iOS 26.1 beta 2 arrived today for developers, bringing the latest changes ahead of the release’s anticipated public launch soon. Here’s what’s new.
iOS 26.1: Latest changes in developer beta 2
Apple shipped iOS 26.1 beta 2 today two weeks after the first beta arrived. There are a handful of updates and even reversals in the release.
Alarms and timers are now harder to dismiss thanks to a new ‘Slide to stop’ gesture.
Both alarms and timers were updated in iOS 26 to utilize a new design with much larger on-screen buttons than before.
Now in iOS 26.1 beta 2, Apple has replaced the ‘Stop’ button with a new sliding gesture that requires a little more intentionality. This should make accidental alarm dismissals more rare.
Beta 2 also brings a major addition to iPad users: Slide Over multitasking is back.
Apple removed Slide Over and Split View when it overhauled iPad multitasking in iPadOS 26.
While Split View’s functionality can largely be replicated by the new windowing system, the same isn’t true for Slide Over.
iPadOS 26.1’s version of Slide Over only supports a single app, not the stack of apps you could use before. But otherwise it’s a nice way to have an extra app float above your workspace and be viewed or dismissed with ease.
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