As part of iOS 26's interface changes, your iPhone lock screen can take on a new look with spatial photos available as the background image for your phone and an adaptive time feature that adjusts the look of the on-screen clock to fit with the other visual elements. We go through all the iOS 26 lock screen changes.

Looking at the home screens, the primary difference you'll find is that in iOS 26 the background of the dock and the search option that sits in between the dock and the home screen icons are more transparent and have a sheen to the edges, whereas in iOS 18, these are slightly darker.

Apple announced in June that the release of iOS 26 would first appear as developer betas as usual, with the first public beta set for July. When it reaches general release it will be on the 2025 releases, iPhone 17 series, as well the iPhone 16 series and plenty of much earlier models.