iOS 26 Now Available: How to Download and Install on iPhone

John Quintet
8 months ago

ios 26 hero

Apple has released iOS 26 for iPhone and more. This brings the new Liquid Glass design to iPhone, iPad and Mac to Apple users in Canada. The update has been released and is available now. There’s also an option to update to iOS 18.7 and skip iOS 26 for now.

You can download iOS 26 on your iPhone by going to Settings > General > Software Update. Be sure to backup your iPhone before you get started, plus you’ll need about 15GB of free storage space (according to what we’ve seen from the betas). You will see iOS 18.7 show up, but just scroll down and top iOS 26.

Apple’s servers are likely going to be slammed at the launch right now, so you might want to skip and update your iPhone later tonight.

Here are iPhones That Support iOS 26:

  • iPhone 16 series (16e, 16, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, 16 Pro Max)
  • iPhone 15 series (15, 15 Plus, 15 Pro, 15 Pro Max)
  • iPhone 14 series (14, 14 Plus, 14 Pro, 14 Pro Max)
  • iPhone 13 series (13, 13 mini, 13 Pro, 13 Pro Max)
  • iPhone 12 series (12, 12 mini, 12 Pro, 12 Pro Max)
  • iPhone 11 series (11, 11 Pro, 11 Pro Max)
  • iPhone SE (2nd gen and later)

iOS 26 includes a Liquid Glass design with translucent menus, buttons, and icons for a softer look, plus auto-tinting app icons based on your iPhone or case colour. It adds Call Screening to auto-answer unknown callers for their info, Hold Assist to notify you when a rep picks up on hold, and filters for spam/unknown texts in Messages.

Other updates cover Live Translation in Phone, FaceTime, and Messages for cross-language talks, polls and photo backgrounds in chats, smarter Apple Maps with route delay alerts and visited places, AutoMix in Apple Music for seamless song transitions, a new Games app for tracking titles, adaptive power mode for better battery during gaming, a Preview app for PDF/image editing, and accessibility options like Braille support and motion sickness cues.

Let us know how your update goes in the comments. It’s showing as a 6.7GB update coming from iOS 18.6.2.

Direct download links are below for iOS 26 and older updates for iPhone and iPad:

  • iOS 26.0 (Build 23J353) for:
    • Apple TV 4 (AppleTV5,3) — Download
    • AudioAccessory5,1 (AudioAccessory5,1) — Download
  • iOS 15.8.5 (Build 19H394) for:
    • iPad mini 4 (Wi-Fi) (iPad5,1) — Download
    • iPad mini 4 (Cellular) (iPad5,2) — Download
    • iPad Air 2 (Wi-Fi) (iPad5,3) — Download
    • iPad Air 2 (Cellular) (iPad5,4) — Download
    • iPhone 6s (iPhone8,1) — Download
    • iPhone 6s Plus (iPhone8,2) — Download
    • iPhone SE (iPhone8,4) — Download
    • iPhone 7 (CDMA/GSM/LTE) (iPhone9,1) — Download
    • iPhone 7 Plus (CDMA/GSM/LTE) (iPhone9,2) — Download
    • iPhone 7 (GSM/LTE) (iPhone9,3) — Download
    • iPhone 7 Plus (GSM/LTE) (iPhone9,4) — Download
    • iPod touch 7G (iPod9,1) — Download
  • iOS 16.7.12 (Build 20H364) for:
    • iPad Pro (9.7”, Wi-Fi) (iPad6,3) — Download
    • iPad Pro (9.7”, Cellular) (iPad6,4) — Download
    • iPad Pro (Wi-Fi) (iPad6,7) — Download
    • iPad Pro (Cellular) (iPad6,8) — Download
    • iPad 5 (Wi-Fi) (iPad6,11) — Download
    • iPad 5 (Cellular) (iPad6,12) — Download
    • iPhone 8 (CDMA/GSM/LTE) (iPhone10,1) — Download
    • iPhone 8 Plus (CDMA/GSM/LTE) (iPhone10,2) — Download
    • iPhone X (CDMA/GSM/LTE) (iPhone10,3) — Download
    • iPhone 8 (GSM/LTE) (iPhone10,4) — Download
    • iPhone 8 Plus (GSM/LTE) (iPhone10,5) — Download
    • iPhone X (GSM/LTE) (iPhone10,6) — Download
  • iOS 18.7 (Build 22H20) for:
    • iPad 7 (Wi-Fi) (iPad7,11) — Download
    • iPad 7 (Cellular) (iPad7,12) — Download
    • iPhone XS (iPhone11,2) — Download
    • iPhone XS Max (China) (iPhone11,6) — Download
    • iPhone XR (iPhone11,8) — Download
  • iOS 26.0 (Build 23A341) for:

Want to see more of our stories on Google?

Add iPhone in Canada as a Preferred Source on Google

P.S. Want to keep this site truly independent? Support us by buying us a beer, treating us to a coffee, or shopping through Amazon here. Links in this post are affiliate links, so we earn a tiny commission at no charge to you. Thanks for supporting independent Canadian media!

Subscribe
Notify of
guest
3 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
John Ashbridge
John Ashbridge
7 months ago

My iPhone 16 pro and iPad 8th gen needs to be updated to 18.7 first.

0
Reply
Gary
Gary
Reply to  John Ashbridge
7 months ago

if you scroll to the bottom on your iPhone on the update screen–do you see iOS 26?

0
Reply
db
db
Reply to  Gary
7 months ago

I wish you would have said that in the article above. I just seen 18.7 and hit download.
My bad for being hasty.

0
Reply

Other articles in the category: Featured stories

Two men walk and chat along a park path, smiling as they converse outdoors.

Tim Cook to Step Down as Apple CEO; John Ternus Named Successor

Apple has announced a major leadership transition as Tim Cook prepares to step down from the top job. John Ternus, currently the head of hardware engineering, will become the company’s new chief executive officer on September 1, 2026. It has been long rumoured that Ternus would replace Cook as CEO, and Apple made the announcement...
Austin Blake
2 weeks ago
3
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x