An updated iOS brings updated possibilities, and there are plenty of those to explore in iOS 26, the iPhone software update Apple previewed this week at WWDC 2025. But as with any update, some new iOS features stand out from the rest.
I've been covering the iPhone long enough to know that it's next to impossible to get a full read on a software update until you've spent some time with it. That's simply not possible at the moment, even if you can download the iOS 26 developer beta. While that might give you a taste of what's coming later this year when the full release arrives, any beta at this early stage is bound to be a little rough around the edges.
Still, based on what Apple has shown off so far, there are definitely some features that I'm looking forward to exploring during the beta process. Interestingly enough, none have much to do with the Liquid Glass interface overhaul that's at the center of all of Apple's software update this year.
Partly, that's a reflection of the nature of software interfaces. Staring at stills and hype videos only tells you so much about a new interface; you can only get a sense of how the interface comes across by using the software yourself. And really, if Apple's doing its job correctly, using Liquid Glass-influenced software shouldn't be that jarring from the interface you've gotten used to over the last decade.
Instead, the iOS 26 additions that have grabbed my attention are the ones that look to enhance existing features. To me, these are the changes that — if they deliver what they promise — will improve the experience of using your iPhone.
Call and text message screening
No joke — if I get fewer than three robocalls a day on my iPhone where some robotic voice is promising tax relief, loan consolidation or some other sketchy scam, I wonder if something's gone wrong with the communication grid. I even got one of those phone calls while I was listening to the WWDC 2025 keynote, not long after the part in Apple's presentation where Craig Federighi talked about the steps Apple was taking to help screen out robocallers.
Right now, I make frequent and merciless use of the Live Voicemail feature where I send any unknown caller straight to voicemail and waiting for the onscreen transcript to confirm that it's a call from some snake-oil salesman that I can safely ignore. But iOS 26 promises to handle that step for me with its new Call Screening feature.
With Call Screening, your phone answers unknown callers on your behalf — no need for you to press a button like you do with Live Voicemail. The caller then shares the name and the reason for their call, and the phone rings presenting you with that information on the screen. You can then decide whether to take the call or not.
If it works as advertised, Call Screening should reduce the amount of hassle it takes to keep spam calls at bay. Ideally, robocalls will get ignored completely since they'll not be able to follow the prompts to state their name and business should they launch right into their spiel.
The screening doesn't stop with the phone app. Messages in iOS 26 adds screening tools, too, that let you banish unknown senders to a separate tab away from the conversations with people you know and trust. You can then go through that list at your leisure and decide which messages belong on the main screen of the app and which ones can be banished to the land of wind and ghosts. Recent calls in the Phone and FaceTime apps will gain a similar filtering tool.
Polls in group chats
I find myself in a number of group chats — a group of friends in my local area, a couple of pals I produce a podcast with, even one with members of my immediate family. And sometimes we have to decide things like when we're getting together for drinks or what time we'll record our next podcast episode or what kind of takeout each of us is hoping to enjoy that evening. That usually triggers a lot of back-and-forth in the chats, where everyone weighs in with their opinion, and it feels like it takes much longer to reach a consensus than it should.
That's why my ears pricked up when Apple started talking about the polling feature that's coming to group chats in Messages. It figures to add a bit order to the chaos that can reign whenever everyone in the group wants to weigh in with an opinion.
Polls in Messages sounds like it works exactly how you would imagine. You post a list of options, and the people in your group chat cast their vote, with their chat avatar appearing next to the option they've selected. And don't worry about someone feeling slighted that their choice was never even considered — there's an Add Choice tool where anyone can insert their own option into the poll. Vox populi, vox Dei.
On-screen awareness for Visual Intelligence
The goal for any on-device AI is to make it aware of the data on your screen so that it can take action, whether it's looking up more information about a particular object or adding details to your calendar. In fact, that's one of the big hold-ups with revamping Siri right now, as Apple tries to make its digital assistant more intelligent.
But while Siri's overhaul may not be ready until 2026, context awareness is coming to iOS 26 in another sense, thanks to updated features in Visual Intelligence, the AI-powered tool that has turned your iPhone's camera into a search tool.
With iOS 26, those Visual Intelligence features expand to screenshots. Now when you're in a social media app or a website and you see something on the screen that catches your eye, grab a screenshot, summon Visual Intelligence and let the tool look up more information about that particular object or item. If there's date, time and location info, you also have a button that can convert all that into a calendar entry.
This isn't full context awareness, as it still requires some intervention on your part. But the new capabilities make Visual Intelligence a more useful tool that's not entirely reliant on the iPhone's camera.
Pinned music
Not every change to an operating system needs to be dramatic to be useful. Sometimes, it's just a little tweak that makes all the difference.
That's what I imagine that new pinning feature in Apple Music will add. In iOS 26, you'll be able to pin playlists, albums or artists, and they'll appear at the top of the Music app's library.
It's such a simple feature that Apple doesn't even allude to it on its iOS 26 preview page, only mentioning the addition in passing during the WWDC keynote. And yet, it's the first thing I'm going to turn to right before I start a workout and need to summon up a specific song to get myself psyched up. ("My Favorite Mutiny" by The Coup, if you were wondering.)
Better boarding passes in Wallet
Having digital boarding passes available in the Wallet app certainly makes traveling more convenient, as you don't have to worry about keeping track of paper tickets. Just flash your iPhone at the gate, and you're free to board.
But iOS 26 is going to make those boarding passes more useful as opposed to merely convenient. Apple is promising access to airport maps with your boarding pass, and you'll also be able to use the Find My location tracking tools to locate your luggage (presumably with the help of an AirTag). Boarding passes will also tie into Live Activities, which will let you share your flight arrival status with others, whether they're picking you up at the airport or if they just want to know that you've landed safely.
More control over snoozing
I'm not above hitting the snooze button when the wake-up alarm I've set on my iPhone goes off each morning. But maybe I wouldn't mind adjusting how long I'm allowed to snooze before the alarm sounds again. That's going to be a possibility in iOS 26.
Apple says it's making a change to the Clock app where you can adjust snooze times on alarms, which would certainly add greater flexibility than what you have now. (In iOS 18, you can only turn the snooze feature on or off — the 9-minute snooze time is set in stone.) In fact, you'll be able to adjust the snooze on alarms anywhere between 1 and 15 minutes, depending on how much extra shut-eye you want to squeeze in.
Visited Places in Maps
I like exploring new places and discovering restaurants, sights and other points of interests I can share with others or go back to myself. The trouble comes from remembering the exact name or location, though a feature coming to Maps in iOS 26 figures to remove some of that guesswork.
Visited Places acts as a kind of storage vault for wherever it is you go using Maps, with locations logged by category (restaurants, nature sites and other places you've come across in your travels) and by city. With Visited Places, I no longer have to remember the specific street or name of that taco place I ate at in Los Angeles that's a few blocks away from the California Science Center — it should be there in Maps.
It's unclear at this point whether Visited Places will just log the locations you got directions to or whether you'll be able to go into the Maps app and flag a location that you're at. But that will be part of the fun of taking iOS 26 for a test spin and seing how exactly all these new features work.
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