iOS 26 release date revealed: Your iPhone will be treated to a complete redesign next week

As the name suggests, Liquid Glass adds translucency and transparency throughout the operating system, so you'll be able to see-through buttons, icons and entire menus to the photos, videos, webpages, documents, and apps on the other side.

This should make navigation easier, but it also means that content is able to occupy more of the screen real estate.

It's the first major overhaul to the visuals on iOS in over 12 years. The straight lines, flat edges and sharp corners that characterised earlier designs have been excised almost entirely from Liquid Glass, with menus and buttons curved to mirror the soft edges around the displays on Apple's most recent devices.

New animations add "a new level of vitality" while navigating around your iPhone, Apple says. The Californian company was so keen to mimic the properties of glass in its software that it'll render specular highlights in real-time, so as you tilt or move your iPhone, translucent items will have a lifelike glimmer.

It'll take some getting used to, but you're going to need to. Not only is Liquid Glass rolling out as part of iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26, but Apple says the new look will "lay the foundation" for the next chapter of its software design.

Speaking about iOS 26, Apple Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, Craig Federighi said: "iOS 26 shines with the gorgeous new design and meaningful improvements to the features users rely on every day, making iPhone even more helpful.

"Experiences are more expressive and personal, from the Lock Screen and Home Screen, to new capabilities across Phone and Messages that help users focus on the connections that matter most. And with powerful new Apple Intelligence capabilities integrated across the system, users can get things done easier than ever."

While Liquid Glass is the most eye-catching aspect of iOS 26, there's a bucket load of other improvements and tweaks included in the update.

Apple has spent a lot of time and effort on the Phone app in iOS 26, which now combines Favourites, Recents, and Voicemails into a single unified thread. For the first time, Phone is coming to macOS too, so you can manage your recent calls and start a call from your laptop or desktop PC without taking your iPhone out of your pocket.

Aside from its one-stop-shop redesign, Apple is introducing three new features to remove common headaches — being placed on hold and receiving spam calls.

Call Screening is designed to solve the latter by automatically screening any incoming calls from unknown numbers. Apple will use its lifelike AI to ask the caller for a name and reason for calling your number, the response will be transcribed and will pop-up as a notification on your iPhone.

You can then decide whether or not to answer the call.

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Hold Assist will take your place in the queue whenever you're put on hold. When it's your turn, Hold Assist will call you back — cutting out the boring wait and putting you on the line with a human being. Somewhat related to these clever call screening features, Messages in iOS 26 will automatically sort texts from unknown senders into a dedicated folder where you can mark numbers as known, request more information, or delete.

With these sorted away, the front page of the Messages app should only include conversations and group chats you're interested in.

And that's not the only improvement coming to the new-look Phone app. If your iPhone supports Apple Intelligence, you'll be able to translate incoming and outgoing calls in real-time when you're on the line with someone who speaks another language. The caller will hear an AI translation of what you've said, while their response will be translated for you. It's clever stuff and works across phone calls as well as FaceTime video and voice calls.

There's a slight tweak to the Photos app, which has a Library and Collections tab. Launching the Photos app, you'll still be presented with a chronological feed of every photo, video, and screenshot you've added to your library.

And there's a new way to experience all of those photos. For the first time, iPhone owners will be able to transform any photo into an immersive three-dimensional image — like something from Minority Report.

As you tilt and move the iPhone in your hand, the 3D effect of the photo will respond giving the impression of peering into the picture. It's inspired by a feature that launched last year on the Apple Vision Pro and can be used on the Lock Screen of your iPhone, with the clock face sitting behind the subject of the photograph.

When you update to iOS 26, you'll find a new app waiting on the Home Screen.

Dubbed Apple Games, this one-stop-shop lets you jump back into a title you're already enjoying, find a new favourite game, and compare scores with friends.

News about what’s happening across all installed games will be highlighted in the all-new app, including major events and updates, so you'll never miss an in-game event. Games will spotlight the latest additions to Apple Arcade, Apple’s subscription service with more than 200 titles.

Like Achievements on Xbox or Trophies on PlayStation, Apple says developers will be able to add “challenges” to their games, which can be ticked-off in the Apple Games app. This should make single-player experiences more sociable.

Elsewhere, Messages will now show real-time typing indicators for everyone in a group chat.

You'll also be able to send polls and set a custom backgrounds to your conversations and group chats, picking between a slew of preinstalled options, photos from your library, or generating a never-before-seen image with Image Playground.

Animated album artwork will now takeover your Lock Screen when via Apple Music. For the first time, you'll be able to translate song lyrics, so you can understand what your favourite song is about — or sing-along to tracks in any language.

For its part, Apple Maps now learns your daily routes so that it can provide delay notifications and alternative route suggestions before you need them. Apple has overhauled its built-in Camera app with a simplified new layout that, at first glance at least, appears to only have two options.

If you're running iOS 26 and plug your handset into an infotainment, CarPlay will be refreshed with the same Liquid Glass appearance as the rest of Apple's operating systems. All of the improvements to Messages, Apple Maps, and other default apps will also appear on the screen inside your vehicle too.

Wrapping up, if your iPhone supports Apple Intelligence, iOS 26 will unleash new Visual Intelligence capabilities. For the first time, this clever Artificial Intelligence (AI) model can analyse what's happening on-screen and suggest next steps.

For example, if Visual Intelligence spots a date, it'll automatically add an event to your calendar with pre-populated details, including location and attendees. Visual Intelligence can help you find shop listings for products featured in photos on social media, find the location of landmarks featured in photos, and more.
You can ask ChatGPT — which was added to iOS last year — questions about anything on your screen too. For example, if you have a photo with an array of food items, "what recipe could I make from these?" and it'll generate a step-by-step guide to make the most of the ingredients.

If you're confused about why the successor to iOS 18 isn't iOS 19, Apple decided to unify the brand name of every single one of its operating systems under the number of the next calendar year, in this case 2026. It's designed to remove confusion, since the sequential numbering system for each device meant that newer additions, like the Apple Vision Pro, which was due to upgrade to visionOS 3 this autumn, seemed to be dragging behind its peers.