- iOS 26.2 is already available for iPhone
- It includes several new and improved features for reminders and more.
- Highlights a new way to share information through AirDrop and Liquid Glass settings.
It's not Christmas yet, but there are a few new things for your compliant iPhone: iOS 26.2 has just been released, bringing with it quite a few new features and improvements.
Most of them are small, but some can make a real difference to the way you use your phone, while others eliminate annoyances and improve apps.
Below you'll find a rundown of what's new in the software, but on top of all that, there are also bug fixes and security improvements, so even if you don't care about those features, it's still worth downloading the update.
1. Alarm reminders
With iOS 26.2, you're less likely to miss reminders because they can be accompanied by an alarm.
To do this, switch the “Urgent” option when setting up a reminder. When it's time for the reminder, your phone will sound an alarm and you'll see options to snooze or stop it.
2. An easier way to AirDrop
iOS 26.2 also makes it easier to AirDrop with people who aren't in your contacts list. Now, instead of adding them to your contacts or turning on the “Everyone for 10 minutes” option, you can generate a code and share it with them.
You'll then be able to AirDrop each other for 30 days while keeping AirDrop set to Contacts Only.
3. Liquid glass tweaks
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iOS 26.2 also includes several changes to Liquid Glass. The most important is the new slider, which allows you to adjust the transparency of the clock on the lock screen.
Besides, Apple added a liquid glass effect to the Level tool in the Measure app so the new interface look applies more consistently across the board operating system.
4. Podcast improvements
There are also several improvements to the Apple Podcasts app, with the addition of automatic chapters in iOS 26.2. This means that if the podcast creator doesn't manually add chapters to an episode, the app can do so automatically.
Additionally, the app now makes it much easier to find links to websites mentioned on the episode page, and also includes links to other podcasts mentioned in the episode.
5. Improved sleep performance
If you ever thought Apple's wording of sleep metrics didn't reflect how you felt in the morning, you probably weren't alone, as Apple changed that for iOS 26.2 as well.
You now need a much higher score to receive an Excellent rating, previously called Very High, and anything below 40 will now be considered Very Low, whereas previously the cutoff was 29. Similar changes have been made to other sleep scoring categories.
6. Freeform Tables
We're not sure how many people use Free form app, but if you're one of them and a fan of tables, then this is the update you've been waiting for as with iOS 26.2 you can now create tables in the Freeform app.
You can resize these tables by dragging their corners, and you can add rows and columns using the “+” buttons. It's safe to say that this falls into the “useful but not exciting” category.
7. Changes to Apple News
Finally, Apple News also adds shortcuts at the top of the screen that link to different sections of the app. These sections include things like Sports, Puzzle, Politics and Food.
This isn't a major change, but it should speed up the process of getting to where you want to be a little faster.
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