Apple is finishing final testing of iOS 26.1 ahead of a public rollout that brings visual refinements, expanded language support for Apple Intelligence, new audio controls and developer kits designed to loosen the company’s ecosystem restrictions.
What’s new visually
The headline change is the new Liquid Glass interface, first seen in beta 4 and accessible in Settings > Display & Brightness. Users can choose between Clear and Tinted transparency modes. The Tinted option reduces opacity across system elements such as notifications and tab bars to produce a subtler, frosted-glass appearance. Apple has applied comparable treatments to macOS and iPadOS, though with milder differences.
iOS 26.1 also introduces more lock screen control: for the first time in years users can disable the swipe-to-open Camera shortcut via Settings > Camera > Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera, reducing accidental launches while preserving other quick-access methods such as Control Centre and the Action button.
Audio, gestures and local capture
A new Local Capture section in Settings lets users manage microphone gain and pick where locally recorded audio is stored. Gesture-driven interactions have been extended across the system: swiping left or right on the MiniPlayer changes Apple Music tracks, and alarms and timers gain a slide-to-stop gesture for quicker, smoother dismissal.
Apple Intelligence and Live Translation broaden language support
iOS 26.1 expands Apple Intelligence and Live Translation to more languages, increasing accessibility for global users. Notable additions include Mandarin Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Italian, Japanese, and Korean, along with other languages such as Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, and Vietnamese.
Developer-facing changes: AppMigrationKit and PhotoKit
Apple is testing new developer frameworks that signal a modest opening of its ecosystem. AppMigrationKit enables migration of app data from iPhone to Android, while PhotoKit gives third‑party photo apps the ability to perform background photo backups. Both kits aim to improve cross‑platform compatibility and provide developers with deeper system integration options.
Availability
iOS 26.1 will be offered to iPhone 11-series devices and newer, including iPhone SE (2nd generation) and later models. Apple is currently in the final testing phase ahead of the official public release.
