Apple’s iOS 26 with the New Liquid Glass Design Is Now Available to Everyone

Apple’s iOS 26 software update for iPhones is available Monday to people who have an iPhone 11, iPhone SE 2, and later. iOS 26’s marquee feature is Apple’s Liquid Glass design, which includes elements on screen that resemble a “glassy” look. Other features include a call screening assistant, a new gaming and preview app, in-app translation across the system, and updates to Genmoji and Image Playground apps.

The operating system update also went through a big numerical change as Apple jumped from iOS 18 to iOS 26 for two key reasons. First, it wanted to bring all operating systems — iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and VisionOS — in sync. Second, it aimed to reflect the year number in which the majority of users will use this update.

Liquid Glass

The Liquid Glass design has been the most significant visual overhaul for iOS in years. Apple’s intention with this redesign was to take inspiration from the Vision Pro interface and apply it to all of its operating systems. The elements are meant to look translucent like glass, resulting in challenges regarding readability and how elements in the background appear.

Since June, Apple has made changes to how “glassy” the interface looks multiple times through beta releases. While the company is releasing the stable version of iOS 26 today, we might expect visual tweaks for improved readability and usability in the coming months. This visual change might take a bit of time for users to adjust, and they might not like certain elements right away.