IOS 26.1 Update: New iPhone Features & Changes

Almost six weeks after the big leap to iOS 26, Apple has released its first major update for the current iPhone system. iOS 26.1 has been available for download since Monday. Above all, anyone who doesn’t like Apple’s new design called Liquid Glass will be happy. But there are also many other innovations.

The most obvious innovation in iOS 26 was the new look: With the surface called Liquid Glass, Apple redesigned all windows and controls and gave them a chic transparency effect. But it wasn’t well received by everyone. With iOS 26.1, users have the opportunity to largely reduce the effect.

To do this, you need to select “Display and brightness” in the system settings. There you can choose between a transparent or “colored” look. The latter is still slightly transparent, but increases the contrast and opacity of the buttons, making them stand out more from the background.

In iOS 26, Apple changed the size of the alarm clock buttons, which apparently led to alarm clocks being accidentally switched off more often. To ensure that this no longer happens, iOS 26.1 relies on a completely different concept: instead of turning off the alarm clock at the push of a button, you now have to use a slider. Only the snooze button can be continued tapping.

You can switch off a swipe gesture on the home screen: If you slide the lock screen from right to left, the camera view appears since iOS 8. Because you can open the camera accidentally, the wiper can be switched off for the first time in the camera options. Some users have been waiting for this for ten years – especially because there have long been other alternatives with a button on the lock screen, the action button and, most recently, the camera control.

Another innovation is also rather niche. In the phone settings you can turn off the vibration signal when a call is accepted or rejected.

Anyone who uses Apple Music can switch between songs more easily. All you have to do is swipe your finger from right to left over the song title at the bottom – the next track comes on.

There are many other changes in detail. In the Files app and in the settings, folder names are displayed at the top left instead of in the middle as before, the Photos app shows popular functions such as favorites or hide in the context menu right at the top.

The streaming service Apple TV recently started without a “+” in the name, and the app logo has now also been adjusted accordingly. Instead there is a small polychrome effect in the logo.

And under “Data protection and security” you can now set important security updates to be installed automatically in the background. The list of security vulnerabilities closed by iOS 26.1 shows how important this is: almost 50 vulnerabilities will be fixed with the update.

To install iOS 26.1, open the Settings app and then “General” and “Software Update”. If you receive the message “iOS is up to date (iOS 26.1)”, you don’t need to do anything else. Otherwise, you have the choice of installing the update immediately or letting it run automatically in the evening. If this is the case, you should consider turning on automatic updates.