New versions of Apple’s software platforms are now available.
Bringing a stunning new design, expanded Apple Intelligence features, and a wide range of powerful capabilities to users.
On September 15th, Apple released exciting new features and capabilities across each of its software platforms. It introduced a new design with Liquid Glass that brings even greater consistency across the Apple ecosystem. New Apple Intelligence features help break down language barriers and bring personalized, motivational audio insights with Workout Buddy on Apple Watch. Users will also find a range of updates across apps and experiences they use every day, including helpful ways to screen phone calls, customize messages on iPhone, and create delightful spatial scenes that bring photos to life. iPad users will experience an entirely new powerful and intuitive windowing system. Apple Watch introduces sleep score to give users a better understanding of sleep quality.
A New Software Design with Liquid Glass
A beautiful new software design makes apps and system experiences more expressive and delightful while remaining instantly familiar. For the very first time, the new design extends across all OS systems, to establish even more harmony while maintaining each unique operating system.
A new translucent material called Liquid Glass reflects and refracts its surroundings while dynamically transforming to help bring greater focus to content. Liquid Glass delivers a new level of vitality across controls, navigation, app icons, widgets, and more in both Apple and third-party apps.
Apple Intelligence Elevates the User Experience Across Devices
Building on the powerful set of existing features, new Apple Intelligence capabilities elevate the user experience across iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple Vision Pro.
Apple Intelligence helps users seamlessly communicate across languages with Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime, Phone, and with AirPods.
Users can now create a Genmoji by combining multiple emoji and tap into ChatGPT in Image Playground to unlock new image styles. Apple Intelligence also enhances the fitness experience on Apple Watch, iPhone, and AirPods with Workout Buddy.
iOS 26 Improves the Features Users Rely on Every Day
Featuring the new design with Liquid Glass, iOS 26 brings more customization options to the Lock Screen, including a sleek adaptive time presentation and delightful 3D spatial scenes, as well as enhancements to Camera, Photos, Safari, the Phone app, and more.
To help users eliminate distractions, Call Screening can screen calls from unknown numbers, while Hold Assist can hold on the line until a live agent is available. In Messages, users can now choose to screen messages from unknown senders, create polls, and add backgrounds to conversations.
iOS 26 also adds Lyrics Translation and Pronunciation in Apple Music, Visited Places in Apple Maps, and order tracking in Apple Wallet. Also, CarPlay users will see a new compact view for incoming calls, Tapbacks in Messages, as well as widgets and Live Activities.
iPadOS 26 Unlocks Powerful New Experiences on iPad
iPadOS 26, the biggest iPadOS release ever, takes a huge leap forward and unlocks powerful productivity updates that transform what users can do on iPad.
A beautiful design brings a new look to iPad. An entirely new, powerful, and intuitive windowing system helps users control, organize, and switch between apps — all while maintaining the simplicity of iPad.
With a new menu bar, users can access the commands available in an app with a simple swipe down from the top of the display, or by moving their cursor to the top.
The supercharged Files app offers new ways to organize files and customize folders. Also, with folders in the Dock, users can conveniently access downloads, documents, and more from anywhere.
The Preview app comes to iPad, giving users a dedicated app to view and edit PDFs, with Apple Pencil Markup and AutoFill built in. iPadOS 26 also unlocks new capabilities for creative pros with Background Tasks, more control over their audio input, and the ability to capture high-quality recordings with local capture. Journal comes to iPad, making it easy for users to capture and write about the details of everyday moments or special events using Apple Pencil or touch.
watchOS 26 Delivers More Personalized Ways to Stay Healthy, Active, and Connected
watchOS 26 offers even more intelligence to deliver more personalized ways to stay healthy, active, and connected, all within a beautiful new software design.
A new sleep score feature comes to Apple Watch, so users can better understand the quality of their sleep and take steps to help make it more restorative. FDA-cleared hypertension notifications are now available on Apple Watch, which can alert users if signs of chronic high blood pressure — also known as hypertension — are detected, so they can begin making potentially lifesaving behavioral changes, or start treatment to reduce their risk of serious, long-term health events. Hypertension notifications are powered by a machine learning-based algorithm, and the feature was validated in a large clinical study.
A redesigned watch face gallery includes two new watch faces: Flow and Exactograph. And Workout Buddy, a first-of-its-kind fitness experience powered by Apple Intelligence, provides personalized, motivational audio insights during workouts — with a dynamic generative voice built using voice data from Apple Fitness+ trainers — and the Workout app debuts the biggest update to its layout since introduction. Additionally, watchOS 26 makes everyday interactions even more convenient with Smart Stack hints, offering proactive prompts for actionable suggestions that are immediately useful; Live Translation in Messages allows texts to be translated automatically into a user’s preferred language; wrist flick, a new one-handed gesture, can be used to dismiss notifications and calls, silence alarms, plus return to the watch face; and the Notes app comes to Apple Watch.
Accessibility Features for Customization and Convenience
For users with a wide range of disabilities, new accessibility features bring the next level of customization and convenience to the Apple ecosystem. Accessibility Nutrition Labels on the App Store give developers a new way to inform users of supported accessibility features before they download an app. With the Magnifier app for Mac, users with low vision can connect to an external camera to zoom in and interact with their surroundings, such as text on a screen or whiteboard. Accessibility Reader, a new systemwide reading mode, offers extensive options for font, color, and spacing, as well as support for Spoken Content. Braille Access is a powerful new way for braille users with connected displays to interact with their Apple devices. For users who are deaf or hard of hearing, Live Listen controls come to Apple Watch with a new set of features, including real-time Live Captions.
iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26 are now available as free software updates. Some features may not be available in all regions or in all languages.
Hypertension notifications have received marketing authorization from the FDA and other global health authorities, including the U.S. and the EU. Hypertension notifications are not available in all regions.