The 7 hidden iOS 26 features I’M Excted to Try

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 that those at length here, here, here, and here, and we have an overalthing new in IS 26 Here.

However, like every major apple software release, iOS 26 also also comes with a number of minor new improvements and upgrades, both documented and undocative. 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-SO-SO-SO-SO-SO-Obvious iOS 26 Features You’re Gonna Love.

Lens Cleaning Hint

This isn Bollywood 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 that tasks that the iPhone can’t do for you, but now can at least warn you before your photo 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-desrward rest as if not. Then comes the snooze. But this isn’t your first rodeo; You shut the alarm down on more and go back to dream. The third snooze is, perhaps, crucial. This is where your subconscious teles 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 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 month. If you’re feeling chill, perhaps you’d like to set it to be a little longer. Eather way, you can find the setting by tapping on an alarm and setting snooze duration to anyware 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 use more battery than usual, and it’ll even telel you which app is the culprit.

Additional, the battery portion of the iPhone’s settings has been revamped, and it now gives you some addition

Keep audio in headphones

There’s noting 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 planty of Scenarios that are more awkard, 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 message that sometimes happy

Playlist folders in Apple Music

A new apple music experience.
Credit: Apple

My Playlist Tab in Apple Music is a message. Itsists of birthday playlists, automatically generated stuff, a bunch of playlists I don’t ever recall creating, and, final, some of the actual plays that I use on a daily basis.

In iOS 26, you can organize all the 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 less more exciting changes with iOS 26. In addition to lyrics translation, the new automix feature will mix toge toge toge toge toge toge to the real songs just like a real dj organization. We’ll Report Back Once We Get to Try Automix.

New background sounds

You can find background sounds under accessibility on your iPhone.
Credit: Apple

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 fin -tune them in settings (go to settings – Accessibility – Background Sounds), where you can add a time, change the Volume, Decide IF You Want the Self 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

You’ll be able to use icon composer to customize liquid glass settings on iphones, macbooks, and ipads.
Credit: Apple

This one is for the follows 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 thought 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 Certain Backgrounds. Incidentally, this simple feature also “Fixes” the issue for all the following 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 should be too long a wait until you can try all the new iOS 26 features out on a more stable release.