Apple announced iOS 18 at WWDC 2024 and released iOS 17.6 more than a month later in July. That update was filled with more than 30 important bug fixes and security patches but no new features. Apple recommended that everyone download the update at the time and it was the last major iOS 17 update before the release of iOS 18 .

Apple’s first iOS 26 public beta offers an early taste of a major software overhaul. Here are the biggest changes and features we tested.

But don't expect to see iOS 19 — it'll be called iOS 26 instead. Included in the list is the new Liquid Glass design (think Windows Vista, but arguably more thoughtful), which looks to be Apple's largest visual update in years.