iOS 26 Beta: Redefining the iPhone Experience in 2025

Apple unveiled iOS 26 Beta at WWDC 2025 on June 9, marking a transformative leap in iPhone software with its futuristic Liquid Glass design and enhanced Apple Intelligence features. This blog explores the key features of iOS 26 Beta, its differences from iOS 18, and why Apple skipped iOS 19 to jump to iOS 26, offering insights for tech enthusiasts in Bhilwara and beyond. With a developer beta available now and a public beta slated for July 2025, iOS 26 promises to reshape how users interact with their iPhones when it launches officially in September 2025 alongside the iPhone 17 series.

iOS 26 Beta: A Game-Changing Update

Liquid Glass Design

The standout feature of iOS 26 Beta is its Liquid Glass design, the most significant UI overhaul since iOS 7 in 2013. Inspired by visionOS, this translucent, glass-like aesthetic features shimmery app icons, rounded navigation bars, and pill-shaped toggles. The Lock Screen clock dynamically adapts to fill empty spaces, and full-screen album artwork adds vibrancy. Search bars appear to float, with colors refracting through them, creating a seamless, modern look across apps like Photos, Camera, and Settings. However, early X posts, like @TechKhaled_, note lag on the Lock Screen due to GPU-heavy glassy notifications, especially on older devices like the iPhone 11.

Enhanced Apple Intelligence

Building on iOS 18’s AI foundation, iOS 26 Beta elevates Apple Intelligence with:

• Visual Intelligence Expansion: Users can now analyze screenshots for product details or locations, extending beyond iOS 18’s camera-based object recognition. For example, pointing your iPhone at a poster or browsing a webpage triggers instant information lookup.

• Context-Aware Siri: Siri handles complex tasks like email searches or photo edits, though major conversational upgrades are delayed until 2026, per Bloomberg. Integration with ChatGPT enhances image-based queries.

• AI-Powered Battery Management: Machine learning optimizes battery life based on usage patterns, a feature praised by @zollotech for extending iPhone longevity.

Communication Upgrades

iOS 26 Beta revolutionizes communication:

• Call Screening: Automatically answers unknown calls, asking for the caller’s name and purpose, ideal for avoiding spam.

• Hold Assist: Waits on hold during calls and notifies you when a live agent responds.

• Live Translation: Supports real-time translation in FaceTime, Messages, and Phone apps, running on-device for privacy. This is a boon for multilingual regions like Bhilwara, enabling seamless chats in Hindi, English, or other languages.

• Messages Enhancements: Group chats gain customizable backgrounds, polls, and typing indicators, making them livelier, as noted by @BrandonButch.

App-Specific Improvements

• Photos App: Reverts to a pre-iOS 18 design with Library and Collections tabs, addressing user backlash. It introduces 3D spatial photos, previously exclusive to Apple Vision Pro.

• Camera App: Simplified with Photo and Video tabs, plus a “Lens Cleaning Hints” alert.

• Games App: A new preinstalled app centralizes Apple Arcade, game updates, and friend challenges.

• Preview App: Enables PDF and image editing, including cropping and annotations.

• Apple Music: Adds Lyrics Translation, Pronunciation, and AutoMix for DJ-style transitions.

• Maps: Introduces Visited Places with end-to-end encryption and adaptive routing for commutes.

• Notes and Reminders: Supports Markdown export and AI-driven task categorization.

Other Features

• Safari: Edge-to-edge web pages for immersive browsing.

• Settings: Disables CarPlay screenshots and improves search functionality.

• Spotlight: Enhanced with video thumbnails and AI-driven suggestions.

• Lock Screen: Offers a “Clear” icon option alongside Light and Dark modes.

Compatibility and Stability

iOS 26 Beta supports iPhone 11 and newer, dropping the iPhone XR, XS, and XS Max. Apple Intelligence features require iPhone 15 Pro or iPhone 16 models. Early betas are buggy, with @hieudinh_ reporting crashes and battery drain on older devices. Apple seeded a revised beta on June 13 to fix battery issues, but users are advised to install it on secondary devices and back up data, as downgrading requires a full wipe.

Differences Between iOS 18 and iOS 26

iOS 18 (September 2024):

• Apple Intelligence: Introduced Visual Intelligence for camera-based queries, Genmoji, and Writing Tools. Limited to iPhone 15 Pro and iPhone 16 models.

• Customization: Allowed flexible Home Screen layouts, tinted icons, and Control Center shortcuts for third-party apps.

• Photos App: Revamped with automatic Collections, but criticized for complexity, prompting a revert in iOS 26.

• Connectivity: Added satellite messaging for iPhone 14+ and enhanced Game Mode.

• Apps: Launched Passwords app and supported robot vacuums in the Home app.

• Stability: Polished, with iOS 18.5 refining the Mail app, making it a reliable daily driver.

iOS 26 Beta (June 2025):

• Design: Introduces Liquid Glass, a translucent, visionOS-inspired UI, unlike iOS 18’s squircle-based design. App icons remain unchanged, but navigation elements are rounded.

• Apple Intelligence: Expands Visual Intelligence to screenshots, integrates ChatGPT, and improves Siri (though major updates are delayed). Adds AI-driven battery management and health coaching.

• Communication: Introduces Call Screening, Hold Assist, and Live Translation, absent in iOS 18.

• Apps: Reverts Photos to a tabbed layout, adds Games and Preview apps, and enhances Apple Music and Maps with unique features like Lyrics Translation and Visited Places.

• Performance: Beta phase introduces lag and battery issues, unlike iOS 18’s stability. GPU-intensive Liquid Glass may strain older devices.

• Compatibility: Drops iPhone XR/XS but supports iPhone 11+, with stricter Apple Intelligence requirements.

Key Differences:

• UI/Design: iOS 26’s Liquid Glass is a bold redesign, while iOS 18 focused on incremental customization.

• AI Scope: iOS 26 builds on iOS 18’s AI with broader applications and privacy-focused translations.

• App Functionality: iOS 26 refines Photos, simplifies Camera, and adds new apps, addressing iOS 18’s user feedback.

• Stability: iOS 18 is stable; iOS 26 Beta is experimental, requiring caution for daily use.

Why Apple Skipped iOS 19 to iOS 26

Apple’s leap from iOS 18 to iOS 26 aligns all operating systems (iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, tvOS) with a unified numbering scheme based on the year they primarily operate in—2026. Announced at WWDC 2025, iOS 26 will launch in September 2025 and run through September 2026, covering nine months of 2026. This mirrors car manufacturers’ naming conventions, where 2026 models debut in 2025, ensuring clarity across Apple’s ecosystem. As Craig Federighi stated, “Our releases for the fall that will power us through 2026 will be version 26”.

This move addresses confusion from disparate version numbers (e.g., iOS 18, macOS 15, watchOS 11) and simplifies development for app creators. The jump to 26 also underscores the monumental Liquid Glass redesign and AI advancements, signaling a new era for iPhone software. Unlike iPhone hardware, which retains incremental naming (iPhone 17 in 2025), software updates are annual and free, justifying the year-based scheme. Posts on X, like @macrumorslive, highlight this as a strategic move to unify Apple’s platforms.

Conclusion

iOS 26 Beta, unveiled at WWDC 2025, redefines the iPhone experience with its Liquid Glass design, enhanced Apple Intelligence, and innovative features like Call Screening and Live Translation. Compared to the stable, customization-focused iOS 18, iOS 26 pushes boundaries with a futuristic UI and AI-driven tools, though its beta phase brings stability risks. Apple’s skip from iOS 18 to iOS 26 aligns its ecosystem for 2026, simplifying versioning and emphasizing a bold redesign. For Bhilwara’s tech enthusiasts, iOS 26 promises a vibrant, connected future—best explored cautiously via the public beta or final release in September 2025.