Apple unveiled iOS 26 in early June, along with the respective OS branches for its tablets, watches, computers and other gadgets. It’s a major visual overhaul that introduces Liquid Glass, but the company still isn’t done tweaking the looks. The update hasn’t reached the stable milestone yet, but work is progressing quickly and Apple is already on the fifth beta.
After concerns that the effect was too strong, iOS 26 beta 2 toned down the Liquid Glass. However, that was an over-correction and beta 4 dialed it up a bit. Beta 5 doesn’t seem to have made any changes to Liquid Glass.
iOS 26 beta changes to Notes, Journal and Apple Music apps
What it does bring is new UI animations, splash screens and a new AirDrop icon. Speaking of icons, when moving around icons on the home screen, the remove buttons (-) are now transparent.
More importantly, this version also allows you to undo some changes. For example, the Camera has a “Classic Mode Switching” (this reverses the direction of mode switching). The Mail app got its Select button back, making it easier to select multiple emails.
When your iPhone’s battery drops to 20%, you will see a redesigned notification warning you of that and offering to turn on Low Power Mode.
In addition to the iPhone OS, Apple also rolled out iPadOS 26 beta 5, watchOS 26 beta 5, macOS Tahoe 26 beta 5, tvOS 26 beta 5 and visionOS 26 beta 5 to devices that are signed on to the beta program.
