A month following Apple’s initiation of testing for iOS 26.1, the company is nearing the launch of this update for all users, as the Release Candidate build is now accessible to developers. iOS 26.1 will represent the first significant update of the iOS 26 series.
Up until now, this forthcoming version introduces intriguing enhancements to the iPhone experience, modifications to the Liquid Glass design, and several new features. Most notably, iPhone users can soon access expanded Apple Intelligence languages. If you speak Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Portuguese, or Chinese, you will have the option to set these languages in Apple Intelligence.
In addition, if you possess AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 2, or AirPods Pro 3, you will also be able to utilize Live Translation in Japanese, Korean, and Italian, as well as Traditional and Simplified Chinese. However, there’s much more included in iOS 26.1 RC. Let’s review some of the other highlights.
iOS 26.1 introduces new capabilities to iPhone
iOS 26.1 RC continues to encompass all the features present in the earlier betas. For instance, iOS 26.1 beta 4 introduced the option to disable the Lock Screen camera swipe. For the Phone app, in addition to the new Liquid Glass UI for the keypad, it also permits users to disable haptic feedback when a call is established or disconnected. The upcoming iOS 26.1 will also feature a revamped Apple TV app, as Apple is rebranding the Apple TV+ service to Apple TV. This announcement coincided with the company becoming the official streaming partner for Formula 1 beginning in 2026.
It is currently uncertain whether Apple will debut its new Model Context Protocol with iOS 26.1, which will facilitate the integration of third-party LLMs with Apple Intelligence. Another feature still in development during this beta phase has been notification support for third-party smartwatches. In conjunction with iOS 26.1 RC, Apple is also releasing the Release Candidate versions of iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, watchOS 26.1, tvOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 to developers.
