iOS 26 Includes These Five Smaller Features You Might Have Missed

by

While the dust is beginning to settle on the first iOS 26 beta, we continue to take a closer look at new features coming with the update.

iOS 26 on Three iPhones
Below, we recap five smaller changes that you might have missed.

Emoji Game

apple news plus emoji game
Apple News+ subscribers in the U.S. and Canada can play a new Emoji Game, which tasks players with completing words and phrases with emoji.

This is the fifth game that is available with an Apple News+ subscription. The others are Crossword, Crossword Mini, Quartiles, and Sudoku.

Weather via Satellite

iPhone Satellite Feature
iOS 26 will offer Weather via satellite, allowing you to view up-to-date weather forecast information while outside of Wi-Fi or cellular range.

This feature is referenced within the code for the first iOS 26 beta, according to MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris, but it is not live yet.

Look for this feature to be enabled in a later iOS 26 beta version.

Custom Ringtones

Use as Ringtone
iOS 26 allows you to set custom ringtones on the iPhone without using the GarageBand app.

To set a custom ringtone on iOS 26, open the Files app and tap on an MP3 or M4A audio file that is less than 30 seconds long. Next, tap on the share button in the bottom-right corner of the screen, tap on More, and tap on Use as Ringtone. Then, that audio file will be listed as a ringtone option in the Settings app under Sounds & Haptics → Ringtone.

Apple continues to sell 30-second song ringtones for $1.29 each through the iTunes Store app.

Digital Passport

ios 26 digital id passport wallet
iOS 26 lets you create a digital version of your U.S. passport on your iPhone.

After creating a Digital ID in the Apple Wallet app, based on your U.S. passport, you can present it in person at select TSA checkpoints for identity verification purposes during domestic travel. However, Apple says it is not a replacement for a physical passport, and it cannot be used for international travel and border crossing purposes.

Apple says the Digital ID feature is secure, private, and compliant with REAL ID.

The passport-based Digital ID can also be used for age and identity verification in apps, online, and in stores, according to Apple.

'Select' in Messages

Messages Select
A new "Select" option in the Messages app on iOS 26 lets you select and copy a portion of text within a message bubble in a conversation.

On earlier iOS versions, you can only copy an entire message bubble.

Related Roundups: iOS 26, iPadOS 26
Related Forum: iOS 26

Popular Stories

iOS 26

iOS 26.1 Coming Soon: New Features for Your iPhone and Release Date

Monday October 27, 2025 7:55 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 26.1 update includes a handful of new features and changes for iPhones, including a toggle for changing the appearance of the Liquid Glass design, "slide to stop" for alarms in the Clock app, and more. Below, we outline key details about iOS 26.1. Release Date Given that Apple has yet to seed an iOS 26.1 Release Candidate, which is typically the final beta version, the...
Read Full Article
iOS 26

6 New Things Your iPhone Can Do in iOS 26.1

Wednesday October 29, 2025 4:22 am PDT by
Apple is about to drop iOS 26.1, the first major point release since iOS 26 was rolled out in September, and there are at least six notable changes and improvements to look forward to. We've rounded them up below. Apple has already provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of iOS 26.1, which means Apple will likely roll out the update to all compatible...
Read Full Article • 57 comments
maxresdefault

Apple TV 4K Could Still Launch Before 2025 Ends: All the Rumored Features

Monday October 27, 2025 4:51 pm PDT by
Apple is designing an updated version of the Apple TV 4K, and rumors suggest that it could come out sometime in the next couple of months. We're not expecting a major overhaul with design changes, but even a simple chip upgrade will bring major improvements to Apple's set-top box. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more videos. We've rounded up all the latest Apple TV rumors. ...
Read Full Article • 158 comments
iOS 26

Apple Seeds iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, and macOS Tahoe 26.1 Release Candidates

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:07 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate versions of upcoming iOS 26.1, iPadOS 26.1, macOS Tahoe 26.1, tvOS 26.1, watchOS 26.1, and visionOS 26.1 updates for testing purposes. The RCs betas come a week after Apple released the fourth betas. The new betas can be downloaded from the Settings app on a compatible device by going to General > Software...
Read Full Article • 64 comments
M6 MacBook Pro Feature 1

M6 MacBook Pro: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Monday October 27, 2025 9:15 am PDT by
Apple this month refreshed the 14-inch MacBook Pro base model with its new M5 chip, and higher-end 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models with M5 Pro and M5 Max chips are expected to follow in early 2026. However, these machines will represent the final update to the current design, with Apple reportedly developing a completely new version of the MacBook Pro packed with next-generation hardware...
Read Full Article • 146 comments
iPhone 17 Pro Cosmic Orange

8 Reasons to Wait for Next Year's iPhone 18 Pro

Thursday October 30, 2025 4:42 am PDT by
Apple's iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models at the same time, which is why we often get rumored features months ahead of launch. The iPhone 18 series is no different, and we already have a good idea of what to expect for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone 18 Pro Max. One thing worth...
Read Full Article • 111 comments
macos tahoe

Here Are Apple's Release Notes for macOS Tahoe 26.1

Tuesday October 28, 2025 1:21 pm PDT by
Apple today provided developers and public beta testers with the release candidate version of macOS Tahoe 26.1, which means the update will likely see a public launch next week. The release candidate includes notes on what's in the update, so we have a full picture of the new features that Apple has included. macOS Tahoe 26.1 adds AutoMix support over AirPlay, improved FaceTime audio...
Read Full Article • 64 comments
iPhone Car Key Kia

Another Vehicle Brand Gaining iPhone Car Keys Support

Tuesday October 28, 2025 5:27 am PDT by
Apple is preparing to bring support for its digital car key feature to Jetour vehicles, according to evidence uncovered on Apple's backend by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris. Introduced in 2022, Car Keys allows an iPhone or Apple Watch to unlock a vehicle through the Wallet app. A digital version of a car key is stored in Wallet, and unlocking can be done by holding an Apple Watch or...
Read Full Article • 15 comments
ipad mini 7 feature blue

OLED iPad Mini: Release Date, Pricing, and What to Expect

Wednesday October 29, 2025 7:13 am PDT by
Rumors are stoking excitement for the next-generation iPad mini that Apple is reportedly close to launching. So what should we expect from the successor to the iPad mini 7 that Apple released over a year ago? Read on to find out. Processor and Performance Apple is working on a next-generation version of the iPad mini (codename J510/J511) that features the A19 Pro chip, according to...
Read Full Article • 65 comments

Top Rated Comments

jclardy Avatar
jclardy
19 weeks ago
Select in messages is huge, so annoying when you are trying to grab out a piece of text and have to either copy the entire thing and use notes, or screenshot and use OCR to do text selection.
Score: 18 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Unami Avatar
Unami
19 weeks ago

Custom ring tones and system tones have been an option on iOS since version 4 or 5.

I always made the .m4r files then drop them on my phone via iTunes or Finder, and they show up.
Sure, but it has still been cumbersome as hell (and we all know, why):
Shorten a song to below 30sec (below 20, iirc, for message sounds. Save as m4a. Rename to .m4r. Drop to iphone via itunes. And you have to know all that, and be technical-minded. Everytime I told that to "normal" people, they didn't bother.

Compare that to my old sony-ericcson dumbphone from 2003: click options on any .mp3 on your sd-card, no matter the length. Select: use as ringtone.
Score: 13 Votes (Like | Disagree)
sos47 Avatar
sos47
19 weeks ago
Smaller features are nice.
Smaller iPhones are nicer.
Score: 12 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Corpuscle Avatar
Corpuscle
19 weeks ago

Custom ringtone is the one feature new in iOS 26 that would convince me to upgrade, however, because of performance degradation observed in iOS 18.x I will keep my iPhone 11 Pro Max on iOS 17.7

You will still get the best performance with the iOS version designed for your device, iOS 18 for iPhone 16, iOS 15 for iPhone 13, etc.
Not at all true!!
Score: 10 Votes (Like | Disagree)
darkpaw Avatar
darkpaw
19 weeks ago
I don't mind that users not in the US and Canada don't get those games in their News+ subscriptions, but if we're paying the same for less content we should get a discount or something else to make up the difference.

LinkedIn manages to give everyone five daily puzzles and you don't even have to be a paying subscriber to access them.
Score: 7 Votes (Like | Disagree)
WarmWinterHat Avatar
WarmWinterHat
19 weeks ago

Custom ringtone is the one feature new in iOS 26 that would convince me to upgrade, however, because of performance degradation observed in iOS 18.x I will keep my iPhone 11 Pro Max on iOS 17.7

You will still get the best performance with the iOS version designed for your device, iOS 18 for iPhone 16, iOS 15 for iPhone 13, etc.
Custom ring tones and system tones have been an option on iOS since version 4 or 5.

I always made the .m4r files then drop them on my phone via iTunes or Finder, and they show up.
Score: 6 Votes (Like | Disagree)
Read All Comments