It’s official, iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe are here to unify design and functions across our devices. With Liquid Glass as the new visual language, the interfaces gain new depth and dynamism thanks to translucent layers that reflect light and react naturally to every gesture.
At the same time, Apple Intelligence integrates into Photos, Messages, Phone and Spotlight, supporting us with contextual assistants that help us generate content and manage information.
With the new operating systems we will enjoy improvements in messaging, calls, multitasking, several apps and graphic performance, as well as enhanced privacy and even battery life. Thanks to new menus, adaptive bars and a redesigned window management system on the iPad, we will take a huge qualitative leap. Without further delay, let’s go over all the new features.
A new visual language: Liquid Glass transforms Apple’s aesthetic
Apple has introduced Liquid Glass as the new material that, with the properties of glass, directs our attention through the interface and organizes information. The translucent icons are made of multiple layers that let the wallpaper color show through and that we can tint or set as Clear to create a uniform transparency.
On the lock screen, the clock adjusts its size depending on the subject of the wallpaper photo, and the Spatial Scene function gives it a three-dimensional effect that responds to device movement.
Messaging, calls and translation: richer, smarter communication
In Messages we now have personalized backgrounds and dynamic polls for conversation participants. Natural language search makes it easier to find messages, photos or documents with phrases like “screenshots of the presentation,” while new filters will practically put an end to spam.
For calls, iOS 26 introduces Call Screening, Hold Assist and Live Translation, automatically filtering unknown numbers (by asking the reason for the call before the phone rings), holding the call and notifying us when someone answers, and offering us bilingual real-time conversations thanks to Apple Intelligence.
The Phone app now groups Favorites, Recents and Voicemail in one view, and calls marked as spam go directly to voicemail.
Apple Intelligence keeps evolving and comes to new apps
Apple Intelligence integrates with more apps. With Visual Intelligence we can now search Google, ask ChatGPT or add events to Calendar from any screenshot we take of content on screen.
Content creation also evolves: Genmoji and Image Playground let us generate emojis and images with ChatGPT in styles like Anime or Oil Painting, among others. Meanwhile, in Wallet Apple Intelligence automatically summarizes our order details and adds shipment tracking, and in Maps it learns from our usual routes to alert us of delays before we even leave.
In Reminders it suggests tasks based on emails and messages received, keeps lists organized in related sections, and in Shortcuts it gives us access to on-device models, cloud models with Private Cloud Compute, or ChatGPT to summarize texts, generate images and analyze documents with a single tap.
To go further, the Foundation Models framework allows developers to integrate object detection, voice analysis and text creation into their own apps.
New apps and updates to existing ones
The Camera app now has a simplified interface where Photo and Video capture are more prominent. Extra controls are now behind a simple tap that maintains flexibility but lets us focus on the shot.
Photos brings back separate Library and Collections tabs, while the Preview app comes to iOS and iPadOS to edit and annotate PDFs and images natively with text, drawings and signatures.
The Journal app comes to iPad and Mac and allows us to create entries linked to map locations and sync them across all our devices, incorporating photos, voice notes and custom tags, with natural language search.
The Passwords app now lets us view previous versions of each password along with the exact modification date.
Multitasking evolves: windows, tiles and menu bar in iPadOS
Inspired by macOS, the iPad now has a menu bar and the traffic-light buttons to close, minimize and resize windows, just like on the Mac.
Exposé shows us all open windows, while Stage Manager remains available to group apps into workspaces. Tile management for windows lets us distribute apps into thirds or quarters of the screen and remember their position when reopening them.
The Dock in iPadOS 26 now supports collapsible folders that expand their contents over the desktop, letting us have direct access to documents without opening the Files app.
Better productivity in Files and updates to Live Activities
The Files app adds in iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 a list view with resizable columns and collapsible folders, as well as the Keep downloaded option to have our most important files offline. Through Live Activities the system manages downloads and exports in the background, allowing us to follow progress while doing other things or even from the lock screen.
Spotlight on the Mac: much more than search
Spotlight becomes a four-in-one much more powerful tool in macOS Tahoe, with app search, file search, quick actions and the new clipboard history available by pressing Command + 1 to 4. Quick Keys let us execute predefined actions with letter shortcuts, and suggestions based on our habits make the workflow much more agile.
Control Center in macOS Tahoe is now fully customizable, and we can even add and rearrange the controls we use most in the menu bar, accessing them with a single click.
Metal 4: a graphic leap in games and design with Apple Silicon
The new Metal 4 introduces Frame Interpolation and Denoising to improve the quality of all graphics with sharper textures, more accurate colors and higher frame rates. With Apple Silicon, our devices offer an even more impressive gaming and design experience.
Other details that make the difference
In addition to everything we’ve seen, iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe bring other improvements we’ll cover more quickly. They are as follows:
- New tab bar that shrinks in Safari when scrolling
- Circular buttons in Control Center and unified iconography
- Spatial Scene to turn any image into 3D
- Direct Notes export in Markdown format
- Adjustable playback speeds from 0.5× to 3× and dialogue enhancement in Podcasts
- Studio-quality audio recording with AirPods during video calls and voice notes
- Remote control function with AirPods for the camera and automatic pause when falling asleep
- Manual firmware update for AirPods from Settings
- Weekly battery consumption analysis with comparisons to usual usage
- Adaptive Power Mode to extend autonomy in iPhone 15 Pro and later without resorting to Low Power Mode
- Display of estimated time for full charge on lock screen and in Settings
- Sound Recognition with Name Recognition to notify us when certain names are heard aloud
- Live Captions expanded to more languages and regions
- Eye Tracking and Head Tracking to control the device with gestures
- Vehicle Motion Cues that reduce motion sickness when using the Mac on the move
- Magnifier in Continuity Camera to enlarge text and distant information with the iPhone
- Calculator app now allows equations with multiple variables and 3D graphs
- Games app that unifies App Store and Apple Arcade titles with weekly challenges and all in one place
Accessibility and compatibility: more people and more devices
With these new versions Apple also expands accessibility features with Accessibility Reader, which applies a reading mode adjusting font, color and spacing, Braille Access, which turns the device into a Braille note-taker for BRF/BDF files, and Sound Recognition with Name Recognition, which alerts us if someone says a specific name. Live Captions are now available in more languages and regions, and the Eye and Head Tracking system lets us control the device with gestures and head movements.
Update compatibility ranges from iPhone 11, 12 and 13 (including SE 2nd gen) to iPad Pro with M4, iPad Air with M3/M2, iPad mini with A17 Pro and Macs with Apple Silicon since 2020, along with several Intel models. We can check iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe compatibility on Apple’s official page.
iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe deliver a qualitative leap that redraws how we work and communicate. With the new apps, the new features and the expansion of Apple Intelligence our devices can do much more and we can do much more with them.
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