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New Features in iOS 26.1

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The first feature update to iOS 26 is now available—go to Settings > General > Software Update to install iOS 26.1. It doesn’t introduce any game-changers, but there are a few new options and tweaks worth knowing about.

Tinted Option for Liquid Glass

For many people, Liquid Glass’s aggressive transparency can make some interface elements, especially notifications, difficult to read. Until now, your best bet for improving readability was to turn on Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Reduce Transparency. In iOS 26.1, Apple bowed to user feedback and added a new Tinted view in Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass, which adds a subtle tint and increases the opacity of many Liquid Glass interface elements. In the screenshot below, the left image uses the default Liquid Glass Clear view, the middle one uses the Tinted view, and the right one uses Clear with Reduce Transparency. You can decide which you like best.

Disable Lock Screen Camera Swipe

For many years, a fast way to get to the Camera app has been to swipe left on the Lock Screen. With new iPhones featuring the Camera Control button for quick access to the Camera app, Apple has given us the option to disable the Lock Screen left swipe. If you find yourself accidentally opening the Camera app from the Lock Screen, you can now prevent that from happening by turning off Settings > Camera > Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera.

Background Security Improvements

Several years ago, Apple introduced Rapid Security Responses, focused security updates that aimed to reduce update hesitancy with small downloads, automatic installation, and easy reversal. For unknown reasons, Apple used them only a couple of times before reverting to traditional operating system updates. Now, Rapid Security Responses seem to have returned under a new name: Background Security Improvements. They’re enabled by default in Settings > Privacy & Security > Background Security Improvements > Automatically Install. If you prefer to approve these updates in advance, you can turn that off. (A similar setting is available for macOS 26.1.)

Slide to Stop Alarms and Timers

In iOS 26, Apple increased the size of the buttons that appear when alarms or timers go off, but the large Stop button was easy to hit when you meant to tap Snooze (for alarms) or Repeat (for timers). Apple made that mistake much less likely in iOS 26.1 by requiring you to slide the on‑screen control to stop the alarm or timer.

Swipe Between Songs in Music

Sure, you could just tap a song in the album or playlist you’re viewing, but iOS 26.1 adds a subtle way to move to the next or previous track: swipe left (next) or right (previous) on the MiniPlayer at the bottom of the screen.

More Languages for Live Translation

iOS 26 introduced Live Translation with the AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods Pro 3. Initially, it supported English (US and UK), French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain). In iOS 26.1, Apple added Chinese (Mandarin, simplified and traditional), Italian, Japanese, and Korean. To avoid delays in getting new languages when you are out and about, download the languages you expect to need ahead of time, when you have a fast Internet connection. Go to Settings > Bluetooth and tap the ⓘ next to your AirPods. Scroll to and tap Languages, then select the desired language. For actual use, open the Translate app, tap Live, and select the two languages you want to translate between.

There are a few other tweaks that most people won’t notice, such as support for the new AutoMix transitions between songs in Music when playing over AirPlay, better FaceTime audio quality in low-bandwidth conditions, manual logging of workouts in the Fitness app, and improvements when recording audio with external USB mics.

If you’re already running iOS 26, we recommend updating to iOS 26.1—the changes (and numerous security fixes) are worthwhile. If you haven’t upgraded from iOS 18 yet, now’s a fine time to make the jump.

(Featured image based on an original by Apple)

Social Media: Struggling with Liquid Glass transparency or accidental camera launches? iOS 26.1 addresses both and adds a safer slide‑to‑stop alarm control, swiping to switch songs in Music, Background Security Improvements, and more Live Translation languages.

Clean Your iPhone’s Camera Lens

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Serious photographers take care of their lenses. The rest of us just stuff our iPhones into our pockets or purses and pay no attention to the fingerprints and grime they collect. If your iPhone’s camera lens is smudged, it will impact the quality of your photos. Take a few seconds to polish it with a microfiber cloth now and then, or, you know, simply wipe it with the edge of your T-shirt. Your photos will thank you.

(Featured image by iStock.com/EyeEm Mobile GmbH)

Social Media: To prevent fingerprint smudges and other grime from impacting the quality of your iPhone photos, clean the lens occasionally with a microfiber cloth or at least the edge of your T-shirt.

Be Careful When Scanning Unknown QR Codes

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QR codes, those square, blocky codes you scan with your iPhone’s camera to load a Web page, have become ubiquitous. So much so that we seldom pause before scanning any QR code we see. But if you think about it, that’s the same as clicking random links in emails or texts, which is a terrible idea from a security perspective. “Quishing” (QR code phishing) isn’t commonplace yet, but some sources say there are thousands of cases per month. To avoid falling victim to a quishing scam, only scan QR codes from trusted sources, try to verify what a code will do once scanned, and evaluate the yellow URL preview Safari provides (when using other browsers, all you see is Open in Browser Name). Finally, always install iOS security updates promptly because they often address vulnerabilities that could be exploited with malicious data.

(Featured image based on an original by iStock.com/B4LLS)

Social Media: QR codes—those blocky squares you scan with your iPhone camera—are an easy way to open a Web page. Unfortunately, scammers also use them to trick people into visiting malicious websites, so read our tip about scanning these codes safely.

Use the iPhone Camera’s Zoom to Avoid Glare, Reflections, and Shadow

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We increasingly need to take photos of documents—vaccination cards, driver licenses, passports, etc.—to submit for online verification. That’s often easier said than done, especially when taking a photo at night under lights that obscure the text with glare and shadows. Similarly, when photographing a screen to document a problem for tech support, it’s often difficult to capture it without a problematic reflection. For a possible solution, back up from the thing you’re photographing and use your iPhone’s zoom feature to enlarge the document or screen. The extra distance often lets you adjust the angle and positioning to prevent glare, shadows, and reflection.

(Featured image by Adam Engst)

What Are Those Orange and Green Dots in Your iPhone’s Status Bar?

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In iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, Apple added two new status indicators to the right side of the status bar at the top of the screen. They’re designed to give you feedback about what an app is doing. An orange dot indicates that an app is using the microphone, and a green dot means that an app is using the camera (and possibly the microphone as well). They’re subtle and shouldn’t be distracting, but if you ever notice them when you don’t think the camera or microphone should be in use, look for apps that might be using them in the background.

(Featured image by Bruno Massao from Pexels)

Did You Know Your EarPods Work as a Remote Shutter Button for Photos?

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Have you ever composed the perfect photo in the iPhone’s Camera app and then been unable to tap the shutter button without jiggling the iPhone and blurring the image? That can be especially difficult with macro shots that require physical contortions to position the iPhone properly. Sometimes, pressing one of the physical volume buttons on the iPhone to trigger the shutter is the solution. But, even better, connect your iPhone’s wired EarPods and then press one of their volume buttons to take a photo. Bonus tip—the EarPods’ buttons also work to start and stop video recording!

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