Apple has released the third beta of iOS 26.1 with a useful security feature

Apple has released the third public beta version of iOS 26.1 on Tuesday, about a month after the company launched iOS 26which was presented Liquid glass, Call screening and more to your device. The iOS 26.1 beta brings some new settings for developer devices and beta testers, as well as a useful security feature that I hope will make it to the final level.

Since this is a beta, I recommend only downloading it on a device other than your primary one. The update may have some bugs, and battery life may be short.

Also, since it’s not the final version, more features may be available on your iPhone when version 26.1 is released. There is no information about when Apple will release iOS 26.1 to the general public.

Here are the features developers and beta testers can try out now, and what could be on your iPhone when Apple officially launches iOS 26.1.

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Automatically install security improvements

Apple is introducing a useful new security setting in iOS 26.1 beta that allows your iPhone to download and install security improvements on its own.

“Background security improvements provide additional protection for your iPhone between software updates,” according to Apple. “In rare cases of compatibility issues, these security improvements may be temporarily removed and then improved in a future software update.”

This menu also allows you to uninstall the security enhancement. To do this, click on the three dots (…) next to the installed update. A new menu will appear with an option Remove and reboot. This can be useful if you feel that improving security is causing you more problems than fixing it.

This feature reminds me of Apple Fast security responses (RSR). The company introduced RSRs in 2023 as a way to quickly deploy security fixes to devices. Although it’s a good idea in theory, Apple hasn’t used RSRs for iOS since its release iOS 16.5.1(c) In July 2023.

This isn’t a flashy setup, but it’s useful and allows you to stay on top of smaller security updates without doing any extra work. Once enabled, this setting takes care of the rest, so you don’t have to check your iPhone every day for new updates for potential security issues.

Local pickup options

Local Capture is an easy way to record high-quality video and audio recordings of video calls on your iPhone, and the iOS 26.1 beta introduces a new settings menu for this feature. The menu gives you the option to select a save location for your recordings, as well as a toggle switch that lets you record audio only when using Local Capture.

“Add Local Capture to Control Center to record your audio and video during a call to save and edit later,” Apple wrote on the Local Capture settings page.

New accessibility option

iOS 26.1 beta also introduces a new option to prefer one-touch actions over sliding actions on your iPhone’s screen. You can find this new option by going to Settings > Accessibility > Touch And scroll to the bottom of the page.

The alarm clock gets another update

One of my favorite little upgrades in iOS 26 was the ability to Change the length of the alarm snooze. In iOS 26.1 beta, Apple is making it harder to accidentally dismiss an alarm. When the alarm goes off in the beta, you now have to swipe to stop it instead of pressing a button. This can be annoying if you’re trying to turn off the alarm quickly, or it can help make sure you’re actually awake before turning off the alarm.

Change songs in Apple Music

Apple Music is getting a number of new features in iOS 26, but the iOS 26.1 beta doesn’t change much about the app or the service. Instead, the update lets you change songs in a new way.

With iOS 26.1 beta, instead of tapping the Next or Back buttons to change songs, you can swipe left or right on the song title from the music player within Apple Music. You can do this when the player takes up your entire screen or when you’re searching Apple Music and the player is small and near the bottom of your screen. The song title seems to move left or right when changing songs now as well.

More languages ​​direct translation

iOS 26.1 beta adds more languages ​​to the new version Direct translation feature. Apple brought this feature to iPhone and AirPods running iOS 26, and the beta version allows developers and beta testers to use it with these languages.

• Chinese (Mandarin, Simplified)
• Chinese (Mandarin, Traditional)
• Italian
• Japanese
• Korean

Apple Intelligence in more languages

If you have an iPhone with Apple Intelligence, the first beta of iOS 26.1 brings AI features to these languages.

• Chinese (Traditional)
• Danish
• Dutch
• Norwegian
• Portuguese (Portugal)
• Swedish
• Turkish
• Vietnamese

Update calendar

This isn’t a huge change, but iOS 26 beta updates the Calendar interface. If you view your calendar in list view, any calendar events you have on a specific day will be colored across the entire bottom of your screen.

New video filter bar

iOS 26.1 beta also brings a minor change to the video scanning bar in Photos. If you go to Photos and watch a video, you’ll notice that the bar at the bottom of your screen is more compact and compact compared to the previous cleaning bar, which had play/pause and volume buttons at the top of the bar.

This is another small change that you may not have noticed before.

These are some of the new features that developers and public beta testers can try out with the third public beta of iOS 26.1. There will likely be more beta versions before the operating system is released to the public, so there is plenty of time for Apple to change these features.

For more iOS news, here My review of iOS 26How to reduce Liquid glass Effects of modernization and how Text scan Works on update. You can also check our website iOS 26 cheat sheet.