems, especially the lighter grey on an only slightly lighter grey background.
Was waiting for your video only lol! No offence to other RUclipsrs 😂
Me too and I understand you.
I think the new UI looks beautiful, they just need to increase the blur on elements like the control center background
I wish they kept it frosted. That’s literally how I thought it was going to be since the redesign is inspired by visionOS.
I will not be suprised if we see an accessibility setting that turns off transparency. Even if transparency gets turned down a bit some people will probably struggle with it.
Thank you for keeping this video positive Brandon! It seems everyone is a critic nowadays, and some people are simply looking for enthusiastic walkthroughs and reviews. Great video!
Man old people are going to hate liquid glass. I have perfect vision and it makes things harder to read with translucent text over text
You can enable the setting to reduce transparency to increase visibility.
@@CommanderCodeyoo that’s good
Old people? I’m 35 and I hate it. But I am color blind so shading is really difficult in life. I won’t use the glassy stuff.
Watch your mouth kid
I’m 30 And I hate it. It’s horrible, I hope there’s a toggle to turn it off.
My mixing in music always starts around the last 25 sec or so and skips 30+ seconds of the next song, sometimes it’s okay but mostly sounds weird lol
I was hoping for split screen, floating app.
I’m not sure if I am the only one but I’ve noticed throughout the day while using IOS 26 the performance has gotten better. The lag has significantly decreased and there’s a lot less glitches
Can you please link the wallpaper shown at 2:39? Thanks
I know it’s only been one day but this is one of the best if not the best new betas I’ve ever used. Very smooth!
If you really want the glass, look to pop, put a black background with some kind of dark other color with it. It pops the icons where you can see the glass move all over the screen by just tilting your phone. It’s freaking awesome. Even the icons borders move like shinny glass. I’ve been messing with it for a while, and a black background with a mixture of a dark color really shows what the glass look can do.
What do u mean"””'…
Dang that wallpaper looks awesome with the new 3D .
My question is can you change the font on the Lock Screen for the time? Please let me know!
missing for me:
- updated folders similar to iPad OS.
- ability to put more apps in the dock
- home screen in landscape mode
1:54 Specifically, Glasskart theme, circa 2009.
Also can someone tell me if battery intelligence works on all phones, like the estimated charge time?
Wow this looks better in your video, I think the apple event did not do justice! Really appreciate your efforts in making these detailed videos Brandon, looking forward to September!
I don’t understand why the text is massive and the buttons as well , ALSO , the keyboard looks cheap like one you’d install on Android 😢 help
And yet the keyboard in Messages (and really everywhere) STILL has that dead space below, make it all the way Apple! Make that space USEABLE!
The glass looks really bad .. I hope it lets you adjust opacity
Clear icons are the worst part but love everything else. Glass look is amazing and will feel really smooth in hand once they don't mess up
Huge fan of the redesign using it on my iPad and iPhone and things are looking lit
Main device?
cap. shit looks like a vista phone from 2008
@@skidak541 So??
I really liked the search bar on the bottom of the screen. Very PRACTICAL for single handed use. Personally it was a quiet little move but it makes a lot of a difference in the everyday use experience especially for people with PRO MAX iphones.
dude but i don’t get why i can’t get my clock bigger, is it because i’m on an iphone 13? what do you think? further update, i also don’t get the new battery info thingy so don’t know why, maybe could be cause of the region(?)
Craig kept mentioning fluidity in the keynote and it looks like he meant it! For a beta 1, this looks incredibly fluid and smooth! Holy shit! Looking forward to public release!!
I was in the livestream🔥 pleasure to watch the event with you, and your one of my favorite iOS tech creators
I’m like the UI, if for no other reason than it’s been too long since they really changed anything, I was a fan of skeuomorphism so this is still right up my alley. What I do really like is them iterating on the toolbar design, always hating sacrificing some screen real estate for something I might not even click on or look at.
I’m a really big fan of the redesign for iPadOS I can’t wait till September
this beta has to be the most stable ive tried so far... i think it was ios 16 or 17 that also came with lots of changes but it was buggy as hell, i had to consider going back to the previous stable version, but this one is going great so far!
Finally! iOS 26 looks amazing!
And your live was great! ❤🎉
Thanks!!!
@@BrandonButch Why u talking about iOS 26 on iPhone, if we are currently only on iOS 18.5 ??
Thanks Brandon. Is there an option to customize widgets to clear mode while keeping the default homescreen? Clear looks sick for widgets but not so much for the app icons
7:51 "If you are somebody that collects money from others" lmao what are you trying to say Brandon? you have some side business we dont know about? 😂
💀
Love every feature so far.. can’t wait for this redesign
Instead of a glassy re-design that looks like a jailbreak mod from 2008, I wish they would’ve focused on fixing all the bugs and adding new, useful features!
15:25 I know in general for music, the “late night” EQ is the loudest option when playing music. Maybe it’s similar to that?
But what does loud music has do with late night?
Can see a lot of accessibility issues already. Lacks contrast
Also the glass blurring of backgrounds is too visually distracting. It pulls your eye to elements that aren’t important. My biggest issue is the clear icons pretty much kill the UX of badges.
That’s why it is an option and not a default. But yeah I do see what you mean, especially with the control centre.
@@jonathonhambleton2747you don’t have to use the clear icons man.
I like the redesign on a whole. I just wish they would add a shadows uptown to apps, buttons, and widgets to make things truly look 3D
I updated as soon as it released, started off laggy, but now it’s settled down and is pretty good for me on my 16pm, but the battery is obviously not the best.
Edit: battery intelligence is on the lock screen, it shows above the clock
Yeah, I feel like other RUclips channels like MacRumors or 9to5Mac are just too basic and just cover the most obvious features. The only one that was as detailed as him was EverythingApplePro, it is a shame he is no longer active.
This looks great! Reminds me of the interfaces we had in yhe mid to late 00's when technology was starting to get really exciting. Hopefully they keep this look for a while, it feels like we've been on the flat iOS6 look for way too long now.
Although it looks beautiful, but the white text on the transparency background is hard to see ( 0:44 ). Hope they find a fix to this soon.
Ya that’s the first thing I noticed in hand
They will likely reduce the transparency by some. If not, you can change the setting to reduce transparency.
They probably will fix all the 10+ problems as it's a developer beta I'll wait until MKBHD does a first look on IOS 26 and then download it
Keep audio on earphones in Carplay: AWESOME. Now I can listen to an audiobook on the open road while my wife sleeps next to me without it suddenly blaring from the car speakers every few minutes out of nowhere.
Photos app is the only thing I’m conflicted on tbh
All I want is to be allowed and able to move photos to an album instead of just copying.
I love the new callback reminder feature when you swipe left on a recent call! Pretty helpful
Not really a fan of glass design. The action center is too transparent
I like the design on the home screen... but yeah, that control center needs a little work.
Facts bro, control center threw me off
Gives me a crappier version of windows Vista vibes
Honestly same, in general I feel like they've overdone it a little this year, using it rn and it's not the same premium feels
I was thinking the same. I hope they make it more opaque before the final release.
great overview of ios26 , i really like the liquid glass look now
Alright - possible unpopular opinion, but I am yet to be sold on the redesign.
first off some of my apps that have turned glassy I find it much more difficult to see. For example on my home row I have shortcuts leading to various apps with a differing theme on them that happens to be white. Now I find it very difficult to see those with the tint which I do like because it matches my background and it just makes it much more difficult in general for me to see the app that I have. Next I’m really not a fan of the fact that they have added the glassy backgrounds to almost everything back arrows play arrows pause arrows it’s annoying to me because what was previously unintrusive and was just there is now much more intrusive and basically chat in your face. One thing they try to emphasise a lot during WWDC was that oh everything is so much more seamless it is better it looks better but I have to disagree. For example, I watch RUclips through Safari and they are just the glass backgrounds behind all of the control options if I accidentally tap on the screen just makes it much more difficult.
TLDR, I am still yet to be sold on the redesign but hope that it improves in the future.
Also the resizing of the clock can only be done with certain backgrounds that seem to support that dynamic wallpaper. Many of mine cannot be resized. I am also finding large battery drain issues which is to be expected with a first beta but something to be of note of nevertheless. my Settings app is also basically unusable and freezes up whenever I go into it..
Some of the glass elements could really use some Nano-texture treatment 😄
I love the redesign so so much but I just wish that Apple gave the windowing feature to iPhones as well, so when you’re using an external display, use the windowing feature and new interface on the external display and have the phone screen be a trackpad. Kinda like Samsung Dex. Hopefully it’ll come at a later date, it would be really cool!
where to get the wallpapers?!??!
Blows iOS 18 out the water
Yep
When it comes to bugs, nah. iOS 18 still wins. lol.
@ErwinPPP it’s a beta dude. 😂😂
The all white-clear icons look cool. I don't know if would use it but the look is great.
That Control Center is a nightmare! Seems hard to see the controls due to bright icons in the background.
It’s beta 1, it’ll get adjusted
I normally would concur but since AI was so bad and all I kept hearing back then was it is a beta it will be fixed…well it never did so can’t really count on that
@wicked_observer the thing with AI is, without it ios is still somewhat complete. This control centre is unusable. They have to change it.
15:05 Keep audio is awesome, im a trucker and hate when im in a call and come back to my truck and my phone connects to my radio
Oh dear god. They actually found a way to make the interface less accessible for people with vision issues than was iOS 5. I’m so thrilled. Thanks, Tim. 😒
You don’t have to use clear icons. You can have the dark mode or ones that are best for you. I’m sure Apple’s accessibility team is making sure people with vision issues don’t have problems with this
When did accessibility mean lack off for the rest of us? Can we not enjoy the glass icons just because you have vision problems? That's like shunning cars/bicycles because some people are born blind and can't drive.
It's not just the icons. They've put the "glass effect" around everything, widgets, containers, control center items. That screws with people's eyes even if they aren't using transparent icons. It makes it hard to read for people with visual problems. What they need to do is give us a way to turn the glass effect off or on. Then those that like it can use it and those who don't won't. This doesn't have to be an all or nothing thing.
@@turtleinashirtyep, this is my concern. And if they don’t, a lot of people are scrawed.
What about the performance on the beta? Does it heat ?, Is there any lags or bugs?
I am absolutely loving this! The only thing I truly wish they would implement is to have a "select all" button for deleting images, gifs and videos on messages.
The performance is actually really bad but i’m not surprised at all. Barely running on my iphone 14 pro max
Same, I’m kinda surprised considering the 14 pro is only 3 years old
@@MattSilva-kg6pjit will get a lot better over the next few months but this first update is always the worst performance wise. I’ve been doing these betas for years now
I'm using the 15 (same chip as the 14 pro) and it seems to be running fine on mine. It was laggy and pretty bad at first but after a couple hours and didn't really use it too much, I think it optimized better so now it runs pretty good all things considered
I’m on 16 pro max and it’s working flawlessly 🎉
So, taking a screenshot just got more difficult? Now I'll have time to hit a checkmark to save it to my photos?
I personally don’t like the clear icon option at all. I’m also not huge fan of the floating bar on the bottom, but that’s because it seems like that depending on what’s under it, it could be hard to read the names and icons on the bar. It seems weird to me that in the new camera app, the new video viewfinder is full screen but the photo viewfinder is regular size. Still, I am looking forward to installing iOS 26 when the full public release comes out.
Im so glad they added clear mode it was driving me crazy choosing which color to pick that best fits my wallpaper
Rounded icons is not there😢😢😢😢
Eh, not a fan. Rounded Rectangle is iOS.
The drag bar in Picture in Picture videos is sooooo nice
How does the all glass like design and icons look amazing? Am I missing something? It looks horrible
Yes the clear icons are the worst but everything else looks great
I like the updated app menus but that’s about it
Me coming back every year installing betas on my main device watching ur videos every year
😂
I’m a registered developer and still have not gotten the update
Same
I am just a regular user, I have gotten the update. I am on an iPhone 16 Pro Max in Australia
@@thorium9190I guess that’s how apple works
I have an older iPad that didn’t get Stage Manager with iPadOS 16, but it did receive the new multitasking features introduced in this update
lol looks like old windows glass feature.
Windows Vista baby!
Not sure when they added it but I’m so glad there’s a visual intelligence option for the action button.
I like the redesign! Like all of us with iPhones, it’s something that we will have to get used to. I can’t wait for this! For me, I like to experiment with the new features and see how well it works, with my daily activity I do with my iPhone!