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2 days ago
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ARTICLE AD BOX
Apple previewed iOS 26, its first significant update since iOS 7, at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). The new operating system is not just a fresh coat of paint but a blend of beautiful new design, enhanced intelligent experiences powered by Apple Intelligence and improvements – big and small – to core applications across the board. As per Craig Federighi, Apple’s senior vice president of Software Engineering, the update’s focus is on making the iPhone “even more helpful” with expressive, personal experiences and powerful AI capabilities.iOS 26 is available for developers today and will see a public beta release next month. The full update is expected to roll out this fall as a free firmware update for compatible devices. The new operating system brings a refreshed aesthetic and a host of new functionalities. Here's a breakdown of the key announcements:
Liquid Glass: iOS 26 with a beautiful new design
- Liquid Glass: Apple has introduced a translucent material that is integrated across the system, enhancing the visual appeal of controls, navigation, app icons and widgets by reflecting and refracting surroundings.
- Personalised Lock and Home Screens: The new design extends to these screens, offering more customisation options for app icons and widgets, including a stunning clear look. There are floating tab bars for Apple Music, News and Podcasts that float, dynamically shrinking and expanding to prioritise content.
- Fluid Time on Lock Screen: Apple showcased how the clock/ time dynamically adapts to available space within a wallpaper image, creating a more dynamic feel.
- Spatial Scenes: Apple is adding a cool effect to wallpapers with a 3D effect as users move their iPhone.
- Streamlined Camera Layout: The Camera app now has a simplified interface that aims to help users focus on capturing the moment.
- Redesigned Photos App: The Photos app also gets a fresh design with the app now featuring separate tabs for Library and Collections views.
New capabilities powered by Apple Intelligence
- Live Translation: Apple is bringing Live Translation which is integrated into Messages, FaceTime and Phone. This feature provides on-the-fly text and audio translation, powered by on-device Apple-built models for privacy.
- Visual Intelligence: The feature essentially extends to the iPhone screen, allowing users to search and take action on anything they're viewing across apps. Users can ask ChatGPT questions about onscreen content, and search Google or other supported apps for similar images and products.
- Genmoji and Image Playground: Offers new ways for self-expression, enabling users to mix emoji, Genmoji, and descriptions to create unique images.
- Intelligent actions: Apple has introduced "intelligent actions" — a new set of shortcuts enabled by Apple Intelligence, with dedicated actions for features like Writing Tools and Image Playground.
- Automated order tracking: Apple Intelligence can now automatically identify and summarize order tracking details from emails, centralizing purchase information even for non-Apple Pay transactions.
Updates to Phone and Messages apps
- Unified Phone app layout: With the new design, Favorites, Recents and Voicemails are combined into a single, streamlined view.
- Call Screening: Builds on Live Voicemail to gather caller information, the feature will help users decide whether to pick up or ignore calls. There is also Hold Assist that notifies users when a live agent becomes available while they are on hold.
- Messages screening tools: Users can now screen messages from unknown senders, placing them in a dedicated, silenced folder until accepted.
- Enhanced Messages conversations: Finally, Apple has introduced custom backgrounds and the ability to create polls, with Apple Intelligence intelligently suggesting polls when appropriate.
Enhancements to CarPlay:
- Smarter, easier use: With updates to CarPlay, Apple is bringing a more streamlined and user-friendly experience to the app that, it says, is used over 600 million times daily.
- New compact call view: This redesign allows users to see incoming calls without obscuring navigation details. Messages Enhancements: Brings Tapbacks and pinned conversations to Messages in CarPlay.
- Widgets and Live Activities: With these updates, users can stay informed without losing focus on the road.
- CarPlay Ultra: Started rolling out last month, CarPlay Ultra is now a more deeply integrated, unified experience across every screen for consistent design and controls.
Updates to Apple Music and Maps
- Apple Music: Introduces Lyrics Translation for understanding songs and Lyrics Pronunciation for singing along. AutoMix uses intelligence to seamlessly transition between songs like a DJ.
- Apple Maps: Features "Visited Places," allowing iPhone to detect and log places users have been. On-device intelligence also offers preferred daily routes and notifies users of delays.
Additional Features in iOS 26
- Apple Games App: Apple is bringing a new, all-in-one destination for games, helping players revisit favorites, discover new titles, and connect with friends, including the full Apple Arcade experience.
- AirPods Enhancements:New features for AirPods 4, AirPods 4 with ANC and AirPods Pro 2 include studio-quality audio recording (leveraging Voice Isolation) for iPhone, iPad, and Mac, and a camera remote feature via the AirPods stem for photos and video recording.
- Parental Controls: These allow simplified management of Child Accounts, with enhancements to Communication Limits, Communication Safety and App Store, including parental approvals for contact requests, blurring sensitive content in FaceTime and granting exceptions for app downloads.
- Safari Privacy: Advanced fingerprinting protection is now enabled by default for all Browse, enhancing user privacy.
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