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iOS 26 is live: Try these 7 features first

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By Richard Priday

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Tied to this is Hold Assist, which lets your iPhone keep your place in a queue while you put the phone down. It’ll then ring again when it’s finally your turn, saving you a potentially long and awkward wait.

Check out the new Camera app

(Image credit: Future)
Apple’s adjusted the design and layout of the iPhone’s camera app to reduce clutter — perhaps too much if you were used to the position of certain buttons from prior years of camera use.
You can’t deny though that the Camera now looks quite stylish, with Liquid Glass elements surrounding the viewfinder for less distraction while aiming a shot. Some options, like aspect ratio and image format, are also now easier to access, which could be beneficial to a lot of users.
Take a pulse with Polls in Messages

(Image credit: Future)
A new look isn’t all that’s changed with Apple’s own messaging app. A new polling tool in Messages lets you quickly get answers, with the bars adjusting in size and adding the participants’ avatars to show who’s voting for what, and which option’s leading. And if you don’t like the current crop of answers, you can add another choice with a button under the poll.

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Visual Intelligence for screenshots

(Image credit: Future)
The Visual Intelligence tool, exclusive to iPhones that support Apple Intelligence, has expanded in scope since its launch last year. The option to ask Siri, ChatGPT or perform an image search now works with any screenshot, as well as photos taken in the specific Visual Intelligence camera interface.
Considering a lot of your phone usage time will be spent looking at various websites and social apps, letting you make chatbot queries directly from the screenshot menu, rather than having to open up your AI app of choice, is a smart bit of streamlining. You can also perform some other context-sensitive actions, like add an event to your calendar if there’s a date visible in the capture.
Maximize (or minimize) Liquid Glass design

(Image credit: Future)
We’ve mentioned some Liquid Glass interface changes, and whether you love it or hate it, it appears to be here to stay on all your Apple devices. But at least you have the option to control the intensity.

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The Settings app hides an option to reduce the transparency of Liquid Glass elements, if you don’t like the look or worry it’s impacting your phone’s performance too much. On the other hand, you can dial up the glass effect by making all your icons translucent via new home screen settings.
A new/old Photos app

(Image credit: Future)
After the iOS 18 Photos redesign ruffled feathers, Apple has come back with a compromise with iOS 26’s Photos.
You can still adjust the order of your photo categories, and how they display together, but now there’s a simple two-tab navigation bar at the bottom to help move between your curated photos and a chronological order of every shot you’ve taken. Photos from specific events will now have extra info added, like concerts or sports, to help add more context to your shots.
A refreshed CarPlay

(Image credit: Tom’s Guide / John Velasco)
Your iPhone isn’t just used via the slab of glass, metal and silicon in your pocket — it can also be the heart of your car’s infotainment system.
The iOS 26 update to CarPlay adds new widgets, Live Activity support to keep track of important notifications and can stream video to your vehicle’s main display, all clad in a Liquid Glass design. How kind of Apple to upgrade your ride at the same time as your phone.
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Richard Priday

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Richard is based in London, covering news, reviews and how-tos for phones, tablets, gaming, and whatever else people need advice on. Following on from his MA in Magazine Journalism at the University of Sheffield, he’s also written for WIRED U.K., The Register and Creative Bloq. When not at work, he’s likely thinking about how to brew the perfect cup of specialty coffee.

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