The iOS 26.1 release candidate is now available with these changes

Rick Aqua October 28, 2025

The iOS 26.1 release candidate is now available with these changes

Apple released iOS 26.1 RC to beta testers ahead of the official release of the software update. Here are the changes coming to iPhone in iOS 26.1.

Liquid Glass Transition

The biggest news from iOS 26.1 is the change to Liquid Glass. Apple adds an option to choose between clear (current design in iOS 26) and tinted. The colored option changes the background blur level for things like notifications and tab bars. Some of the visual features of Liquid Glass such as optional clear app icons are still there.

The toggle is available in Settings > Display & Light > Liquid Glass on iPhone and iPad. The Mac also gets a toggle in Settings > Appearance > Liquid Glass, although the difference on macOS is less noticeable.

New preferences add to existing accessibility settings such as increasing contrast, decreasing visibility, and more.

Lock screen swipe

iOS 26.1 introduces a second change that may be welcomed by more users. For the first time in years, it’s possible to disable the swipe to unlock Camera touch on the iPhone lock screen.

The new toggle is available in Settings > Camera > Lock Swipe the screen to unlock the camera.

The shortcut started out as a swipe-up action before later becoming a swipe-from-right action in iOS 10. Starting with the iPhone X, Apple included screen lock shortcuts for the flashlight and camera by default.

The new iPhones also include a Camera Control button, adding a third way to launch the Camera. Before that, the Action button presents an alternative.

While the swipe option remains, including the ability to turn it off in Settings can eliminate accidental swipes that launch the Camera app unintentionally.

Additional changes found in previous versions of iOS 26.1 are related to Apple Intelligence, AirPods Live Translation, Apple TV, and iPad Slide Over.

Apple Intelligence gains support for Chinese (traditional), Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, and Vietnamese.

AirPods Live Translation adds support for Chinese (simplified and traditional Mandarin), Italian, Japanese, and Korean. The feature was introduced in iOS 26 on AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4 with support for US and UK English, French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain).

Apple is rebranding its video streaming service from Apple TV+ to Apple TV only. The redesign is accompanied by a “vibrant new identity,” according to Apple. The first vibration symbol comes with a new icon for the Apple TV app.

The Settings app now includes a local capture section under General. The setting allows you to change when Local Capture files are saved. You can also change the location capture to include only audio.

iOS 26.1 also improves the way alarms are dismissed with the Slide to Unlock interface, adds swipe gestures to change songs in the Music app, and more.