Apple has released the third public beta of iOS 26.1 on Tuesday, about a month after the company released iOS 26, which brought Liquid Glass, call screening and more to your device. The iOS 26.1 beta brings a few new settings to developers’ and beta testers’ devices, as well as a useful security feature that I hope makes the final cut.
Since this is a beta version, I recommend only downloading it on a device other than your primary device. The update may be buggy and battery life may be short.
Additionally, since this is not the final version, more features might come to your iPhone when version 26.1 is released. It’s unclear when Apple will release iOS 26.1 to the general public.
Here are the features developers and beta testers can try right now, and what could be on your iPhone when Apple officially releases iOS 26.1.
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Automatically install security enhancements
Apple is introducing a useful new security setting in the iOS 26.1 beta that lets your iPhone download and install security enhancements itself.
“Background security enhancements provide additional protection for your iPhone between software updates,” according to Apple. “In rare cases of compatibility issues, these security enhancements may be temporarily removed and then improved in a future software update.”
This menu also allows you to uninstall a security enhancement. To do this, press the three dots (…) next to the installed update. A new menu will appear with the possibility of Delete and restart. This can be useful if you think that improving security causes more problems for you than it solves.
This feature reminds me of Apple’s Rapid security responses (RSR). The company introduced RSRs in 2023 as a way to quickly deploy security patches to devices. While it’s a good idea in theory, Apple hasn’t used iOS RSRs since releasing iOS 16.5.1(c) in July 2023.
It’s not a flashy setting, but it’s useful and lets you stay on top of small security updates without doing any extra work. Once enabled, this setting takes care of the rest, so you don’t need to check your iPhone daily for new updates regarding potential security issues.
Local capture options
Local Capture is an easy way to record high-quality video and audio recordings of video calls on your iPhone, and the iOS 26.1 beta introduces a new Settings menu for this feature. The menu gives you the option to select a save location for your recordings, as well as a toggle that lets you record audio only when using Local Capture.
“Add Local Capture to the Control Center to record your own audio and video during a call for saving and editing later,” Apple writes in the Local Capture settings page.
New accessibility option
The iOS 26.1 beta also introduces a new option to prefer single-tap actions over sliding actions on your iPhone screen. You can find this new option by going to Settings > Accessibility > Touch and scrolling to the bottom of the page.
Alarm gets another update
One of my favorite little upgrades in iOS 26 was the ability to change the snooze duration of your alarm. In the iOS 26.1 beta, Apple is making it harder to accidentally dismiss your alarm. When your alarm goes off in the beta, you now have to swipe to stop it rather than pressing a button. This can be annoying if you’re trying to turn off your alarm quickly, or it can help you make sure you’re actually awake before turning off your alarm.
Change songs in Apple Music
Apple Music received a handful of new features in iOS 26, but the iOS 26.1 beta doesn’t change much to the app or service. Instead, the update lets you edit songs in a new way.
With the iOS 26.1 beta, instead of pressing the next or back buttons to change songs, you can swipe left or right on the song title from the music player in Apple Music. You can do this when the player takes up your entire screen or when you’re browsing Apple Music and the player is small and near the bottom of your screen. The song title even seems to jump left or right when you change songs now.
More Live Translation Languages
iOS 26.1 beta adds more languages to the new Live translation functionality. Apple introduced this feature to iPhones and AirPods with iOS 26, and the beta allows developers and beta testers to use it with these languages.
- Chinese (Mandarin, simplified)
- Chinese (Mandarin, traditional)
- Italian
- Japanese
- Korean
Apple Intelligence in more languages
If you have an Apple Intelligence-enabled iPhone, iOS 26.1 beta 1 brings AI features to these languages.
- Chinese (traditional)
- Danish
- Dutch
- Norwegian
- Portuguese (Portugal)
- Swedish
- Turkish
- Vietnamese
Calendar update
It’s not a major change, but the iOS 26 beta updates the Calendar interface. If you view your calendar in List view, all calendar events you have on a specific day will be colored across the entire bottom portion of your screen.
New video cleaning bar
The iOS 26.1 beta also brings a small change to the video scrollbar in Photos. If you go to Photos and watch a video, you’ll notice that the bar at the bottom of your screen is more compact and more aligned than the old scrollbar, which had the play/pause and volume buttons above the bar.
This is another small change that you may not even have noticed.
These are just some of the new features that developers and public beta testers can try with the third public beta of iOS 26.1. There will likely be more beta releases before the operating system is released to the public, giving Apple plenty of time to change these features.
For more iOS news, here my opinion on iOS 26how to reduce the effects of Liquid Glass in the update and how text filtering works in the update. You can also view our iOS 26 Cheat Sheet.
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