iOS 26 Brings 8 New Apple Intelligence Features To Your iPhone

Apple is doubling down on Apple Intelligence in iOS 26. Thankfully, it’s not just about gen AI smarts, but some actually useful features that’ll help break down language barriers in real-time. Other new Apple Intelligence features for iPhone include Visual Intelligence for the entire screen, more intuitive Shortcuts and more. Here are eight new Apple Intelligence features that are coming to your iPhone with iOS 26.

1. Live Translation in Messages, FaceTime, and Calls

Apple is taking a big swing at Google Translate and Samsung’s real-time call interpreter with Live Translation. Whether you’re texting someone in another country or FaceTiming a friend who doesn’t share your language, iOS 26 can now translate conversations in real time.

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You’ll see messages translated as you receive them, hear live translations on calls, and get captions during FaceTime chats. For Messages, it’ll work in nine languages, including English (U.S., UK), French (France), German, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Spain), and Chinese (simplified).

2. More Expressive Genmoji and Custom Image Playground

Apple now lets you blend emojis together and mix them with descriptions to generate hyper-personalized Genmoji. You can also tweak things like hairstyle and expressions to reflect someone’s new look.

Image Playground can now tap into ChatGPT’s visual styles like oil painting and vector art. If you have a specific idea in mind, you can use the new “Any Style” mode and describe what you want. Your iPhone will then create a custom image based on your prompt. Apple explicitly states that nothing gets sent to ChatGPT without a user’s permission.

3. Visual Intelligence Now Works Across Your Entire Screen

Visual intelligence can now analyze anything that’s on your screen, not just what’s in the camera viewfinder. Let’s say you’re looking at a lamp on a shopping app. You can long-press to highlight it, and your iPhone can search the web for that exact item or something similar across supported apps like Google and Etsy.

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If there’s a calendar-worthy event mentioned in a message or article, your iPhone will detect the date, time, and location, and offer to pre-fill a calendar entry. Accessing all this is simple: just press the same button combo you use to take a screenshot.

4. Apple Intelligence Shortcuts Now Actually Feel Smart

Shortcuts have always been powerful in theory, but iOS 26 finally brings them closer to being user-friendly. Shortcuts can now directly tap into the on-device AI model, allowing you to take actions.

You will see dedicated actions for features like summarizing text with Writing Tools or creating images with Image Playground, based on what you’re doing on your iPhone.

5. Smarter Suggestions in Messages and Reminders

Apple Intelligence will also improve the system app experience that you use on a daily basis. For example:

• Messages can now detect when a group chat might benefit from a poll and suggest creating one on the fly.
• Image Playground works inside Messages, too, letting you generate custom backgrounds for your conversations.
• Reminders can identify relevant actions mentioned in notes, emails, or web pages and auto-categorize them for quick follow-ups.

6. Apple Wallet Also Benefits From AI

Apple Wallet is no longer just for tickets and Apple Pay. With iOS 26, Apple Intelligence will scan your emails for order confirmations, pull delivery details from merchants, and summarize it all in one clean view in the Wallet app.

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You will see current status updates, full order details, and tracking info in one place, without needing to dig through a cluttered inbox.

7. On-Device AI Access for Developers (and You Benefit)

While this one’s a bit more behind the scenes, it has huge implications. Apple is opening up its on-device AI model to developers.

This means apps you already use, from note-taking to food delivery, can now tap into Apple Intelligence’s generative smarts without sending your data to the cloud. Like, flashcards automatically generated from your notes, or natural language search in hiking apps without needing internet connectivity.

8. Expanded Language Support for Apple Intelligence

Last but not least, Apple is expanding its reach. By the end of the year, Apple Intelligence will support eight new languages, including Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, Traditional Chinese, and Vietnamese.

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This rollout matters not just for Live Translation but also for AI-enhanced experiences across Messages, Safari, Mail, and other system apps.

I expect these Apple Intelligence upgrades in iOS 26 to reduce friction across your day-to-day tasks and make your iPhone feel more intuitive. These features may not scream innovation on the surface, but they could add up to a smarter and better iPhone experience.