As you may recall, iOS 18 brought a new way to customize your phone's home screen including app tinting. This feature allowed you to change the color of your app icons — at least in theory. In practice, the finished result made it look like you poured sauce all over your apps.

Apple has announced iOS 26, and the upcoming software update includes a long list of new features and changes for iPhones.

Beta testing then gets underway, before a full release later in the year—typically September for iOS to coincide with the launch of the new iPhones. Then the next year, the same timetable repeats. At WWDC 2025,

The company focused on design and productivity upgrades to all of its major operating systems this time around, and of course, some new AI features as well.