Apple redesigned the Privacy and Security section of the Settings app, providing at-a-glance what is an ios developer information about what you’re sharing so you can make adjustments. The Privacy and Security section shows how many apps have access to various privacy settings like location, camera, microphone, and more. It can be set to access apps like Home, Calculator, or Translate, or activate features like Dark Mode. Control Center has been overhauled, and it now features rearrangeable tiles and support for multiple pages so you can put what you need most right at the top of it. You can customize all of the Control Center options, adding new controls from the Controls gallery that Apple introduced. Apple cloud servers running on Apple silicon are used for more intensive tasks.
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- Messages via satellite works on the iPhone 14 and newer, and it is initially limited to the United States.
- Hikes can be saved for offline access, and you can create custom walking and hiking routes.
- After that, the iPhone maker remained tight-lipped, but no further Rapid Security Responses were ever seen.
- The software adapts to users’ individual language usages, searches, and preferences, with continuing use.
You can incorporate pictures of your friends and family to make all kinds of fun custom photos in styles that include Animation, Illustration, or Sketch. Image Playground image generation is built into Messages, Notes, and other apps. Apple removed the iPhone XR and XS from its list of supported devices with iOS 26, so any iPhone 11 or newer is compatible with the new operating system, including the iPhone SE. With iOS 26, the app uses artificial intelligence to learn a user’s preferred routes, providing updates on delays before a user hits the road, according to the Apple website. Similarly, Messages now filters out texts from unknown senders, putting them in a different view away from your other conversations.
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. Siri can search your entire device for information and knows your history, so it is prepared to help you with all your everyday tasks. A user wearing AirPods Pro 3 may speak in their native language and then the earbuds will translate to the chosen language via speech or text on the attached iPhone.
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It’s now emerged that another version of Apple’s latest iPhone software, iOS 26.1 is coming soon. The next point update to iOS 26 will introduce some major changes to your security via a refresh to a feature some of you might be familiar with — Rapid Security Responses. If anything, iOS 18.7 is a safe option for those who want a secure iPhone but don’t care about iOS 26 features.
Apple’s iOS 26 update is coming. See key features, compatible devices.
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We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. Apple Maps also features a new Visited Place category, which highlights restaurants, shops and other destinations a user has visited before. When activated, Hold Assist keeps a caller’s spot in line with a live agent and notifies a user when the call is ready for them, according to the Apple website. 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.
iPhone battery worse after updating to iOS 26? Here’s why, and how I fixed it
You can also hide an app, which removes it from the Home Screen and tucks it away in a hidden folder in the App Library that can’t be accessed without authentication. Apps that are locked or hidden won’t send notifications and aren’t available in search. Apple updated the Photos app, merging the Library and For You tabs into a simplified view that focuses on surfacing your best photos and memories. With Collections, it’s easy to find photos organized by themes like recent days, trips, and people and pets. In addition to the AI features, there are a ton of other new features that are not AI related and are available on a much wider range of iPhones. There are new customization options for the Home Screen, with the option to rearrange apps and widgets with open spaces and around wallpapers.
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You can assign those buttons to do different things or turn them off entirely, which is useful for those who don’t want to accidentally activate the Camera or Flashlight from the Lock Screen. 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.
Apple’s iOS 26.0.1 fixes a bevy of glitches – update your iPhone now
The software adapts to users’ individual language usages, searches, and preferences, with continuing use. Apps are generally limited to accessing their own containers and specific system-provided directories, such as the Photos library. To access files outside of their sandbox, iOS uses mechanisms like document pickers, file providers, and app extensions. Every year (usually in September) Apple adds new features to compatible iPhones with an update to iOS, and in the months that follow more features arrive. If you want to know what the latest version of iOS is, or if you’ve ever wondered about when versions came out and what features they brought, we will answer your questions. We also show you how to check which iOS you’re currently using and how to update to the latest iteration.
- The names of apps can be removed, increasing the size of the icons and widgets on the Home Screen with the space saved.
- You can also choose to tint your app icons to match your wallpaper, overwriting the default color of each icon.
- For example, iOS 26 boosts support for Passkeys, making security and privacy more simple for users, says Jake Moore, global cybersecurity advisor at security outfit ESET.
Apple first introduced Rapid Security Responses in iOS 16, with the idea of being able to release important patches on the fly, rather than alongside bug fixes and features in a whole new iOS version. All started fine with these, but then, a Rapid Security Response went wrong and Apple was forced to quickly issue another update to fix it. After that, the iPhone maker remained tight-lipped, but no further Rapid Security Responses were ever seen.
In iOS 7, Apple introduced a new multitasking feature, providing all apps with the ability to perform background updates. This feature prefers to update the user’s most frequently used apps and prefers to use Wi-Fi networks over a cellular network, without markedly reducing the device’s battery life. The storage of iOS devices can be expanded through iCloud, the Apple’s cloud-based storage solution that provides 5GB of storage for free to all users, while other plans require a paid subscription. ICloud Drive allows users to store various types of files, such as documents, presentations, and spreadsheets, in the cloud. These files can be accessed across multiple devices as long as the user is signed in with the same Apple ID. The software update boasts several new phone call and text message features, including Call Screening.