Apple introduced Liquid glass when the company released iOS 26 in September, and the design had its own fans And ill-wishers.
With release iOS 26.2 todayiPhone users can now customize more aspects of the design. iOS 26.2 comes out more than a month after the company's release iOS 26.1. The latest iOS update brings changes to the Podcasts and Apple Music apps, as well as other improvements for your iPhone. Apple wrote online that the update also fixes two bugs that may have been actively exploited, so you should download the update now to protect your device.
You can download iOS 26.2 right now by clicking on the link Settings and tapping General. Next select Software updatetap Update now and follow the onscreen instructions.
Below are the features and security updates of iOS 26.2 for your iPhone.
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Liquid glass slider on the lock screen
In iOS 26.2, you can adjust the frostiness of the liquid glass on the lock screen clock. When you go to set the clock on your lock screen, you'll see a new slider at the bottom of the page. Moving the slider to the left makes the watch more transparent, and moving the slider to the right makes it thicker.
The new slider can make the clock element more visible.
Liquid Glass has polarized iPhone users since Apple announced the redesign in June. Some people Reddit notes that the design may have some readability issues, although other find it modern and playful.
No matter how people feel about Liquid Glass, the design will remain the same.
Apple introduced a Liquid Glass setting in iOS 16.1 for iPhone users that allows it to darken certain menus. Since iOS 26.2 introduces more design customization options, I expect Apple to continue to expand Liquid Glass's customization capabilities in future updates.
iOS 26.2 fixes these used bugs and more.
Apple writes online that iOS 26.2 fixes over two dozen bugs on your iPhone. The company wrote that two of these bugs could be used in an “extremely sophisticated attack.”[s] against specific targets in iOS versions prior to iOS 26.”
Both bugs are in WebKit, Apple's proprietary internet browser engine used in Safari.
“Processing malicious web content may result in arbitrary code execution.” Apple wrote. Executing arbitrary code could allow a third party to steal your data or hack your device for other nefarious purposes.
Although you may not be the target of these attacks, it is still important to stay updated to protect your device and your data.
Liquid Glass is coming to your Measure app
The Measure app is a useful tool that can give you an idea of the size of a room when you don't have a tape measure handy, and can also act as a level when you're hanging a picture on the wall. And in iOS 26.2, the app's Level feature has been redesigned with Liquid Glass. This small change doesn't change the Level feature, but it serves as a reminder that Apple is working to implement liquid glass into every aspect of your iPhone.
Updated design of the “Level” function in liquid glass.
Offline lyrics on Apple Music
Apple is also adding offline lyrics to Apple Music (11 dollars per month) with iOS 26.2. The company has made several additions and changes to Apple Music with iOS 26, including lyrical translation. In iOS 26.2, when subscribers download songs to their device, they can access the lyrics to those songs even if they don't have a signal or internet access.
Enjoy the lyrics of downloaded music even without an Internet connection.
Podcast changes
The Podcasts app gets some new features in iOS 26.2. One such feature is chapters, which make it easy to navigate through episodes. Chapter breaks in a podcast are indicated by small hash marks in the podcast media player.
Other changes to podcasts include links you share within a podcast right on the episode page, as well as the ability to follow other podcasts mentioned during an episode right from the transcript.
The Podcasts app makes it much easier to navigate to the other podcasts mentioned.
News application sections
In addition to changes to podcasts, iOS 26.2 also brings several changes to the News app. The app now has a menu at the top of the home page, divided into sections such as Sports and Politics.
Thanks for finally allowing me to navigate the News app intelligently.
A long overdue change makes it easy to jump to another section right from the main page of the News app.
Before this update, the main news page was divided into different sections, but navigating through them was difficult. You had to either scroll down the home page to find them or look for them on the Next page. This small change allows you to jump to a topic with relative ease.
Reminders can set alarms
Reminders can also set an alarm for you in iOS 26.2. When you create a reminder in the app, you can mark it as urgent, and the app will prompt you to schedule an alarm or timer for that reminder.
This switch will allow you to associate an alarm with a reminder.
New enhanced security alerts
The iOS 26.2 update may also bring a new menu to your iPhone that provides more safety alerts, such as warnings about earthquakes and other threats. To find these new alerts, go to Settings > Notifications > Advanced security alerts.. Here you'll find toggles for earthquake alerts and imminent threat alerts.
New menu for enhanced security warnings.
“In emergency situations, your iPhone can receive security alerts and anonymously broadcast them to nearby Apple devices,” Apple writes in the menu.
There's also an “Improve Alert Delivery” toggle that, when turned on, shares your approximate location with Apple to improve the timeliness and reliability of alerts.
Change your sleep score in the Health app
According to 9to5MacHealth app sleep scores are also being adjusted in iOS 26.2 and WatchOS 26.2, raising the threshold for most scores.
The Sleep Score is designed to measure the restorative quality of your sleep. This feature categorizes your sleep on a scale: very good (previously excellent), high, normal, low or very low. These categories are based on a point system measured by the length of your sleep, the time you went to bed, and any interruptions in sleep during the night. These points were summed up and the following ratings were given:
- 0–29 points: Very low
- 30–49 points: Low
- 50-69 points: OK
- 70-89 points: High
- 90-100 points: Excellent.
9to5Mac reports that these rating ranges have been updated in iOS 26.2 and WatchOS 26.2. Here are the new ranges for your sleep score:
- 0–40 points: Very low
- 41–60 points: Low
- 61-80 points: OK
- 81-95 points: High
- 96-100 points: Very high
iOS 26.2 Release Notes
Here are the full release notes for iOS 26.2.
Apple Music
- The “Favorite Songs” playlist appears in the “Top Picks” section of the main tab.
- Offline lyrics of downloaded songs, so you can view them without an Internet connection.
Podcasts
- Automatically generated chapters make it easy to navigate through episodes.
- Mentioned Podcast Links allow you to view and follow other podcasts mentioned in the episode you're listening to directly from the player and transcript.
Games
- Filters in the game library allow you to find games by category, size, and other parameters.
- In-game challenge results banners show real-time updates as someone new takes the lead.
- Improved support for connected controllers such as Backbone and Razer.
This update also includes the following improvements and bug fixes:
- The additional option of setting the screen lock time allows you to further customize its appearance, giving the liquid glass material more or less opacity.
- Enhanced Safety Alerts can keep you informed of imminent threats such as floods, natural disasters and other emergencies, with extensive information such as a map of affected areas and links to additional safety instructions (available in the US).
- The Reminder Alarm will help you stay on top of urgent tasks, while also providing snooze and Live Activity support if you're not ready to turn off the reminder.
- AirDrop codes provide an additional layer of verification when using AirDrop with unknown contacts by providing a code on the recipient's device that the sender must enter to complete the transfer.
- Apple News links at the top of the Today Feed provide easy navigation to popular topics like sports, politics, business, and food.
- Pairing multiple accessories in the Home app allows you to use the same setup code to easily register multiple accessories sold together.
- Alert Flash in Accessibility Settings offers an additional option that allows your device screen to flash when you receive a notification.
- Tables in Freeform can contain text, images, documents, and drawings, and cells intelligently resize to give structure to an infinite canvas.
- Fixed an issue where preview albums in the Apple Music library would not play immediately when they were released.
- Fixed an issue where a privacy and security setting could be incorrectly marked as managed by an enterprise organization.
For more iOS news, here's everything you need to know. iOS 26.1 And my review of iOS 26. You can also check out our iOS 26 cheat sheet.
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