iOS 26 may be primarily recognized for its Liquid Glass redesign, but this update will also introduce two entirely new applications to your iPhone’s Home Screen. Here’s what you can expect.
# 1: Apple Games app
The iPhone’s gaming experience is receiving a new central hub in iOS 26.
’Apple Games’ is a fresh application that adds to the lineup of other media-centric iPhone apps such as:
– Apple TV
– Apple Music
– Apple Podcasts
– Apple Books
The new Games app features a Home view where you’ll likely spend the majority of your time. Here’s Apple’s description:
>The Home tab keeps you connected to the games you love, recommends new games, and simplifies returning to your favorites. Explore can’t-miss events from your games, and receive personalized recommendations for what to play next.
In addition to Home, there are tabs for Arcade, Play Together, and Library.
– **Arcade** mostly mirrors the kind of content available in the App Store’s Arcade tab.
– **Play Together** displays challenges, multiplayer options, and Game Center information from your friends.
– **Library** includes all the games installed on your iPhone, along with your achievements and more.
Apple Games will be released not just on iPhone, but also on iPad and Mac this fall.
# 2: Preview app
Preview may ring a bell—it’s the name of Apple’s long-standing Mac tool for viewing and editing PDFs and images.
With iOS 26, Preview is making its debut on the iPhone (and iPad).
Preview provides a specialized app for viewing PDFs and images stored in iCloud, on your device, or from other Files app sources.
Features consist of:
– Viewing PDFs and images in a dedicated app
– Editing PDFs and images using tools like resize, rotate, and more
– Document scanning
– PDF AutoFill
– Creating new images, either from scratch or the clipboard
Similar to how the Mac’s Finder opens PDFs and images in the Preview app by default, now your iPhone and iPad’s Files app will also open those document types in Preview.
Preview utilizes the new document browser UI first introduced in iPadOS 18 and seen in other applications such as Pages, Keynote, and Numbers. While it may not look exactly like the Mac version, the functionality is quite comparable.
# New apps in iOS 26: wrap-up
With Apple Games and Preview, Apple is again increasing the number of built-in applications on an iPhone.
Games aims to leverage the iPhone’s established presence as a popular gaming platform for many users, while Preview appears to be a useful utility. Both applications replicate much of the functionality previously available elsewhere but also introduce new features, making them seem like fitting candidates for new standalone apps.
Are you excited about the new Games or Preview apps in iOS 26? Share your thoughts in the comments.
