How Tos

In iOS 26.1, Apple is introducing a welcome change for anyone who's ever accidentally launched the Camera app while pulling their iPhone out of their pocket or bag. For the first time, you can now disable the Lock Screen's swipe-to-open-camera gesture. The Lock Screen camera gesture has been a staple ‌iPhone‌ feature for years, allowing you to quickly swipe left to capture spontaneous moments. ...

In iOS 26, Apple has added new call filtering options to FaceTime. You can still silence unknown callers, but you can now have missed calls and voicemails from unsaved numbers sorted into an Unknown Callers list that's hidden from view unless you select it. Enable FaceTime Call Filtering Call filtering for FaceTime is opt-in, so if you often get calls from unknown numbers, you can turn it...

In iOS 26, Apple has extended its Sensitive Content Warning protection to FaceTime video calls. Previously the feature only worked in Contacts, Messages, AirDrop, and shared photo albums. When the feature's enabled, your iPhone uses on-device machine learning to detect nudity during live FaceTime calls and pauses the video feed before displaying potentially sensitive content. The way it...

Apple has expanded the Background Sounds feature in iOS 26, adding eight new ambient soundscapes to help you focus, relax, or mask distracting environmental noise. Here's how to make the most of them. Background Sounds is an accessibility feature designed to minimize distractions and help you stay focused or calm. The sounds play continuously in the background, masking unwanted environmental ...

If you wear AirPods during your commute but don't want your podcast or music suddenly blasting through the car speakers when you start the engine, there's a new setting in iOS 26 that can ensure it doesn't happen. Apple has thoughtfully added a new "Keep Audio with Headphones" setting that prevents your iPhone from automatically switching audio to CarPlay or other Bluetooth speakers when...

Switching from Android to iPhone is a lot easier than it used to be. With the release of iOS 26, Apple has streamlined the process of transferring your eSIM from an Android device, and in most cases you won't need to contact your carrier for a QR code. Transferring an eSIM from iPhone to iPhone has been relatively simple since iOS 18, but Android-to-iPhone transfers have remained...

Buried within iOS 26 is a hidden history that lets you see every call you've ever exchanged with a specific contact, potentially going back years. You might not know it, but you can access this detailed call history on your iPhone in seconds. Viewing the new extended history screen can come in handy when you need to recall when you last spoke with someone. It's also pretty useful when you...

In iOS 26, Apple's Live Translation feature can turn your iPhone into a real-time interpreter during phone calls. Whether you're talking business with international clients or chatting with family abroad, the Phone app can now handle translation automatically (with a few exceptions). As of writing, Live Translation in the Phone app works with one-to-one phone calls and supports English (UK...

If you make a call and are placed on hold, a new feature in ‌iOS 26‌ will do the waiting for you so you can do other things. Hold Assist listens for hold music playing, and then alerts you when a person comes on the line so you can pick up the call. Hold Assist is available on any iPhone that supports iOS 26 (i.e. it's not an Apple Intelligence feature). The feature works automatically...

In iOS 26, your iPhone gains a handy new charging feature that takes the guesswork out of knowing when your device will be fully powered up. Instead of waiting around or checking your battery percentage every few minutes, you can now see exactly how much time remains until your device reaches 100%. A real-time estimate appears right in your Battery settings while your iPhone is plugged in,...

Spam calls have become such a nuisance that many people simply don't answer their phone unless they recognize the number. In iOS 26, though, you can learn about who's calling before you respond, thanks to a clever new feature that intercepts unknown calls and asks the caller to identify themselves before your iPhone even rings. The new "Ask Reason for Calling" feature is kind of like having...

Apple's redesigned Phone app in iOS 26 introduces a unified view that combines recents, favorite contacts, and search on a single screen. But if you prefer the familiar tabbed interface from iOS 18, you can easily switch back to the classic layout. The Classic Phone app layout in iOS 26 What's Different in iOS 26 The new unified design consolidates recent phone activity into one...

In iOS 26, Apple Maps quietly learns your daily driving patterns to help you beat traffic, but you might not want it tracking your regular routes. Here's how to disable the feature. Using on-device Apple intelligence, Maps learns the routes you prefer to use to get to locations you visit frequently, such as work, home, and school. The app tracks when you typically visit these places and...

In iOS 26, Apple Maps has a feature called Visited Places that when enabled automatically logs where you've been, with the aim of making it easier to revisit your favorite spots or to share locations with friends. While it can be useful for tracking your travels, you might prefer to keep your location history private. Here's how to disable the feature and clear your history. What Is...

In iOS 26, Apple's Spatial Scenes feature can transform ordinary photos into dynamic, three-dimensional pictures that respond to your movements. By adding depth and subtle motion to flat images, this clever AI-powered feature can bring to life photos in your iPhone's library – and your iPhone doesn't need Apple Intelligence to make use of it. Spatial Scenes in the Photos App Spatial Scenes...

In iOS 26, Apple has quietly included seven new ringtones to alert you to calls, messages, and other audible notifications. Keep reading to learn what's new and how to hear the new sounds. The iconic "Reflection" ringtone – introduced in 2017 alongside the iPhone X – now has multiple alternate versions in iOS 26. While the original tone retains its familiar pellucid xylophone melody, the ...

Apple has added a new audio control in iOS 26 that lets you dampen overly loud sounds coming from your iPhone speaker without sacrificing audio quality. The "Reduce Loud Sounds" toggle compresses your iPhone's volume range, making loud sounds softer while preserving quieter details. If you frequently switch between apps with wildly different volume levels, watch videos with inconsistent...

AirPods Pro 3 are designed to connect instantly with Apple devices, but they still work as standard Bluetooth earbuds. That means you can pair them with virtually any device that supports Bluetooth audio – from Samsung Galaxy phones to gaming consoles. Here's how to set up the connection in seconds. Note that this manual pairing method also comes in handy if your AirPods Pro 3 don't show...

In iOS 26, Apple quietly added a neat new option that lets you send smaller-sized previews of images over Messages so that recipients get them right away, before the full-resolution images arrive. Thanks to the new setting, your recipient will receive a lower-quality preview almost instantly, followed by the full-resolution image. And if you're traveling with limited cellular data or using...

In iOS 26, Apple Intelligence makes the Wallet app's order tracking feature genuinely useful by scanning your email for shipping details. The ability to track orders in Apple Wallet isn't new – it's actually been around since iOS 16. But if you've never noticed it before, don't worry. Most people haven't used it either. The feature initially struggled because it relied on merchants to...