Your iPhone’s about to get a major internal makeover with iOS 26 on the way - and it’s bringing loads of new features that, personally, I reckon should’ve been here yonks ago.
They’ve got a new ‘liquid glass’ look, basically making all the controls look like glass – even your apps, which can now be made transparent to match your background and give your phone a slick, more fluid design.
Same goes for your lock screen clock, the time will now shape-shift to fit whatever image you’ve set. If you’re not already running your fave pics as a personal lock screen slideshow, what're you up to?!
“iOS 26 shines with the gorgeous new design and meaningful improvements to the features users rely on every day, making iPhone even more helpful,” said Craig Federighi, Apple’s VP of Software Engineering.
With powerful new Apple Intelligence capabilities integrated across the system, users can get things done easier than ever.
We’ll see how powerful that really is with the new Call Screening feature. It's like the Live Voicemail feature already rolling out on phones and will help stop unwanted interruptions by gathering info from the caller, then give you all the details so you can decide if it’s worth picking up.
Honestly, it’s a game-changer. I never answer 'No Caller ID' or 'unknown number' calls, but it’s also a curse, ‘cause if I’ve got to call someone and explain what I’m ringing about, you best believe I’m hanging up the second I have to start talking.
And for those times you’re stuck on hold, Hold Assist will notify you when a real person is finally ready to talk, so - as much as we love it - no, you don’t need to sit through ‘Something in the Water’ by Brooke Fraser on loop for 40 minutes.
Screenshots are getting a massive upgrade too. Let’s be real, most of us have phones FULL with random screenshots of clothes, furniture, or some random decor we spotted online and meant to look up later… and NEVER did.
Now, every time you take a screenshot, visual intelligence can kick in and reverse search the image (or whatever bit you’ve highlighted), showing you where you can find and buy it before it disappears into the camera roll forever.
Which means more space for your pet, car or baby pics to use up your storage instead.
Aside from these bigger upgrades, there’s heaps more to get excited about, including being able to add background to make your text messages and group chats more personalised, the option to add polls to group chats and request money after those group dinners.
Live Translation is also coming for Messages, FaceTime, and Phone to help us communicate between languages by translating text and audio on the go.
Apple Games will be a brand-new app too which will give gamers one spot for all the apps they play.
The update’s in beta testing now, but it’s set to go public for iPhone 11 and later models, with the full iOS 26 dropping later this year.
