A month after Apple started testing iOS 26.1, the company is almost ready to launch this update to all users, as the Release Candidate build is now available to developers. iOS 26.1 will mark the first big update of the iOS 26 cycle.
So far, this upcoming version brings interesting improvements to the iPhone experience, tweaks to the Liquid Glass design, and a few new features. Most notably, iPhone users will soon have expanded Apple Intelligence languages. If you speak Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Swedish, Turkish, Vietnamese, Portuguese, or Chinese, you’ll be able to set those languages in Apple Intelligence.
Besides that, if you own AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 2, or AirPods Pro 3, you’ll also be able to use Live Translation in Japanese, Korean, and Italian, as well as Traditional and Simplified Chinese. That said, there’s a lot more available in iOS 26.1 RC. Let’s go over some of the other highlights.
iOS 26.1 brings new features to iPhone
iOS 26.1 RC continues to offer all the features available in the previous betas. For example, iOS 26.1 beta 4 added the ability to turn off the Lock Screen camera swipe. For the Phone app, besides the new Liquid Glass UI for the keypad, it also allows users to turn off haptic feedback when a call is connected or dropped. The new iOS 26.1 will introduce a refreshed Apple TV app as well, as Apple is rebranding the Apple TV+ service to Apple TV. This announcement was made alongside the company becoming Formula 1’s official streaming partner starting in 2026.
It’s currently unclear if Apple will launch its new Model Context Protocol with iOS 26.1, which will make it easier to integrate third-party LLMs with Apple Intelligence. Another work-in-progress feature during this beta cycle has been notification support for third-party smartwatches. Alongside iOS 26.1 RC, Apple is also making the Release Candidate versions of iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, watchOS 26.1, tvOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 available to developers.
