The 7 iOS 26 hidden features I'm excited to try

Lens cleaning hint

This isn't something that we expect to use very often, but it's a cool little feature that can improve your photo quality in certain scenarios. "Lens cleaning hint" is exactly what it says: When your iPhone detects that your camera lens is dirty, it will let you know so you can clean it. It's one of those tasks that the iPhone can't do for you, but now it can at least warn you before your photos come out smudgy.

We've all been there: That early morning alarm fires up only for you to shut it down with the speed of lightning and continue your well-deserved rest as if nothing happened. Then comes the snooze. But this isn't your first rodeo; you shut the alarm down once more and go back to dreamland. The third snooze is, perhaps, crucial. This is where your subconscious tells you, "Better wake up, buddy, or else." This is where you have to decide: Are you just going to throw the phone through a window and continue sleeping, all your responsibilities be damned, or will you finally succumb to the alarm?

We can't give you guidance on what to do in that situation (sure we can, you need to friggin' wake up, buddy). But now, in iOS 26, you can set snooze duration for each of your alarms. Yes, the standard 9-minute Apple snooze will soon be gone. If you really need to wake up, you might want to set your snooze to 1 minute, meaning the alarm will repeat every minute. If you're feeling chill, perhaps you'd like to set it to be a little longer. Either way, you can find the setting by tapping on an alarm and setting Snooze Duration to anywhere between 1 and 15 minutes. Good luck.

iOS 26 introduces a new look in the form of Liquid Glass. Credit: Apple

Ever felt like your iPhone is suddenly draining its battery twice as fast as normal? Sometimes, it's just a feeling, but it can also be an app gone crazy and chugging that battery life like there's no tomorrow.

In iOS 26, your iPhone will warn you if you're using more battery than usual, and it'll even tell you which app is the culprit.

Additionally, the Battery portion of the iPhone's settings has been revamped, and it now gives you some additional info, such as the remaining charge time while charging.

There's nothing more awkward than listening to a macrame podcast on your AirPods only to have it suddenly switch to your car's speakers for everyone nearby to hear. OK, there are plenty of scenarios that are more awkward, but we'll let you figure them out yourself.

In any case, this issue is solved in iOS 26 with one simple setting. Go to Settings - General - AirPlay & Continuity and tap "Keep Audio in Headphones." It will do what it says, and it'll also reduce the mess that sometimes happens when there are multiple Bluetooth audio devices nearby.

A new Apple Music experience. Credit: Apple

My Playlist tab in Apple Music is a mess. It consists of birthday playlists, automatically generated stuff, a bunch of playlists I don't ever recall creating, and, finally, some of the actual playlists that I use on a daily basis.

In iOS 26, you can organize all those playlists into folders. Go to Playlists, tap on the + icon in the upper right corner, and choose New Folder. Now, you can finally turn your Playlists folder into a well-organized, genre-based library it deserves to be.

You can find Background Sounds under Accessibility on your iPhone. Credit: Apple

If you've never heard of Background Sounds, boy, do we have a treat for you. It's an accessibility feature that plays a variety of soothing sounds through the iPhone's speakers. You can add them into your Control Center for easy access and fine-tune them in Settings (go to Settings - Accessibility - Background Sounds), where you can add a timer, change the volume, decide if you want the sounds to continue while media is playing, and even adapt the sounds themselves with an equalizer.

All of this was there in iOS 18, but in iOS 26, Apple is adding eight new Background Sounds options, including Quiet Night, Fire, Rain, Babble, and even Airplane, if you're into that sort of thing. Some of these are perfect for soothing a baby, while some can even be used to create a certain mood.

You'll be able to use Icon Composer to customize Liquid Glass settings on iPhones, MacBooks, and iPads. Credit: Apple