Now that Apple's iOS 26 has been properly introduced and seeded to developers, it's time to really dig into the new stuff.
We're not talking the obvious features, such as the Liquid Glass redesign and Apple Intelligence upgrades — we cover those at length here, here, and here, and we have an overview of everything new in iOS 26 over here.
However, like every major Apple software release, iOS 26 also comes with a number of minor new improvements and upgrades, both documented and undocumented. We've gone through Apple's docs and took the iOS 26 dev beta for a spin, and we're back with a list of not-so-obvious iOS 26 features you're gonna love.
Lens cleaning hint
This isn't something that we expect to use very often, but it's a cool little feature that can improve your photo quality in certain scenarios. "Lens cleaning hint" is exactly what it says: When your iPhone detects that your camera lens is dirty, it will let you know so you can clean it. It's one of those tasks that the iPhone can't do for you, but now it can at least warn you before your photos come out smudgy.
Snooze Duration
We've all been there: That early morning alarm fires up only for you to shut it down with the speed of lightning and continue your well-deserved rest as if nothing happened. Then comes the snooze. But this isn't your first rodeo; you shut the alarm down once more and go back to dreamland. The third snooze is, perhaps, crucial. This is where your subconscious tells you, "Better wake up, buddy, or else." This is where you have to decide: Are you just going to throw the phone through a window and continue sleeping, all your responsibilities be damned, or will you finally succumb to the alarm?
We can't give you guidance on what to do in that situation (sure we can, you need to friggin' wake up, buddy). But now, in iOS 26, you can set snooze duration for each of your alarms. Yes, the standard 9-minute Apple snooze will soon be gone. If you really need to wake up, you might want to set your snooze to 1 minute, meaning the alarm will repeat every minute. If you're feeling chill, perhaps you'd like to set it to be a little longer. Either way, you can find the setting by tapping on an alarm and setting Snooze Duration to anywhere between 1 and 15 minutes. Good luck.
Battery drain warning
Ever felt like your iPhone is suddenly draining its battery twice as fast as normal? Sometimes, it's just a feeling, but it can also be an app gone crazy and chugging that battery life like there's no tomorrow.
In iOS 26, your iPhone will warn you if you're using more battery than usual, and it'll even tell you which app is the culprit.
Additionally, the Battery portion of the iPhone's settings has been revamped, and it now gives you some additional info, such as the remaining charge time while charging.
Keep Audio in Headphones
There's nothing more awkward than listening to a macrame podcast on your AirPods only to have it suddenly switch to your car's speakers for everyone nearby to hear. OK, there are plenty of scenarios that are more awkward, but we'll let you figure them out yourself.
In any case, this issue is solved in iOS 26 with one simple setting. Go to Settings - General - AirPlay & Continuity and tap "Keep Audio in Headphones." It will do what it says, and it'll also reduce the mess that sometimes happens when there are multiple Bluetooth audio devices nearby.
Playlist Folders in Apple Music
My Playlist tab in Apple Music is a mess. It consists of birthday playlists, automatically generated stuff, a bunch of playlists I don't ever recall creating, and, finally, some of the actual playlists that I use on a daily basis.
In iOS 26, you can organize all those playlists into folders. Go to Playlists, tap on the + icon in the upper right corner, and choose New Folder. Now, you can finally turn your Playlists folder into a well-organized, genre-based library it deserves to be.
Apple Music is getting a few more exciting changes with iOS 26. In addition to Lyrics Translation, the new AutoMix feature will mix together your favorite songs just like a real DJ would. We'll report back once we get to try AutoMix.
New Background Sounds
If you've never heard of Background Sounds, boy, do we have a treat for you. It's an accessibility feature that plays a variety of soothing sounds through the iPhone's speakers. You can add them into your Control Center for easy access and fine-tune them in Settings (go to Settings - Accessibility - Background Sounds), where you can add a timer, change the volume, decide if you want the sounds to continue while media is playing, and even adapt the sounds themselves with an equalizer.
All of this was there in iOS 18, but in iOS 26, Apple is adding eight new Background Sounds options, including Quiet Night, Fire, Rain, Babble, and even Airplane, if you're into that sort of thing. Some of these are perfect for soothing a baby, while some can even be used to create a certain mood.
Keep the Liquid Glass but make it opaque
This one is for the folks who like Apple's new Liquid Glass look but feel like the transparency/blurring effects are too much. Go to Settings - Accessibility - Display & Text Size and tap "Reduce Transparency." Even though it's an accessibility feature, it's actually quite subtle, as it will keep the glassy look of your icons and folders, but it will reduce the transparency, as well as blurring on certain backgrounds. Incidentally, this simple feature also "fixes" the issue for all the folks who think Apple went too far with Liquid Design.
To try these out now, you'll have to sign up for Apple's developer program here and download the latest iOS 26 beta, which we don't recommend for the vast majority of users. The public beta is coming in July, so it shouldn't be too long a wait until you can try all the new iOS 26 features out on a more stable release.
