Apple’s latest mobile operating system packs standout features like Liquid Glass and Spatial Scenes—but it’s the lesser-known capabilities that truly deserve a closer look.
Apple’s iOS 26 elevates the iPhone experience with a collection of clever improvements, rather than a single standout feature. Sure, the much-hyped Liquid Glass design language adds an elegant, glass-like translucency across the OS, but the real magic also lies in the overlooked enhancements that rolled out with it. I’ve already covered the incredibly cool Live Translation and Spatial Scenes. Now, after spending many additional hours with iOS 26, these five other subtle yet impactful features stand out to me as some of the operating system’s best-kept secrets.1. Control Your iPhone’s Camera With AirPods
Did you know that iOS 26 lets you use your AirPods as a remote to control your iPhone’s camera? This new feature (available with AirPods 4, AirPods 4 With Active Noise Cancellation, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods Pro 2) lets you tap the AirPod stem to snap a photo or press and hold it to start/stop a recording. You enable this gesture in the AirPods’ settings menu. You’ll know it’s set up correctly when you hear a three-second countdown through your AirPods before the shot is taken.
I’m not a huge photography enthusiast; in most cases, I tap the Camera app’s snapshot button without a second thought. However, I’m finding this an extremely useful feature when setting up a tripod to snap pictures or record video. It keeps me from touching and potentially shifting the iPhone after painstakingly setting it up for a perfect shot. 2. Pull Information From Screenshots
Apple has significantly enhanced its Live Text and Visual Look Up technologies over the past few iOS releases. What was once a neat search function for Photos is now Visual Intelligence, a robust look-up feature added to iOS 18’s improved Camera app.
