Should I update my iPhone to iOS 26?

Liquid Glass is the most valuable improvement on iOS 26, bringing new things to the interface, along with some small improvements in features and minimalism.

Apple has just officially released iOS 26. After a disappointing year when many Apple Intelligence features did not launch as planned, this update focuses on improving the interface with Liquid Glass design, along with some tweaks to enhance the user experience.

In fact, many people have been using iOS 26 in beta. Learning from iOS 18, most of the features that Apple demonstrated at WWDC 2025 are available in the official version.

After the official release, many international news sites highly appreciated the upgrades on iOS 26, although there are still some points that need improvement, especially around the new interface.

First impressions with Liquid Glass

Writing on CNET , author Zachary McAuliffe expressed his impression of the Liquid Glass interface. The lighting and movement of interface elements create a sense of fun. Of course, all of this does not affect the way the iPhone works.

"The changes on Liquid Glass are more about aesthetics than functionality. While the menus look different and the Control Center button looks sleeker, they feel familiar," McAuliffe said.

iOS 26's Liquid Glass interface. Photo: MacStories .

Apple uses Liquid Glass across all platforms, but Six Colors ' Dan Moren says the interface is still most comfortable on the iPhone and iPad thanks to better interaction effects. For example, images and text will appear in bold when swiping to open the notification bar, or distort/change color if placed under the toolbar.

“This is quite impressive but sometimes distracting. Sometimes you will see the text distort compared to the content you are reading. When the content scrolls suddenly from light to dark, the buttons also change color but sometimes it is annoying,” Moren commented.

With the Glass element, Apple has made some tweaks to avoid discomfort. For example, when viewing black content on a white background and swiping across darker content, the interface will transition (light/dark) faster or slower based on scroll speed. While clever, Moren thinks it shouldn’t have been this complicated.

“This brings to mind the old fable where the US spent years and millions of dollars designing a pen that could write in space, while the Soviets used pencils. Apple didn’t need a design that required immediate interface tweaks,” Moren added.

Liquid Glass's transparent, floating effect on iOS 26. Photo: MacStories .

If “Glass” refers to the new look, the Liquid part emphasizes the effect and feel. The buttons split, bounce and float exactly like the Dynamic Island design.

According to Moren, this design makes changes in the interface easy to recognize, but it is not applied consistently, especially when the buttons change position frequently. After many times of viewing, the animation effects can be distracting.

It takes time to get used to.

Apple also changed some of the core elements of iOS, like the horizontal scrolling menu. Instead of putting everything in a long row and forcing users to scroll multiple times, the new layout only shows a few options. Tapping the arrow on the right expands the entire selection vertically, making it easier to see and select.

iOS 26 app icons have been redesigned with transparent layers. Users can still choose from light, dark, monochrome, or transparent styles. Although it has been around since iOS 18, the ability to customize the home screen is still worth trying with the new interface of iOS 26.

New horizontal scrolling menu interface on iOS 26. Photo: Six Colors .

iOS 26 adds a few more options for customizing the lock screen. The biggest addition is the clock size, which can be expanded or shrunk to fit the background wallpaper. Since Apple's automated system isn't perfect, it may take some time to manually tweak the wallpaper position and clock size to get the best results.

When resizing the clock, the widget position is moved to the bottom of the screen so as not to cover the photo subject. Users also have the option to enable a 3D effect, which gives the details in the photo a sense of volume when tilting the phone.

According to McAuliffe, the only downside to the clock resizing feature is that it only applies to one font. However, the ability to customize the color and font thickness remains the same.

Lock screen customization capabilities are expanded on iOS 26. Photo: AppleInsider .

While listening to music, the album cover will appear on the entire lock screen, with additional motion effects if supported by the publisher. So far, this change has received many positive reviews on social networks.

Overall, Dan Moren from Six Colors believes that users need time to get used to the new interface. Much of the design is subjective, and Apple will have to gather opinions to refine the interface better.

Focus on minimizing applications

The camera is one of the most used apps on the iPhone, as evidenced by Apple's constant improvement of the camera over the years. In iOS 26, the camera app has been upgraded to be more minimalist and easier to use.

When accessing the camera application, users only see 2 main modes: taking photos and recording videos . Sub-modes such as portrait photos and slow-motion recording only appear when swiping left or right, reducing the possibility of choosing the wrong one.

Camera app on iOS 26. Photo: Six Colors .

Similarly, advanced controls like aperture, exposure, color effects... are only displayed when swiping or tapping the menu icon in the top corner of the screen.

“Apple’s new design reflects the fact that users just want to open an app, take a photo or video, and exit. The company itself has designed the hardware so that the iPhone takes beautiful photos without much tweaking,” Moren emphasized.

The Camera app on iOS 26 also adds some AirPods-related features. When using models with the H2 chip, the recording quality will be better. In addition, the control button on the AirPods can now be used to take photos remotely.

Apple also simplified the phone app in iOS 26. With the Unified layout, favorite contacts are at the top, while call history is below. Contacts and keyboard entries are separate.

Safari interface on iOS 26 is designed to be more minimalist. Photo: Six Colors .

Despite not having many improvements, Apple still refined the Safari interface in a minimalist direction. On iOS 26, the familiar toolbar with navigation, sharing, bookmarks buttons... was removed. Instead, the Safari interface only has a back button, address bar and menu to expand controls.

Writing on Six Colors , author Dan Moren admits that he has gotten used to this interface, but sometimes the website background color is not consistent with Liquid Glass. That leads to different color effects between components, making it uncomfortable to use.

Small improvements

Like other major updates, iOS 26 brings a few small improvements. For example, the management section in settings has been redesigned, showing the last charge time and the remaining full charge time. The chart below shows battery usage compared to a daily average.

Users can change the recording device with Local Capture to the built-in microphone, AirPods, or an external microphone via the USB-C port. With AirPods, iOS 26 allows music to be paused while sleeping.

New battery management section on iOS 26. Photo: Six Colors .

While somewhat useful, Moren said the mode lacks customization, such as the ability to set a time or add exceptions, especially for people who rely on white noise to sleep.

Next, the Passwords app adds an edit history section. The Photos app separates the gallery with a photo viewing interface into two separate sections.

Apple Music now has an AutoMix mode, which uses AI to create smooth transitions between two songs. According to Moren, this feature sometimes tweaks too hard, slowing down the music for 30 seconds to match the rhythm of the next song.

“As a new feature, it’s quite interesting. However, I think many people will be annoyed by the feature of automatically adjusting their favorite songs,” said the writer from Six Colors .

Re-snooze feature on iOS 26. Photo: MacStories .

In the Clock app, users can adjust the interval between alarms instead of the fixed 9 minutes as before. In addition, the Messaging app supports background image editing and poll creation, helping group chats no longer be monotonous.

Games is also a new app on iOS 26, for gamers to communicate and challenge friends. However, Zachary McAuliffe from CNET commented that this app is not perfect because it cannot delete games in the library, and the controller connection operation is not intuitive.

There is still time to perfect

With iOS 26, Apple brings the Liquid Glass interface along with many small improvements to the experience. Moren admits that he is not yet in favor of the new interface because the effects sometimes make it feel "like looking at the screen through a distorted mirror".

“However, this is not a disaster that will make people run away. It is very rare for iPhone users to not update the software. I don’t think many people will stay on iOS 18 just because they are annoyed with the new interface,” the writer from Six Colors emphasized.

Another notable point is that Apple has largely avoided mentioning Apple Intelligence directly. There are still upgrades around Visual Intelligence and shortcuts, but many people can still skip them if they are not interested.

New interface elements on iOS 26. Photo: MacStories .

“Apple still wants people to remember that the AI ​​feature exists, but you can completely ignore it and continue using the device normally,” Moren commented.

Overall, the future of iOS 26 depends heavily on third parties, from apps switching to Liquid Glass to the ability to leverage Apple's AI models. For now, small improvements like call blocking, battery charging predictions, and AutoMix are enough to justify the upgrade.

"iOS 26 is the next step after iOS 18. While some features are not yet complete, Apple can still improve them in future updates," McAuliffe concluded.

Source: https://znews.vn/ios-26-co-gi-thu-vi-post1585977.html