iOS 26 has an awesome Wi-Fi upgrade for your iPhone

iOS 26 logo on a phone display
(Image credit: Shutterstock / Tom's Guide)

We're rapidly approaching the release of iOS 26. Apple has been hard at work, and we've been eagerly anticipating all of the new features it's set to bring to the table.

A small but mighty feature coming to iOS 26 is that the sign-in details for captive Wi-Fi networks are now synced across iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 and iPadOS 26. If you've dealt with the annoyance of captive Wi-Fi networks, you know how tedious it can be to get every device up and running, and this feature will make it easier.

Creative Strategies analyst Max Weinbach found the feature and posted about it on X while staying at a hotel. His iPhone asked him if he wanted to fill in his Wi-Fi details from his iPad, which was already connected to the hotel's network.

If you're a traveler or simply someone who enjoys public Wi-Fi (with one of the best VPNs of course), this feature will enable you to log in to all your devices much more quickly.

This isn't the first time we've seen this feature mentioned. Bloomberg reported that Apple was working on it, but when Apple didn't mention the feature during its WWDC presentation, we were less sure it was coming. We heard Apple is working on several other features in iOS 26 that weren't announced too, so this feature not being there isn't shocking.

As for when you can get your hands on iOS 26 (if you're not interested in testing the beta), we expect it to be released in September, as that's typically when Apple puts out its major updates (though the company is changing things up this time with its naming convention).

Apple's iOS 26 is expected to bring tons of new upgrades. For instance, we tried Apple's upgraded CarPlay in iOS 16 and were quite impressed with its new look and features.

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Dave LeClair
Senior News Editor

Dave LeClair is the Senior News Editor for Tom's Guide, keeping his finger on the pulse of all things technology. He loves taking the complicated happenings in the tech world and explaining why they matter. Whether Apple is announcing the next big thing in the mobile space or a small startup advancing generative AI, Dave will apply his experience to help you figure out what's happening and why it's relevant to your life.

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