Everything New in iOS 26 Beta 6

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There's just about a month to go until Apple unveils new iPhones at its September event, and that means time is running out for Apple to perfect iOS 26. We've reached a weekly beta update cadence, and Apple seeded ‌iOS 26‌ beta 6 to developers today.

iOS 26 Feature
There are changes to Liquid Glass, tweaks to navigation, new ringtones, and more.

Ringtones

There are now several variants of the Reflection ringtone, including Buoyant, Dreamer, Tech, Pop, Reflected, and Surge. Reflected is the "Alt 1" Reflection ringtone that was added in the second beta of ‌iOS 26‌.

ios 26 beta 6 ringtones
There's also a new Little Bird ringtone.


Toggles

Toggles now have a Liquid Glass effect when tapped.

ios 26 beta 6 toggles

Lock Screen

The Liquid Glass effect on the Lock Screen has been updated. The clock is more transparent than it was before, though it still has a frosted glass look.

ios 26 liquid glass lock screen changes‌iOS 26‌ beta 6 on left, beta 5 on right

When entering a passcode, the passcode buttons are now more translucent than before.

Navigation Bars

Navigation bars in apps have been slightly updated to enhance translucency without impacting readability.

ios 26 beta 6 navigation barsBeta 6 on left, beta 5 on right

In some places, there's more translucency, but in others, the background is more opaque so that text can still be read even if the background is busy.

ios 26 music app beta 6Beta 6 on left, beta 5 on right

App Animations

Apple changed the animation for opening and closing apps, and it's much faster than before so apps open more quickly. The animation has a very slight bounce to it, matching the bounce that's been added to the Lock Screen and Control Center.

Camera

Apple removed the toggle in the Camera app that allowed users to activate Classic Mode. Classic Mode reversed the scroll direction when switching from mode to mode in the app.

Now Classic Mode is the default, and there's no option to return to the animation from earlier betas.

ios 26 classic mode beta 5
The toggle was initially added in beta 5.

Introductory Video

When you update to ‌iOS 26‌, there's now an introductory video that walks you through the Liquid Glass design changes.


Preview App

Apple changed the design of the Preview app, adding larger buttons for creating a new document and scanning a document. When scanning a document, the location of the buttons has also changed, and they're at the bottom of the interface rather than the top.

ios 26 beta 6 preview app

Read More

We have additional info on all of the new features in ‌iOS 26‌ in our dedicated iOS 26 roundup.

Related Roundups: iOS 26, iPadOS 26
Related Forum: iOS 26

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Top Rated Comments

StephanD88 Avatar
StephanD88
13 weeks ago
In English we read from left to right. So left comes old, right comes new. So left comes former beta, right comes new beta. Okay? Thanks.
Score: 70 Votes (Like | Disagree)
3pp Avatar
3pp
13 weeks ago

In English we read from left to right. So left comes old, right comes new. So left comes former beta, right comes new beta. Okay? Thanks.
Honestly it’s strange they’re still doing it at this point. The article becomes jarring to get through. Mind you, at least they didn’t swap half way through the article this time - or write beta 5 right, beta 6 left.
Score: 16 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iMacDragon Avatar
iMacDragon
13 weeks ago
Yes, the new being on left is very counter intuitive.
Score: 11 Votes (Like | Disagree)
klowy79 Avatar
klowy79
13 weeks ago
I have sent in many bug reports. None have been addressed.
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
211 Avatar
211
13 weeks ago
I feel Liquid Glass is getting better, but it's not there yet. It will probably be tweaked every time there is an update after the full release.

I don't understand why certain things like the lock screen clock being harder to read they thought is a good look. Also, the toggling looks ugly. However, I do like the animations more and how "snappier" things are
Score: 8 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jarman92 Avatar
jarman92
13 weeks ago
What is the purpose of the Preview app? It's just a carbon copy of the Files app, there's literally nothing different about it other than the weird backsplash that looks like a rendering error.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments