Your iPhone is about to get smarter, more customisable, and a whole lot less frustrating. Apple is preparing to roll out iOS 26.1 as early as this week, and while it’s not a massive overhaul, it’s packed with the kind of thoughtful tweaks that actually make a difference in how you use your device every day.From finally being able to disable that annoying camera swipe to a redesigned alarm system that might actually help you wake up on time, iOS 26.1 is all about refinement. Here are the nine most important changes heading to your iPhone.
Tame the Liquid Glass effect
If you’ve been squinting at your screen since iOS 26 dropped, relief is coming. Apple is introducing a new toggle that lets you switch between Clear and Tinted modes for the Liquid Glass interface. The Tinted option adds opacity and contrast, making menus and buttons easier to read without sacrificing the modern aesthetic entirely.
Kill the accidental camera launches
This might be the most requested feature fix in years. You can now disable the lock screen’s swipe-to-camera gesture entirely. No more pocket photos, no more accidentally draining your battery because the camera app opened in your bag. Head to Settings, tap Camera, and toggle off “Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera.”
Slide to stop your alarm
Apple is making it harder to accidentally silence your morning alarm. Instead of a simple tap, you’ll now need to swipe to stop an alarm from the lock screen. It’s a small friction point designed to ensure you’re actually awake before dismissing your alarm. If you hate the change, there’s an accessibility option to revert to single-touch actions.
Swipe between songs in Apple Music
When the music player is minimised at the bottom of your screen, you can now swipe left or right to skip tracks. It’s a small gesture change that makes controlling playback feel more natural and immediate, especially when you’re multitasking.
More control over local capture
The new Local Capture feature for recording video and audio gets expanded settings. You can now choose where recordings are saved instead of defaulting to Downloads, and there’s a new audio-only toggle for when you want to skip video entirely.
Disable call haptics
Tired of your phone vibrating every time a call connects or drops? iOS 26.1 adds a toggle to turn off these haptics in Settings under Phone. It’s a minor annoyance remover that helps reduce notification fatigue.
Expanded language support for Apple Intelligence and Live Translation
Apple Intelligence is expanding to eight new languages including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese. Meanwhile, Live Translation for AirPods adds support for Japanese, Korean, Italian, and both forms of Mandarin Chinese.
Refined Photo and Safari navigation
The video scrubbing bar in Photos gets a cleaner, more compact design, while Safari’s tab bar becomes wider and more rounded for easier navigation. Small visual tweaks that add up to a more polished experience across your most-used apps.
Automatic security updates in the background
iOS 26.1 introduces Background Security Improvements, a feature that silently downloads and installs critical security patches without requiring you to manually check for updates. Think of it as an evolved version of Rapid Security Responses, but fully automated. You can even roll back an update if it causes problems.
