This week, Apple dropped the fifth developer beta for iOS 26. It arrived rather less than two weeks after the corporate launched the primary public beta for the replace, so public testers can count on to see public beta 2 someday quickly. As with all iOS beta cycles, builders get the beta first, adopted intently by a public beta launch.
Developer beta 5 (which would be the identical as public beta 2) is basically an aesthetic replace: Most of the adjustments must do with how iOS appears to be like and feels, reasonably than options that add new features to your iPhone. Nonetheless, it is an fascinating glimpse of what Apple’s software program workforce is pondering as they proceed to check and ideal the subsequent huge iOS replace earlier than its official launch this fall.
Here is what’s new:
‘Traditional Mode’ for Digital camera
Within the Digital camera app’s Settings web page, now you can discover a new “Traditional Mode Switching” toggle. This does not carry again the Digital camera app from iOS 18, nonetheless. As an alternative, when enabled, the scroll course when switching digital camera modes reverses. Apple has lengthy given you the choice to change scroll instructions on your Mac’s mouse or trackpad, but when I am not mistaken, that is the primary time you’ve been in a position to decide on the scroll course of a component inside a specific iOS app.
I am not beta testing iOS 26, and I would not have thought this was such an enormous deal. However this submit on X discussing the change has over 1,500 likes, so I think about there are a bunch of testers about it.
The Choose button returns in Mail
The Mail app’s “Choose” button enables you to shortly enter choose mode, so you can begin rounding up totally different emails in your inbox. Apple’s engineers may need thought this button was a bit redundant, since you’ll be able to choose messages even quicker by simply swiping with two fingers, as iOS 26’s Mail app hides the Choose button away within the ••• menu.
That adjustments with beta 5: Choose has returned, and is strictly the place you’d anticipate finding it coming from iOS 18.6. It is doable Apple will reverse course in a future beta, but it surely’s right here for now.
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New animations
After updating your iPhone to the newest beta, you may discover a new UI change straight away: Now you can swipe up the Lock Display screen to disclose the passcode display, which has a brand new, jiggly animation:
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Management Middle has an analogous animation to it when thumbing by the pages as effectively:
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An up to date Low Battery alert for the Dynamic Island
When you’ve got an iPhone with a Dynamic Island, you may see a refined Low Battery pop-up seem when your battery hits 20%. You’ll be able to long-press this alert to get a shortcut to activate Low Energy Mode, however you would not know that simply by wanting on the authentic alert.
What do you assume up to now?
In beta 5, Apple up to date this alert to make it bigger. With that, the corporate included directions to faucet the alert to activate Low Energy Mode, and in addition up to date the low battery icon.
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New AirDrop icon
The fifth iOS 26 beta updates the AirPlay icon, to higher mirror Apple’s new design language:
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New Macintosh HD icon
This is not technically an iOS 26 factor, however I’ve to say it: Apple’s fifth macOS 26 beta replaces the basic Macintosh HD icon. The brand new icon resembles an SSD, the kind of storage drive that has been featured in most Macs for effectively over decade now. The outdated icon, which resembled a drive with a spinning arduous disk, is iconic, however not essentially correct, as Apple hasn’t offered Macs with the sort of drive for ages.
Nonetheless, the outdated icon is basic macOS, and the brand new one is, effectively, not so basic. Perhaps it will develop on me, however I would not thoughts it if Apple workshopped this one a bit extra, prefer it did the Finder icon.
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In case you’re not but working the iOS 26 developer beta
You’ll be able to check out these adjustments, and all of iOS 26’s new options, by putting in the iOS 26 beta 5 in your iPhone proper now. I do not suggest it, nonetheless. That is nonetheless the developer beta, which is supposed for software program builders. Anybody can register their Apple Account as a developer to check it out totally free, however you run the chance of taking up bugs and different glitches Apple hasn’t caught but.
The general public beta, then again, solely comes out after Apple confirms the developer beta does not have any devastating points that might have an effect on a bigger pool of customers. You continue to run the chance of instability, which is why I do not run betas on my private units, but it surely’s much less threat, so should you’re going strive a beta, I would suggest it over the developer beta.
