iOS 26.2 Adds These New Features to Your iPhone

Thursday November 20, 2025 10:50 am PST by Joe Rossignol

iOS 26.2 is currently in beta testing. The upcoming update includes a handful of new features and changes on the iPhone, including a new Liquid Glass slider for the Lock Screen's clock, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and more.

iOS 26
In a recent press release, Apple confirmed that iOS 26.2 will be released to all users in December, but it did not provide a specific release date.

Keep reading for eight new features coming with iOS 26.2. The update is compatible with the iPhone 11 and newer, but some features require a newer iPhone.

Liquid Glass Slider on Lock Screen

A new slider in the Lock Screen customization menu lets you adjust the opacity of Liquid Glass for the clock, allowing you to decide how clear or frosted it appears.

This comes after iOS 26.1 added "Clear" and "Tinted" options for Liquid Glass overall.

Offline Lyrics in Apple Music

iOS 26.2 adds offline lyric support to Apple Music, allowing you to view a song's lyrics even when you are not connected to a Wi-Fi or cellular network.

Sleep Score Revisions

iOS 26.2 and watchOS 26.2 have revised Sleep Score ranges:

Very Low: 0-40 (previously 0-29)
Low: 41-60 (previously 30-49)
OK: 61-80 (previously 50-69)
High: 81-95 (previously 70-89)
Very High: 96-100 (previously 90-100)

Apple says sleep scores are calculated based on how long you slept, the consistency of when you fell asleep, and the frequency and duration of waking up during the night. The feature is available in the Health app on all iPhone models compatible with iOS 26, and in the Sleep app on all Apple Watch models compatible with watchOS 26.

Alarms for Reminders

iOS 26.2 lets you set alarms for reminders in Apple's Reminders app.

When adding a reminder, selecting a time and then toggling on the "Urgent" option will cause an alarm to go off at the designated time.

Apple Podcasts Enhancements

Apple's Podcasts app has three new features on iOS 26.2, including automatic chapters for episodes, timed links on the screen, and the ability to view other podcasts that a podcast mentions right from the audio player and the transcript.

Apple News Revamp

In the Apple News app, there is now a dedicated "Following" tab, and buttons for quick access to topics like sports, puzzles, politics, business, and food.

iPhone Screen Flash for Notifications

Starting with iOS 26.2, your iPhone's screen can flash when you receive a notification. Previously, this setting was limited to the LED camera flash on the back of the iPhone.

In the Settings app, under Accessibility → Audio & Visual → Flash for Alerts, there are now options for LED Flash, Screen, and Both. Or, you can keep the setting turned off.

AirPods Live Translation in EU

iOS 26.2 makes Live Translation on AirPods available in the EU.

Live Translation allows you to understand someone who is speaking a different language than you. For example, if you speak English, and someone is speaking to you in French, Siri can tell you what they are saying in English through your AirPods.

The feature works best when both participants in a conversation are using Live Translation on AirPods. If you are talking with someone who is not wearing AirPods, you can display a live transcription in the other person's language on your iPhone.

Live Translation is available on the AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2, and higher-end AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation. The feature launched in the U.S. and select other countries with iOS 26, but it was not available in the EU until iOS 26.2, as Apple said it needed additional time to ensure compliance with the EU's Digital Markets Act.

iOS 26: Use Live Translation With AirPods

In addition to compatible AirPods, users need an iPhone 15 Pro or newer with Apple Intelligence turned on and Apple's Translate app installed.

As of iOS 26.1, Live Translation on AirPods supports the following languages:

English (U.S.)
English (U.K.)
French (France)
German (Germany)
Portuguese (Brazil)
Spanish (Spain)
Chinese — Simplified (China)
Chinese — Traditional (China)
Japanese
Korean
Italian

iOS 26 also has a built-in Live Translation feature in the Messages, Phone, and FaceTime apps, with no AirPods required.

Related Roundups: iOS 26, iPadOS 26

Related Forum: iOS 26

Apple Now Pushing iPhone Users Still on iOS 26 to Install iOS 27

Thursday October 8, 2026 1:17 pm PDT by Joe Rossignol

Starting today, iPhone users still running iOS 26 will see iOS 27.0.1 as the prominent software update in the Settings app under General → Software Update, with iOS 26.7.1 now relegated to a smaller "Also Available" section at the bottom. iOS 27 was released on September 14, but until now that update and later iOS 27.0.1 were shown under the "Also Available" section, with iOS 26.7 and...

• 96 comments

apple lock security bug vulnerability fix privacy

iOS 26.7.1 Fixes Vulnerability Used in Targeted Attacks

Monday September 28, 2026 11:45 am PDT by Juli Clover

iOS 26.7.1, iPadOS 26.7.1, macOS Tahoe 26.7.1, and macOS Sequoia 15.8.1 address a major vulnerability that Apple believes was used against a small number of people. Apple's security support pages say there was a CoreGraphics out-of-bounds write issue that could be exploited with a maliciously crafted file, allowing for arbitrary code execution. It has been fixed with improved bounds...

• 28 comments

You Can No Longer Downgrade From iOS 27 to iOS 26

Monday September 21, 2026 3:25 pm PDT by Juli Clover

Apple is no longer signing iOS 26.6.2, so if you've upgraded to iOS 27, there is no option to downgrade to a version of iOS 26. iOS 27 came out a week ago. Software that is "signed" can pass a server-side verification check that Apple performs when a new version of iOS is downloaded. If an update fails the verification check, it can't be installed. By unsigning software, Apple prevents...

• 79 comments

Top Rated Comments

WarmWinterHat

12 months ago

Only sider I need: Borders around icons and widgets - on-off.

Bonus slider: Liquid glass - on-off.

Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Love-hate 🍏 relationship

I'm hoping it's more optimzied, although 26.1 is better than 26.0, it's still a HUGE mess especially in power consumption (compared to ios 18)

as an aside, I would like to see more of these posts. it's only been the third or fourth time you've posted this one , and I feel like it's not enough to make sure I didn't miss anything. would you mind posting it on a daily basis, perhaps even hourly?

Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)

antiprotest

I am glad they are finally getting rid of the dedicated Sports tab in News app. Not everyone wants that, just like not everyone would want one for Politics, or Tech, etc. It was just there taking up space for me.

Score: 3 Votes (Like | Disagree)

dreztvx

Lots of aspects of the liquid glass customizations for appearance look oddly amateurish, but this new "snooze/off" UI for the alarm clock is next level.