Apple officially launched iOS 26 on Monday, Sept. 15, 2025, bringing new features to iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro — all powered by Apple Intelligence and designed with privacy and data protection at every step, according to a news release.

Developers can take advantage of iOS 26’s new features at no cost. The operating system also introduces Liquid Glass, Apple’s latest software material that unifies user interfaces with a sleek, glass-like aesthetic.

“At Apple, we’ve always believed in the deep integration of hardware and software that makes interacting with technology intuitive, beautiful, and delightful,” Alan Dye, vice president of Human Interface Design, said in a statement.

“This is our broadest software design update ever,” he added. “…[Liquid Glass] combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve, as it transforms depending on your content or context. It lays the foundation for new experiences in the future and, ultimately, it makes even the simplest of interactions more fun and magical.”

Here are iOS 26’s new features:

Live Translation

Apple users can more easily break language barriers with Live Translation, seamlessly integrated into conversations — whether on a call, in FaceTime, during in-person interactions, or while texting asynchronously.

In Messages, users can see translated responses as they’re typed, and the words are instantly delivered in the recipient’s language.

To access the feature during a phone call, users can press and hold both AirPods stems, say “Siri, start Live Translation,” or use the Action button on their iPhones to hear conversations in their preferred language.

Visual Intelligence

Visual Intelligence, built on Apple Intelligence, empowers users to interact with what they see on screen across any app.

Users can ask questions about on-screen content, search for similar images, explore related products via apps like Google, eBay, and Etsy, or ask contextual questions using built-in ChatGPT.

Additionally, with just a tap, users can summarize or translate text, or even add an event from an on-screen announcement directly to their calendar.

Genmoji

Users can also create custom Genmoji by combining emojis with descriptions and personalizing them, such as adjusting expressions or attributes, like hairstyles, to reflect a contact’s updated appearance.

In Image Playground, users can generate images in styles like Watercolor or Oil Painting by sending prompts or photos to ChatGPT, which returns a unique, AI-generated result.

Personalized Fitness Insights

Workout Buddy is a “first-of-its-kind” fitness feature that analyzes workout data to deliver real-time, personalized voice coaching based on workout data such as heart rate, pace, distance, Activity rings, and fitness milestones. A new text-to-speech model is able to generate audio using voice data from Fitness+ trainers, matching the energy, style, and tone of a live coach.

Updated Shortcuts

With iOS 26, the Shortcuts app allows for advanced automations like text summarization via Writing Tools or image generation with Image Playground. Users can also trigger actions such as building workflows to compare audio transcriptions with notes and summarizing documents.

Additional features powered by Apple Intelligence include automatic extraction and categorization of actionable items from emails, websites, and notes into Reminders. Apple Wallet can now detect and summarize order tracking details directly from merchant or carrier emails. In Messages, users can create polls and use Backgrounds to personalize chats with various designs.

Apple has also pointed out its efforts to protect user privacy with many of its Apple Intelligence models able to function exclusively on an individual’s device without sharing data or storing it elsewhere. And when necessary, Private Cloud Compute is able to maintain the privacy and security of iPhone in the cloud if users seek more intelligence capabilities.