Kerry Wan/ZDNET
Apple introduced iOS 26 to the public at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference event in early June, and since then, has been polishing the software with developers for the eventual beta release. Now that it's finally available for everyone to test, you may be wondering if it's worth diving straight into or waiting for the official software launch -- likely sometime in September. That's what we're here to answer.
Also: You can download iOS 26 public beta right now - how to install (and which iPhones support it)
To set the stage, Apple's iOS 26 offers a refreshing new look, more streamlined first-party app layouts, more functionalities across popular services, and some smaller Easter egg features that greatly enhance your iPhone's usability. My ZDNET colleague Kerry Wan and I have been testing the public beta (via Developer Beta 4) for the past few weeks, and here are our biggest takeaways so far.
1. Visual Intelligence is almost ready for primetime
Prakhar Khanna/ZDNET
When I first tested Visual Intelligence on iOS 18, I mainly used the feature to translate signage and menus when traveling abroad. Compared to competing multimodal tools on other phones, the feature was noticeably barebones. However, I found myself using it more often on iOS 26, thanks to the ability to better process on-screen information and follow up with relevant tasks.
Specifically, being able to add a calendar event from my email has been a blessing. Apple now allows you to take a screenshot of an invitation (whether from email, messages, or anything else) and run Visual Intelligence on it. This suggests the options to Add to Calendar, Read Aloud, and Summarize. Using the first option creates an event in the Calendar app with details such as event name, time, and duration.
Also: First look at iPhone 17 Pro? Public images seemingly confirm big design and camera changes
While both Kerry and I find Samsung's AI Select and Google's Circle to Search easier to recognize on-screen items and perform functions based on AI suggestions, some users will prefer that Apple's AI service also lets you save screenshots for future reference.
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