I've been running the iOS 26 developer beta 1 on my iPhone 16 Pro for a few days and these few features have transformed my iPhone, here's why.
For fans of the Apple ecosystem, it’s been an incredible week. Apple ’s annual WWDC 2025 keynote revealed a whole new Liquid Glass design that’s unified across all its platforms. Also unified across all platforms is the numbering scheme, with iOS 26 designed to represent the year of release… plus one.
Related: Best new movies to stream on Netflix, Hulu, Prime Video, Max , and more 1. Liquid Glass design I love the new Liquid Glass interface design. The translucent effects — as you can see below — make this feel incredibly refreshed. I can’t say how this impacts battery life or performance, but it looks incredible and should stand out even more on the upcoming iPhone 17 series.
2. The new Preview and Files apps from iPadOS For years, Apple has extolled the value of the iPhone as a productivity machine, but in iOS 26, the company leaped forward. The reveal of iPadOS 26 included a focus on the new Preview and Files apps from macOS, but unmentioned was that these apps were also coming to the iPhone. By bringing these apps to the iPhone, Apple has matched the file capabilities of Android, although you still can’t access your on-device photos outside of the Photos app.
Both apps also integrate with iCloud Drive, which means I can access any file from my Mac, after setting them up to sync, on my iPhone. Files could already do this in the past, but Preview now makes it effortless to do many things I’d use a Mac for on either my iPhone or my iPad. Alongside the dialer, Apple has two additional calling features that use AI to make life easier. Like the Pixel 9 Pro series, iOS 26 will screen your calls or stay on hold for you so you don’t have to. Call screening has already come in handy many times, and I can’t wait to use Hold Assist for those long calls to various service providers.
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