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- Apple published the first public beta version of iOS 26.1.
- The update adds new features and seems to correct at least one bug.
- iOS 26.1 should be launched towards the end of October.
Apple’s iOS 26 has just over a week, but the company has already published its first public version of iOS 26.1. Now available for anyone can download and install, the first beta version gives us a sign of what to expect when the final version is published.
The first are the new languages for Apple Intelligence. Currently, Apple AI can manage requests and generate content in several major languages, including English, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese and Chinese (simplified). New in the mixture with iOS 26.1 are Chinese (traditional), Danish, Dutch, Norwegians, Portuguese, Swedish, Turks and Vietnamese.
Also on a linguistic level, the last update adds more languages to live translation, an improvement that Apple had promised. Currently, the functionality takes care of English (United Kingdom, the United States), French, German, Portuguese and Spanish. With iOS 26.1, you can translate to and from Chinese (Mandarin, simplified and traditional), Italian, Japanese and Korean.
Apple’s music player gets a small but useful tip. When you listen to an album, a small mini-player appears at the bottom with the name of the current song. Currently, if you want to go to the next track, you have to go from the mini-player in full screen mode. With iOS 26.1, you can simply slide left or right on the mini-player, and you will be taken on the next or previous track.
Another small change focuses on Liquid Glass, the new Apple translucent design introduced on the iPhone, iPad, Mac and Apple Watch via its OS 26 updates. The telephone application keyboard now adopts the aesthetics of liquid glass, so the figures are based in the background. If you don’t like the new look, you can still mitigate it.
Here is a practical visual change for the Photos Application. When you play a video via the application, a purifier appears so that you can quickly move forward or behind. Currently, the excess is difficult to see because he has a low appearance. With the last update, control of the spruce receives a separate background so that you can see it more clearly and control it.
And for another visual improvement, the calendar now paints events with specific colors. Open the Calendar application and make sure it is for the list. Press any event and you will see it highlighted with a color based on its source.
Finally, iOS 26.1 probably offers a number of bugs and features. A corrective said resolved Wi-Fi disconnection problems that many iPhone 17 owners have pointed out. Here, people say that Wi-Fi cuts and only resumes after unlocking the phone. Some who installed iOS 26.1 say that the problem has been solved or at least is no longer reproducible.
With iOS 26.1, Apple also published the first public beta for iPados 26.1, MacOS Tahoe 26.1 and Watchos 26.1.
How to download iOS 26.1
If you want to try iOS 26.1 specifically, go to the settings, select general, then press the software update. Modify the beta beta updates to public beta iOS 26 and allow the update to download and install. As this is only the first beta version, it will be rough on the edges. This means you shouldn’t install this on your main phone. Instead, use a spare iPhone if you have one. I have an older iPhone that I specifically use for beta tests.
As this is only the first public beta version, expect more corrective and features while Apple continues to work on iOS 26.1. The company has not shared a specific release date for this point update. But the previous outings, such as iOS 18.1, iOS 17.1 and iOS 16.1, all launched towards the end of October. If this calendar is valid, we can expect iOS 18.1 in another month.
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