iOS 26 Setup Guide: 10 Things You Should Do First

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iOS 26 is present disposable for everyone to download, and it's a large update. There are important plan changes, and galore caller features to larn about. Some of the additions request immoderate setup truthful you tin get started, truthful we've created an ‌iOS 26‌ tutorial that covers what you should bash archetypal aft installing ‌iOS 26‌.

Set Up Your Lock Screen

You'll spot the caller Liquid Glass plan from the archetypal infinitesimal you instal ‌iOS 26‌, due to the fact that it starts astatine the Lock Screen. Unlock your iPhone and agelong property to get into the Lock Screen customization features, wherever you tin prime caller options.

You tin crook connected a Liquid Glass effect for the time, truthful prime your preferred font and color, past take the "Glass" option.

If you resistance the close manus country of the clock, you tin alteration its size. The size volition set dynamically if you person a photos wallpaper selected, but for different wallpapers, you tin take a size.

When selecting a wallpaper, you tin usage a 2D representation to make a 3D Spatial Scene that uses extent accusation to abstracted the taxable from the background. Spatial Scene wallpapers amusement a small spot of question erstwhile you determination your ‌iPhone‌, improving the 3D effect.

Make definite you besides acceptable up your widgets and your Control Center buttons. In ‌iOS 26‌, you tin enactment your widgets connected the bottommost of the display, and you're not constricted to having them close nether the clock.

After everything is customized, prevention it and past springiness your ‌iPhone‌ a tilt. You'll spot the subtle question of the Spatial Scene if you selected one, and subtle glints of airy reflecting disconnected of the Liquid Glass elements.

Set Up Your Home Screen

There are adjacent much customization options connected the Home Screen. Long press, pat connected Edit, and past take Customize to get to the antithetic options.

If you pat connected the "Clear" setting, each of your icons volition displacement to a clear, glass-like look that shows your wallpaper down them. There are Light and Dark mode options to take from.

Default uses standard, multi-color icons that person a caller stacked solid look. You tin besides take Tinted for a unified colour that's not rather arsenic transparent arsenic the Clear option. Tinted icons inactive person a translucent look, but it's subtler.

Apple added buttons truthful you tin take a tint that matches your ‌iPhone‌ colour oregon your lawsuit colour if you person an Apple case, truthful pat connected the icons beneath the colour slider if you're funny successful those options.

Give Visual Intelligence a Try

The Visual Intelligence diagnostic that's activated with Camera Control present works with screenshots. You tin seizure a screenshot and past usage ‌Visual Intelligence‌ to place what you're looking at, find products, and get much information.

To usage on-screen ‌Visual Intelligence‌, conscionable instrumentality a screenshot (press the measurement up and broadside buttons astatine the aforesaid time), past pat connected ask, search, oregon Highlight to Search if you privation to prime a circumstantial portion of an representation to inquire about.

You tin hunt for products with Google Image Search, Etsy, and more, oregon inquire ChatGPT what you're looking at.

You request an ‌iPhone‌ that supports Apple Intelligence to usage ‌Visual Intelligence‌.

Set Up Call Screening

With Call Screening, you tin get much accusation from radical calling from an chartless fig earlier you take to judge a call.

When Call Screening is on, your ‌iPhone‌ asks a caller for their sanction and crushed for calling. The accusation is relayed to you, and you tin determine if you privation to judge the telephone oregon disregard it.

You tin crook connected Call Screening successful the Phone conception of the Settings app. There are besides caller settings for identifying and filtering retired spam calls and spam voicemails.

Choose Messages Backgrounds

The Messages app supports customized backgrounds successful ‌iOS 26‌, some for idiosyncratic conversations and radical conversations. You tin acceptable a antithetic inheritance for each idiosyncratic oregon radical that you chat with.

To acceptable up a background, pat connected the sanction astatine the apical and past take the "Backgrounds" option. There are pre-selected settings similar sky, water, and aurora, oregon you tin prime a color. You tin besides take a photograph oregon make a inheritance utilizing Image Playground.

Backgrounds that you acceptable are changed for each subordinate successful the conversation, truthful marque definite not to take thing that you deliberation is for your eyes only.

If you don't privation to spot customized backgrounds, you tin crook it disconnected successful the Messages conception of the Settings app.

Turn connected Live Translation

Live Translation is simply a Messages app diagnostic that automatically translates incoming messages from idiosyncratic that speaks different language. If you regularly chat with idiosyncratic who doesn't talk your language, you tin springiness it a try.

To crook connected Live Translation for a speech oregon a radical chat, pat connected the sanction astatine the apical and past toggle connected "Automatically Translate." From there, thing idiosyncratic types successful different connection is translated to your language, and your responses volition beryllium translated into their language.

Live Translation for Messages is disposable successful English (US), English (UK), Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified), French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain).

You tin besides usage Live Translation for FaceTime, wherever it shows captions with connection translations, and the Phone app, wherever determination are spoken translations. AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4 besides enactment in-person Live Translation for real-time speech translations.

Live Translation requires an ‌iPhone‌ that supports ‌Apple Intelligence‌.

Make a Genmoji

In ‌iOS 26‌, you tin premix 2 oregon much emoji unneurotic to make a caller emoji. If you've had occupation coming up with ideas for Genmoji, the enactment to harvester 2 characters whitethorn beryllium useful.

In the Messages app, pat connected the Emoji fastener and past take ‌Genmoji‌ to get to the ‌Genmoji‌ interface. You tin benignant successful a description, oregon pat connected the smiley look icon to prime 2 oregon much emoji characters to harvester together.

Combining an emotion-related emoji with an entity emoji is simply a bully mode to get a customized quality that has a look oregon expresses a feeling.

Apple updated ‌Image Playground‌ to instrumentality vantage of feeling emoji. You tin usage an emoji similar a blessed look oregon a bittersweet look to alteration the look and emotion of an ‌Image Playground‌ instauration that features a person.

While successful ‌Image Playground‌, you tin besides effort the caller ChatGPT integration. You tin usage ChatGPT's representation procreation tools to make an representation successful immoderate style.

Making a ‌Genmoji‌ and utilizing ‌Image Playground‌ requires an ‌iPhone‌ that supports ‌Apple Intelligence‌.

Try the Games App

Apple added a Games app successful ‌iOS 26‌, and it comes pre-installed connected the ‌iPhone‌. It has each of the games from the App Store, on with Apple Arcade titles, but it besides has caller features for playing games with friends and challenging them to bushed your precocious scores.

Customize Your Alarm and Ringtones

‌iOS 26‌ includes caller variations of the fashionable "Reflections" ringtone that you tin usage for everything from calls to messages alerts. To effort retired the caller ringtones, unfastened up the Settings app, pat connected Sound and Haptics, and pat connected Ringtone.

You'll spot the caller options if you pat connected "Reflection." There's besides a caller ringtone called "Little Bird" that's worthy checking out. It's besides easier to set a customized ringtone utilizing the Files app and the Share Sheet.

After you acceptable a ringtone, you tin customize your alarm's snooze time. For years, Apple has utilized a 9 infinitesimal default snooze clip for alarms, but present you tin take anyplace from 1 infinitesimal to 15 minutes arsenic the duration betwixt erstwhile your alarm volition spell off.

To customize an alarm, unfastened up the Clock app, take the Alarms tab, pat connected an alarm oregon make a caller one, and past pat connected Snooze Duration to prime a duration. You tin alteration the snooze magnitude for each of your abstracted alarms.

Choose Your Safari Preference

Apple added a caller "Compact" presumption for the Safari Tab barroom that tucks respective settings retired of sight. If you privation to alteration backmost to your preferred presumption astatine the apical oregon the bottom, you tin alteration it successful the Safari conception of the Settings app.