Apple sometimes releases new developer betas on a two-week cycle, so it wasn’t a giant shock when the second betas of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, and the remainder confirmed up at the moment.
Whereas these are nonetheless developer betas, and subsequently not for the faint of warmth (Apple recommends they solely be put in by builders on a tool devoted to testing), the second beta is historically the one which begins to shine issues up fairly a bit over the preliminary developer preview — and at the moment’s releases aren’t any exception.
For one factor, the iOS 26 beta is already working noticeably cooler than beta 1. Right here’s hoping that may even prolong to longer battery life. Along with the same old bug fixes and efficiency enhancements with every beta, Apple typically introduces new options and enhancements that didn’t make the lower for the sooner releases and tweaks consumer interface components.
This yr’s software program updates are a bit completely different than what we’ve seen within the current previous. Whereas early developer betas of iOS 18, iOS 17, and different prior releases weren’t function full, this yr’s “26” releases gave us almost every little thing proper in developer beta 1. Whether or not that’s as a result of iOS 26 et al. are merely much less formidable or Apple needs to keep away from overpromising, it’s a refreshing change. We’ll in all probability see new options in iOS 26.1 and past; nonetheless, this time round, it appears that evidently Apple doesn’t wish to discuss any of these but, preferring to concentrate on iOS 26.0 as a substitute.
What’s New in The Second Spherical of Betas
The largest transformation on this yr’s software program releases is a brand new interface that Apple is looking “Liquid Glass.” It’s a big redesign, and as such, we anticipate Apple will tweak it fairly a bit between now and September’s last releases.
The second betas of iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 have already made one main adjustment to the Liquid Glass. Within the first beta, the Management Middle was too translucent, to the purpose that many had been on the lookout for methods to dial it down. Fortunately, Apple has tweaked that within the second betas to make the Liquid Glass buttons extra opaque.
The second beta has additionally surfaced a brand new ringtone: the “Alt 1” model of the Reflections ringtone. A number of code sleuths discovered this tucked away within the first beta, but it surely wasn’t user-accessible. It could possibly now be discovered within the Settings app underneath Sounds & Haptics > Ringtones, the place Reflection now expands to supply a selection between “Default” and “Alt 1.”
Apple Music beneficial properties a Dwell Radio widget. Whereas this looks as if it could be a pleasant match for CarPlay, it’s solely out there as a House Display widget proper now; CarPlay makes use of the identical widgets because the StandBy display screen, the place solely Lately Performed and Prime Charts can be found. In fact, that would change in future betas.
The Pockets app expands assist for the promised Order Monitoring enhancements, permitting it to drag in orders out of your Mail app utilizing Apple Intelligence. It seems this can solely be out there within the US for now. Apple can be tagging it as “beta” within the Pockets Settings, which suggests it’s going to seemingly be thought-about as such when it’s launched (Apple hardly ever labels issues as “beta” after they’re in a developer or public beta, as that’s assumed).
Apple has additionally tweaked the button placement in Safari to place the brand new tab button again down on the backside, the place it extra logically belongs (and is far simpler to faucet).
On the Mac aspect, the second macOS Tahoe 26 beta restores the beforehand butchered Finder icon to its pure state. Within the first beta, Apple reversed the darkish and lightweight sides, making it look unnatural to long-time Mac followers. The brand new model doesn’t fairly return us to the traditional look, as there’s nonetheless a top level view, so the darker blue face not extends to the sides.
There’s additionally a brand new choice within the second macOS Tahoe beta to revive the background of the menu bar. Apple’s new Liquid Glass design had taken away the distinct menu bar to let it seamlessly mix into the background behind it, such that every little thing simply form of floats up there. For those who don’t like that look, it could possibly now be modified to extra carefully replicate the type of macOS Sequoia by opening the Settings app and choosing “Present menu bar background” within the Menu Bar part.
We’re nonetheless digging via the second beta and can report on the rest we discover that’s noteworthy, however primarily based on what Apple confirmed off throughout its WWDC keynote earlier this month, all essentially the most vital options are already there, so we’re anticipating this to be a beta cycle of refinements quite than thrilling modifications.