A little over a month after iOS 26 was officially released to the public, Apple is now rolling out iOS 26.1, the first major update to Apple’s new iPhone OS. While update 26.1 isn’t huge, it does bring some important new settings and interface changes.
From the option to adjust the intensity of Liquid Glass to new gestures on the Lock screen and Music app, read on as we explore everything new in iOS 26.1 and why you should rush to update your iPhone or iPad now.
Make liquid glass more frosty
One of the main highlights of iOS 26 is the new Liquid Glass interface. However, Apple’s attempt to make its operating system fresher and more modern has been met with as many complaints as compliments.
After many attempts to tweak Liquid Glass, Apple decided to give users control of the interface. Indeed, iOS 26.1 adds a new toggle to radically adjust the appearance of Liquid Glass. You can now choose between “Clear” mode to maintain the transparency of Liquid Glass or “Tint” mode for higher opacity and better contrast.
You can now unsubscribe from Liquid Glass.
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To do this, go to Settings > Display and brightness > Liquid glass and choose the best option for you.
If you are part of the group of unhappy Liquid Glass users in iOS 26.1, you will definitely appreciate the new “Tint” mode. Of course, if you like Liquid Glass, you don’t have to do anything – and you can rest easy without worrying about Apple backtracking on Liquid Glass now that there’s an option.
Don’t sleep with alarms anymore
iOS 26 brought another small but impactful change to the lives of iPhone users: the alarm interface. Some users didn’t like how Apple made the snooze button larger in iOS 26 and placed it right below the Snooze button, which is the same size but a different color.
As a result, a number of users claimed that they overslept because they turned off the alarm instead of hitting snooze right after waking up.
Alarms are much harder to turn off in iOS 26.1.
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To resolve this issue, iOS 26.1 changes the alarm interface again. Now, Apple has added a “Slide to Stop” feature, which requires users to swipe from left to right to turn off alarms completely. But if you think it’s too complicated and want to get the old Stop button back, here’s what you can do.
Once you have iOS 26 installed, go to Settings > Accessibility > Touch and enable the “Prefer single-touch actions” toggle. This will bring back the button to stop the alarm instead of the new swipe gesture.
Stop accidentally launching the camera
Although iOS already offers users the option to remove the Camera button from the lock screen, the app can also be accessed by swiping from right to left. If for some reason you want to completely remove access to the Camera app from the lock screen, you can now do so.
By going to Settings > Camera and by turning off the “Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera” toggle, the Camera app will no longer be accessible by swiping your finger on the lock screen. Of course, you can still access the app in other ways, such as by tapping the camera control on iPhone 16 or later. But this can also be disabled.
Although swiping to open the Camera app is supposed to be a useful shortcut, some users complain of accidental launches when the iPhone is in their pocket, leading to excessive battery drain. If so, iOS 26.1 is the update for you.
Drag to change tracks
iOS 26.1 also makes skipping songs in the Apple Music app easier. Instead of having to open the full-screen player or press any button, all you have to do now is swipe on the mini player to skip to the next song or go back to the previous one.
Try it after updating: play an album or playlist, then minimize the player and test the swipe gestures. While it’s not a life-changing feature, it’s certainly simpler than hitting the Skip button.
Apple Music features a new skip gesture in iOS 26.1.
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Use Apple Intelligence in more languages
Introduced last year, Apple Intelligence is what Apple calls its AI-driven feature set. This includes things like writing tools for reviewing text, Genmoji for creating your own emoji, and Visual Intelligence for searching for items with your iPhone’s camera.
Apple Intelligence is available in the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Chinese (Simplified), Japanese, and Korean. With iOS 26.1, Apple is expanding support for Apple Intelligence to more languages. These include: Chinese (traditional), Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Portuguese (Portugal), Vietnamese and Turkish.
If you speak one of these languages and have a compatible device (iPhone 15 Pro or later), go to Settings > Apple Intelligence & Siri after updating to iOS 26.1 and make sure to enable the Apple Intelligence toggle.
Fix security vulnerabilities quickly
As we’ve previously reported here on Macworld, iOS 26.1 revamped a feature formerly known as “Quick Security Responses.” Now called “Security Enhancements,” the feature can automatically and silently install security patches on your iPhone or iPad without you having to download a new version of iOS.
If you want to make sure your device is always secure with the latest patches, go to Settings > Privacy and security > Background security improvements and enable the Install automatically option.
Security updates will be much less painful once the iOS 26.1 update is installed.
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It may seem trivial, but many users forget to install iOS updates. This is why having the ability to automatically install security patches without any action is actually huge.
Recover Slide Over on iPad
Good news for iPad users. iPadOS 26.1 brings back Slide Over, one of the iPad’s multitasking features that allows users to keep an app always visible on the screen, layering other apps on top of it.
Although iPadOS 26 improved multitasking and window management in many ways, the removal of Slide Over upset some iPad users. Fortunately, Apple listened to the feedback and reinstated the feature.
This time, users will find Slide Over by long-pressing the green resize button in the upper left corner of any app window.
Slide Over disappeared in iOS 26, but it’s back in iOS 26.1.
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Update now
For those who have already updated to iOS 26, updating to version 26.1 makes the system even more reliable and secure, and adds a few more features. And if you’re still using iOS 18 for whatever reason, now might be a good time to update to iOS 26 and enjoy everything new in iOS 26.1.
You can update your device by going to Settings > General > Software update. It is available for all iPhones and iPads already compatible with iOS 26.
