The iOS 18.5 update also introduces the option to display a banner using the Back Tap function. Back Tap turns the Apple logo on the back of your iPhone into a usable button that can open your camera, take a screenshot and more when you double- or triple-tap it. And with iOS 18.5, you can make your iPhone display a banner whenever you use Back Tap.

Apple's latest iOS 26 update is the biggest overhaul to the iPhone in over a decade, and these features make it worth the wait.

Apple has released iOS 18.6 for iPhone, and iPadOS 18.6 for iPad. The updates include bug fixes and security enhancements, and address an issue with Photos app where the Memory Movies were not

iOS 18.6 is now available for iPhone users. While the iOS 26 beta has stolen the headlines, Apple has also quietly been testing iOS 18.6 for the last six weeks. Here’s what’s new.

In addition to the updated user experience, the iOS 18.6 update carries important bug fixes and security updates. Among them is a fix for an issue in the Photos app which resulted in memory movies from being shared.

What these changes mean for you is that your technology experience may differ drastically depending on which type of phone you buy in the coming years.

Looking at the home screens, the primary difference you'll find is that in iOS 26 the background of the dock and the search option that sits in between the dock and the home screen icons are more transparent and have a sheen to the edges, whereas in iOS 18, these are slightly darker.

It's worth noting that Safari also generates a privacy report while you are browsing generally, informing you how many trackers it has prevented on sites, etc. And iOS 26 will introduce Advanced Fingerprint Protection for all Safari users, to stop sites using multiple identifiers to generate a picture of you as a user as you hop from site to site.