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13 underrated iOS 26 updates that improve your iPhone

iOS 26 Liquid Glass design

Apple’s headline iOS 26 features like Apple Intelligence and redesigned apps tend to get all the attention. But some of the most useful changes are easy to miss. These underrated iOS 26 updates quietly improve the iPhone experience in ways that don’t make the keynote but still matter in everyday use.

From smarter AirPods behavior to new journaling tools and better battery estimates, here are 13 updates you might have missed.

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Synology masters both ease and control with BeeStation and DiskStation

Synology is synonymous with NAS, or network-attached storage, and there’s good reason for that. The DiskStation line of products is reliable and robust with a great community that supports consumer and professional use cases. More recently, Synology has reached beyond traditional NAS solutions with BeeStation, a private and family cloud storage solution. I’ve recently been testing the BeeStation Plus, a somewhat less capable, but much more approachable, product, and the DiskStation DS925+, a traditional NAS with a familiar product name to us at 9to5. Both are great in their own way. Here’s how they perform and compare.

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Tim Cook has a new deputy but Apple’s next CEO is probably still someone else

Jeff Williams, often considered Tim Cook’s successor, is leaving Apple. Sabih Khan, a 30-year veteran of the company, is Apple’s next chief operating officer. Does Khan taking Cook’s old job make him CEO-designate? Jeff Williams retiring certainly clears the path for Khan to climb up the succession planning ladder. However, I would wager that Apple’s CEO succession plan isn’t changing.

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macOS Tahoe: Reports of FireWire’s death not greatly exaggerated

How dead is FireWire support in macOS Tahoe 26? As dead as the iPod, as far as the Mac is concerned, which is at least a little sad. Stephen Hackett checked.

In classic 512 Pixels fashion, he’s conjured together a real world demonstration using a battle-tested FireWire 800 cable-connected drive, two Thunderbolt adapters including a Thunderbolt 2 to 3 dongle, and a Mac. Woof.

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Liquid Glass in iOS 26 beta 3 less dramatic as Apple optimizes redesign for usability

Sorry or you’re welcome? Apple’s new Liquid Glass visual element is getting any icy design change in some places before it reaches customers. iOS 26 developer beta 3, which will likely be iOS 26 public beta 1 later this month, reduces the transparency effect in a number of places like navigation bars in certain apps. In the example above, the top shows beta 2 while the bottom shows the current look in beta 3.

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PSA: Fortnite for iPhone and iPad no longer runs on iOS 26 beta after Blitz Royale update [U]

Update 6/25/2025: Eight days later, version 36.10.1 on the App Store restores iOS 26 support.


Fortnite returned to the U.S. App Store last month after a five year hiatus over litigation between Epic Games and Apple. As of today, however, Fortnite is as good as gone on iPhones and iPads running the iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 beta.

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T-Mobile launching T-Satellite with Starlink next month, working with Apple on satellite enabled apps

T-Mobile has been testing a beta version of its T-Satellite service with customers for several weeks now. Starting next month, the beta period will start to wind down as satellite connectivity officially launches as a paid service. Beyond the commercial launch, T-Mobile has also announced when the service will expand beyond text message support to include data.

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Vision Pro’s first third-party Apple Immersive Video brings MotoGP racing via Blackmagic

Apple Vision Pro owners will soon get to experience the exhilarating world of motorcycle racing. CANAL+ announced an upcoming Apple Immersive Video film that will bring viewers directly into the world of MotoGP racing. The project marks the first third-party studio production in Apple’s Immersive Video format, filmed entirely with Blackmagic’s URSA Cine Immersive camera system designed specifically for Vision Pro content.

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