As part of iOS 26's interface changes, your iPhone lock screen can take on a new look with spatial photos available as the background image for your phone and an adaptive time feature that adjusts the look of the on-screen clock to fit with the other visual elements. We go through all the iOS 26 lock screen changes.

Apple has confirmed iOS 26’s public launch this fall, following the release of beta 4 to developers and testers with major UI and Apple Intelligence updates.

Looking at the home screens, the primary difference you'll find is that in iOS 26 the background of the dock and the search option that sits in between the dock and the home screen icons are more transparent and have a sheen to the edges, whereas in iOS 18, these are slightly darker.

Testing with developer and public beta versions went smoothly for even the oldest supported models. But there are safety measures if upgrading to the beta or release version goes awry.

The fourth developer beta of iOS 26 introduces 12 new CarPlay wallpapers. The new CarPlay wallpapers are based on the official iOS 26 wallpaper

iOS 26 brings a new translucent "Liquid Glass" look, the latest on-device Apple Intelligence perks (real-time translation and a smarter Visual Intelligence search ), and phone and text upgrades like built-in call screening and in-chat polls.

Apart from the selection tool, other interesting iOS 26 updates for the Messages app include Polls, Live Translation with Apple Intelligence, typing indicators for group chats, updated message filters, and natural language search.

Apple is letting iPhone users try its new iOS 26 in advance to see what interface changes to expect when it's released in the fall.