Everything New in iOS 26.1: New Tweaks, Fixes, and Features

Apple continues its iOS 26 journey with the release of iOS 26.1, offering a range of enhancements aimed at improving the user experience for both iPhone and iPad holders. This update delivers a mix of user-driven tweaks, visual polish, and practical improvements.

Enhancements for Liquid Glass and Other Tweaks

With this release, Apple has included more flexible customization options for Liquid Glass, aligning with user requests. For those eager to disable the persistent Lock Screen camera gesture, there’s now a straightforward solution. Here’s what to expect from iOS 26.1 and iPadOS 26.1.

Liquid Glass Adds Transparency Options

Previously, anyone looking to adjust the liquid glass effect had to dive into Accessibility settings. iOS 26.1 makes it easier with a new tint control for Liquid Glass. Users can now toggle between Clear and Tinted styles, providing better contrast in notifications and apps. To access this, navigate to Settings, then Display & Brightness.

Lock Screen Camera Swipe Disablement

At last, users can deactivate the Lock Screen camera gesture. The newly added setting under Camera options lets you disable the left-swipe shortcut while still keeping the camera functional.

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Modify Phone Haptics

The new update also lets users choose to turn off the subtle vibration that happens when a call connects or ends, providing more control over phone haptic feedback.

Alarm Interface Reworked

An updated swipe-to-stop gesture replaces the old tap-to-stop button for alarms, intending to cut down on accidental dismissals.

Expanded Language Support in Apple Intelligence

Apple Intelligence has broadened its language support, now accommodating Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese.

AirPods Gain More Language Options for Live Translation

AirPods now support Live Translation in Japanese, Korean, Italian, and both Simplified and Traditional Chinese. This feature is compatible with AirPods Pro 2, Pro 3, and AirPods 4 that include ANC.

Refreshed Apple TV App

The Apple TV app has received a visual refresh, adopting a Liquid Glass-inspired icon while simplifying its branding to “Apple TV.”

Customizable Workouts in the Fitness App

In a bid to enhance fitness tracking, users can now design their own workouts in the Fitness app, tailoring them by workout type, caloric goals, effort, and duration.

Improvement in FaceTime Audio

FaceTime audio has been upgraded for better clarity in low-bandwidth scenarios, improving call quality under less-than-ideal network conditions.

Changes to Teen Account Safety

Apple has made adjustments to communication safety settings on teen accounts, removing automatic restrictions. Parents now need to manually review these settings for child accounts aged 13-17.

Local Capture Settings

A new Local Capture setting under Settings → General → Local Capture lets you choose a save location in the Files app for call recordings, including audio and video.

Enhancements for External Microphone Users

When using an external microphone with local capture, iOS 26.1 adds a control to adjust input gain. This gives you more flexibility to fine-tune your recording levels directly from the Settings app.

Software’s Subtle Interface Updates

iOS 26.1 also makes several minor but visible changes:

• Text headers in both Settings and Home Screen folders switch to left alignment.
• The Phone keypad integrates Liquid Glass elements.
• The Photos app benefits from a redesigned video scrubber and improved selection menus.
• Safari’s Tab Bar is wide and optimized for reduced transparency mode.
• “Display Borders” replaces the former Button Shapes option in Accessibility settings.

Security and System Modifications

Apple has restructured the Privacy and Security section, allowing users to toggle automatic downloads and installations of security improvements. This change aims to ease the delivery of smaller security patches without requiring a complete iOS update.

iPadOS 26.1 Brings Back Slide Over

For iPad users, Slide Over functionality returns with iPadOS 26.1, permitting a floating app view when using multiple windows. The update also integrates the Vision Pro app, boosting Apple’s ecosystem synergy.

Downloading and Installing the Update

Ready to update? Simply head to Settings, General, then Software Update. iOS 26.1 is compatible with the iPhone 11 lineup and newer models, including the 2nd-generation iPhone SE and later. iPadOS 26.1 is available for all iPads running iPadOS 26.

Have you experienced iOS 26.1 yet? What’s your favorite feature in this update? Let us know below.