Apple launched the iOS 26.1 launch candidate (RC) on Tuesday, greater than a month after the corporate launched iOS 26, which launched Liquid Glass, name screening and extra to your iPhone. The iOS 26.1 RC brings a couple of new settings and options to builders’ and beta testers’ units, together with a brand new method to modify Liquid Glass and a helpful safety characteristic.
Since that is the RC, I like to recommend downloading it solely on one thing apart from your major machine. The replace is likely to be buggy and battery life could also be quick.
There is no phrase on when Apple will launch iOS 26.1 to most people. Nevertheless, Apple normally releases an RC per week or two earlier than making an replace obtainable to everybody, so I count on the corporate to launch iOS 26.1 quickly.
Listed here are the options builders and beta testers can attempt now, and what might be in your iPhone when Apple formally releases iOS 26.1.
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One other method to modify Liquid Glass
With the iOS 26.1 RC, Apple is letting you modify your iPhone’s new Liquid Glass design much more. In the event you go into Settings > Show & Brightness > Liquid Glass, you may select for the brand new design to be Clear or Tinted.
“Clear is extra clear, revealing the content material beneath,” Apple writes for the setting. “Tinted will increase opacity and provides extra distinction.”
Altering Clear or Tinted seems to solely modify sure Liquid Glass components for now, like your Notification Heart and a few search bars all through your iPhone. Nevertheless, it does not seem to vary Liquid Glass components in your Dwelling Display screen. However you do not have to be working the RC to regulate Liquid Glass in your Dwelling Display screen.
To regulate Liquid Glass in your Dwelling Display screen, long-press in your display, faucet Edit within the high left nook of your display, then faucet Customise. From right here, make your app icons both Clear or Tinted, then you may faucet Mild, Darkish or Auto alongside the underside of the Customise menu to regulate the Liquid Glass components in your Dwelling Display screen.
In the event you aren’t working the RC and do not like Liquid Glass, you too can go to Settings > Accessibility > Show & Textual content Dimension after which faucet the toggle for Scale back Transparency to regulate the brand new design.
Routinely set up Safety Enhancements
Apple introduces a helpful new safety setting within the iOS 26.1 RC that enables your iPhone to obtain and set up Safety Enhancements by itself. You could find this by going to Settings > Privateness & Safety > Background Safety Enhancements.
“Background Safety Enhancements present extra safety to your iPhone in between software program updates,” in response to Apple. “In uncommon situations of compatibility points, these Safety Enhancements could also be briefly eliminated after which enhanced in a future software program replace.”
This menu additionally lets you uninstall a Safety Enchancment. To take action, faucet the three dots (…) subsequent to the put in replace. A brand new menu will seem with the choice to Take away & Restart. This may be useful when you really feel the Safety Enchancment is inflicting you extra points than it is fixing.
This characteristic jogs my memory of Apple’s Fast Safety Responses. The corporate launched RSRs in 2023 as a method to shortly deploy safety fixes to units. Whereas a good suggestion in principle, Apple hasn’t used iOS RSRs for the reason that launch of iOS 16.5.1 (c) in July 2023.
This is not a flashy setting, however it’s helpful and lets you keep updated on smaller safety updates with out doing any further work. As soon as enabled, this setting takes care of the remainder, so you do not have to test your iPhone each day for brand spanking new updates to potential safety points.
Cease by accident opening your Digital camera with this new toggle
The iOS 26.1 RC additionally introduces a brand new toggle that would stop you from by accident opening your Digital camera out of your Lock Display screen. To seek out this toggle, go to Settings > Digital camera and scroll to the underside of the menu. There you may see a toggle for Lock Display screen Swipe to Open Digital camera.
“Swipe left on the Lock Display screen to shortly entry the Digital camera,” Apple writes for the setting.
Cellphone name haptics management
Within the iOS 26 RC, there is a new possibility to show off haptics when your iPhone connects or drops a name. That method your iPhone does not vibrate and make you assume you bought one other message or notification every time you get on or off a name.
To entry this setting, go to Settings > Apps > Cellphone and faucet the Haptics toggle.
Native Seize choices
Native Seize is a simple method to report high-quality video and audio recordings of video calls in your iPhone, and the iOS 26.1 RC introduces a brand new Settings menu for the characteristic. The menu offers you the choice to pick out a save location to your recordings, in addition to a toggle that allows you to solely report audio when utilizing Native Seize.
“Add Native Seize to Management Heart to report your individual audio and video throughout a name to avoid wasting and edit later,” Apple writes within the Native Seize settings web page.
New Accessibility possibility
The iOS 26.1 RC introduces a brand new choice to favor single-touch actions over sliding actions in your iPhone’s display. You could find this new possibility by going to Settings > Accessibility > Contact and scrolling to the underside of the web page.
Alarm will get one other replace
Considered one of my favourite small upgrades in iOS 26 was the flexibility to change your alarm snooze size. Within the iOS 26.1 RC, Apple makes it more durable to by accident dismiss your alarm. When your alarm goes off within the RC, you now should swipe to cease it relatively than hit a button. This might be annoying when you’re making an attempt to close your alarm off quick, or it may assist make sure you’re truly awake earlier than you flip your alarm off.
Altering songs in Apple Music
Apple Music received a handful of recent options in iOS 26, however the iOS 26.1 RC does not change a lot concerning the app or service. As a substitute, the replace allows you to change songs in a brand new method.
With the iOS 26.1 RC, as an alternative of tapping the subsequent or backward buttons to vary songs, you may swipe left or proper on the tune title from the music participant inside Apple Music. You are able to do this when the participant is taking on your complete display or whenever you’re wanting by way of Apple Music and the participant is small and close to the underside of your display. The tune title even seems to leap left or proper whenever you change songs now, too.
Extra Stay Translation languages
The iOS 26.1 RC provides extra languages to the brand new Stay Translation characteristic. Apple launched this characteristic to iPhones and AirPods with iOS 26, and the RC lets builders and beta testers use it with these languages.
- Chinese language (Mandarin, simplified)
- Chinese language (Mandarin, conventional)
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
Apple Intelligence in additional languages
You probably have an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone, the iOS 26.1 RC brings the AI options to those languages.
- Chinese language (conventional)
- Danish
- Dutch
- Norwegian
- Portuguese (Portugal)
- Swedish
- Turkish
- Vietnamese
Calendar replace
Not a significant change, however the iOS 26 RC updates the Calendar interface. In the event you view your calendar in Record View, any calendar occasions you will have on a particular day shall be coloured throughout the entire backside a part of your display.
New video scrubbing bar
The iOS 26.1 RC additionally brings a small change to the video scrubbing bar in Pictures. In the event you go into Pictures and watch a video, you may discover that the bar throughout the underside of your display is extra compact and inline in comparison with the previous scrubbing bar, which had the play/pause and quantity buttons above the bar.
That is one other small change that you just may not have even observed.
These are a couple of of the brand new options builders and public beta testers can attempt with the iOS 26.1 RC. Apple may launch one other RC earlier than it launches iOS 26.1 to the general public, however I would count on these new options and adjustments to land in your iPhone within the subsequent week or two.
For extra iOS information, this is my evaluate of the iOS 26, how one can scale back the Liquid Glass results within the replace and the way textual content screening works within the replace. You may as well try our iOS 26 cheat sheet.
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