Last week Apple launched iOS 26 to the public, but we didn’t have to wait long for the next update to arrive in beta form. Today iOS 26.1 beta 1 released for developers, here’s everything new we’ve discovered so far.
iOS 26.1 beta 1 changes
In terms of major new features, the biggest changes in iOS 26.1 discovered so far involve AirPods Live Translation and Apple Intelligence.
Both features have been expanded to support a variety of new languages.
There are five new AirPods Live Translation languages supported, and a whopping eight new languages for Apple Intelligence features overall.
You can find the full lists of new supported languages here.
Apple Music gets a small, but welcome new feature in this beta.
Now, you can swipe left and right on the playback bar to switch between songs.
Beyond these language expansions, iOS 26.1 beta 1 brings several UI updates to certain iPhone apps.
Apple Calendar now shows full-width color highlights for all events in List view.
Left: iOS 26.1, Right: iOS 26.0
In Apple’s Photos app, videos have a new and improved playback scrubber.
iOS 26.1 Beta redesigns the Photos app’s video scrubber. pic.twitter.com/w36XBDu6VL — Beta Profiles (@BetaProfiles) September 22, 2025
The Phone app, which got a major redesign with lots of new features in iOS 26, adds Liquid Glass to the keypad. It doesn’t screenshot particularly well.
Left: iOS 26.1, Right: iOS 26.0
Finally, iOS 26.1 beta 1’s code reveals that Apple is working to add support for MCP (Model Context Protocol).
MCP is Anthropic’s protocol for agentic AI, and Apple’s support would help further cement it as a key industry standard.
We’ll update this post with any additional discoveries as more users start testing iOS 26.1.
Have you noticed any more changes in iOS 26.1 beta 1? Let us know in the comments.
Best iPhone accessories