5 New iOS 26 Features Worth Your Time: Liquid Glass Design, Live Translation, Smarter Siri, More
iOS 26 boasts a "Liquid Glass" UI, enhanced on-device AI, redesigned core apps, and real-time language conversion. Read on for a quick rundown.
Apple’s iOS 26, announced at WWDC 2025, is a major update delivering a “beautiful new design” and enhanced on-device intelligence. It introduces a fresh Liquid Glass look and smarter AI, and redesigned core apps (Phone, Messages) to make everyday tasks easier. Key features like Live Translation, advanced Visual Intelligence, an overhauled Phone app, and smarter Siri will improve usability and personalisation for users in multilingual settings.
Here are 5 features worth checking out when iOS 26 hit your iPhone.
Live Translations
iOS 26’s Live Translation brings real-time language conversion to iPhone conversations. Apple focuses on being integrated into Messages, FaceTime, and Phone, “translating text and audio on the fly” simply meaning on-the-go.
For example, texts can be auto-translated as you type, and during a call Siri provides live translation of speech. This is especially useful in India’s multilingual context, making chats and calls between different languages much smoother.
Visual Intelligence
Visual Intelligence brings on-device vision to the iPhone screen, recognising objects, text, or events and suggesting actions if necessary. It can identify a product in an image and offer to search for it online, or detect an event and prompt you to add it to your Calendar.
This helps Indian users quickly find information, e.g. snapping a photo to locate an item or add a festival to the calendar.
Phone App Redesign
The Phone app gets a major redesign. Apple says it now offers a “unified layout” combining Favorites, Recents, and Voicemails in one place. Call Screening builds on Live Voicemail by gathering caller info so you can decide whether to answer.
A new Hold Assist alerts you when a live agent finally picks up after hold. In India, where spam calls are common, these features help block unwanted calls.
Liquid Glass UI
Apple’s new “Liquid Glass” design gives iOS a translucent, glass-like overlay. UI elements now appear to float over a clear background, reflecting and refracting content beneath. Apple aims for “greater focus to content”.
It means colourful wallpapers will show through menus and widgets for a fresh, vibrant look, while text and icons remain clear.
Siri Enhancements
Siri becomes smarter and more context-aware in iOS 26. It is said that you can now type to Siri, and it will keep up if you pause or correct yourself, maintaining context across requests.
These changes make Siri feel more conversational. This means Siri can handle multi-step questions or tasks more reliably, even if you switch languages.
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