iOS 26

Your iPhone uses preinstalled Apple apps by default for system actions like opening links, making phone calls, and more. But iOS lets you set new default apps in a variety of categories, and the available options expanded in iOS 26. Here are the details.

The iPhone Air is the most exciting iPhone Apple has released since the iPhone X. It’s thin, lightweight, and amazingly designed, and for the first time in a long time, it’s different. Apple’s iPhone lineup has felt increasingly redundant. The iPhones have all looked and felt the same since the iPhone 11 lineup. So, excuse the pun, but the iPhone Air has been a genuine breath of fresh air. It prioritizes feel, design, and experience over chasing specs, and that is what makes it special. I put my main SIM card in the iPhone Air and, initially, I loved it. But after living with it day in and day out, two issues slowly but consistently stopped me from fully committing.

If you’re running the iOS 26.3 beta, Apple has just released a new security update you can install. But there’s a catch: rather than including fixes, the update is simply testing out a new system. Here are the details. [Updated 1/8 with second release details]

iOS 26 has been available for nearly four months, yet reporting from Statcounter indicates the iPhone update is lagging significantly behind predecessors in adoption, with most users opting to stay on iOS 18.

Meanwhile, data from TelemetryDeck paints a different, more optimistic picture.

iOS 26 and its subsequent updates have brought a lot of new ways to customize your iPhone in the Settings app. Here are the new iOS 26 settings I changed on my iPhone right away.

Apple is set to release a consistent stream of new iPhone software updates this year. There are major changes still to come with iOS 26, as well as iOS 27 coming at WWDC in June. Here’s the full timeline on when to expect these updates.

Apple Music took a big leap forward this year in iOS 26, adding a bunch of new features, three of which have quickly become some of my favorite additions in years.

Apple’s long-delayed AI upgrades for Siri are set to finally launch this year. Here’s the expected release date for the new and improved Siri.

iOS 26.2 is the latest iPhone software update, and it includes several new ways to customize the way your iPhone looks and works. Here’s what’s new.

iOS 26.2 is the latest iPhone update, with excellent new features for Reminders, Podcasts, and Apple Music. There are also a couple key CarPlay changes in iOS 26.2, here’s what’s new.

Apple’s Fitness app on iPhone started out as a companion to the Apple Watch’s Activity rings. But recently in iOS 26, Fitness expanded in several ways, including for users who don’t own an Apple Watch. Here are three recent changes that can help complement your new year’s goals.

iOS 26 was a huge update for iPhone, not just because of Liquid Glass but also thanks to many new features across the OS. Here are three new iOS 26 features I’ve been especially loving on my iPhone.

Apple Wallet got a bunch of new features in iOS 26, including the recently released Digital ID that, along with AI order tracking, fix key shortcomings in previously launched Wallet features.

iOS 26 launched in the fall, but with 26.1 and 26.2 updates it added more tools for customizing the new Liquid Glass design. And now that a new wave of users is upgrading to iOS 26 for the first time, here’s an overview of two ways to personalize your iPhone’s Liquid Glass style.

Apple’s Reminders app keeps getting better, including a key iOS 26.2 addition I’ve long wanted. But one of the most overlooked recent changes is an iOS 26 feature inspired by Apple Calendar that’s perfect for travelers: time zone support.

iOS 26 brought a bunch of great changes to Apple’s Wallet app, including an upgraded experience for boarding passes. Another major airline has recently added support for the new boarding passes, making at least three total so far. Here are the details.

Apple released iOS 26.2 last week with important security fixes. At the same time, it also shipped iOS 18.7.3 for users who haven’t upgraded yet — at least in theory.

In practice, Jason Snell at Six Colors reports that some iPhone owners aren’t being offered the iOS 18 security update at all, and are instead being pushed straight to iOS 26.

Update: Here is a support document on Apple’s website with more details about its software update rollouts.

One of my favorite Apple Watch features introduced this year is Sleep Score. Sleep is a crucial part of life, and this feature gives you a look at three different facets of it: duration, bedtime, and interruptions.

With this week’s launch of iOS 26.2 and watchOS 26.2, it just got even more useful.

It seems that with every update, Apple quietly adds hundreds of features and settings that are very impactful but easy to miss. These are not the big headliner features, but smaller ones that, once you know about them, make your day-to-day life so much easier. Here are 15 features and settings that every iPhone owner should know about, but probably doesn’t.

I use AirPods Pro 3 all day, every day while I work, and there’s one hidden iOS tool that I’ve found pairs perfectly with the product: it’s a little-known feature called Background Sounds.

Apple has released the first iOS 26.3 developer beta for iPhone. One change we already expect is a joint collaboration between Apple and Google that should make switching between iOS and Android easier.