iOS 26 is Here, Apple Officially Releases Stable Update for All Eligible iPhones

A week after rolling out its Release Candidate, Apple is releasing iOS 26 for everyone across the globe. After nine developer betas and six public betas, iPhone users can now download the official iOS 26 stable build with all the new features and improvements.

One of the major changes in iOS 26 that Apple introduced at WWDC 2025 was the Liquid Glass redesign. It changes the look of the UI but introducing translucent elements that refract light, causing a roller wave distortion effect.

From sliders to toolbars and App icons, all boast a frosted glass effect, which expressively shifts when interacting with adjacent elements. iOS 26 also brings new lock screen customisations with the Dynamic clock feature. It enables the option to adjust the size and thickness of the clock's font, other than making the clock on iOS 26 bigger.

Then there's Live Translation in Messages, Phone and FaceTime apps. It lets users translate messages and voice calls in real-time using Apple Intelligence. Since it's specific to Apple Intelligence, the feature will only roll out to iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 series with iOS 26.

Speaking of the Phone app, iOS 26 also brings Call screening. Like Pixels, let the iPhone take calls and ask what the opposite party is calling for. The feature is not tied to Apple Intelligence, so it should work on all the iOS 26-supported iPhones.

The rest of the features are app-specific improvements like the ability to change chat backgrounds in messages, a new Apple Games app and redesigned Photos and Camera apps.

Some of the other major additions with iOS 26 are new Apple Intelligence features like a Circle to Search equivalent feature in Visual Intelligence, custom AI-powered shortcuts, combining two or more emojis together like in Emoji Kitchen on Android and improved Image Playground with new ChatGPT styles.

The Liquid Glass design also carries over to macOS 26, watchOS 26 and iPadOS 26. The latter gets features like a better windowing system and folders in the dock. Besides, the long-awaited Preview app for PDFs and the Phone app with Contact posters. Live translations are also here, like iOS 26.

iOS 26 is now making its way to all the supported iPhones, which include the iPhone 11 and newer models. As mentioned earlier, Apple Intelligence features will be supported on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 16 series and the latest iPhone 17 series. Users can head over to Settings > General > Software Update and tap on Download and Install.