Big news for iPhone users: Apple is rolling out iOS 26.1 beta 3! This marks the latest developer preview of the first major update to the iOS 26 operating system. If you’ve been eagerly following Apple’s software releases, this is your chance to see what’s coming next.
Apple is expected to launch iOS 26.1 for the general public around late October or early November. This update brings a variety of enhancements and refinements to the system, and some of them are particularly exciting for anyone who uses Apple devices across languages.
One of the headline features in iOS 26.1 is the expanded support for Apple Intelligence. This AI-driven assistant can now handle a wider range of languages, including Chinese (traditional), Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese (Portugal), Swedish, Turkish, and Vietnamese. This is a major step in making Apple devices more accessible and globally friendly.
But here’s where it gets controversial: AirPods Live Translation, a feature that originally launched with iOS 26 on AirPods Pro 2, AirPods Pro 3, and AirPods 4, is now adding support for Chinese (Mandarin, both simplified and traditional), Italian, Japanese, and Korean. Previously, it only supported US and UK English, French, German, Portuguese (Brazil), and Spanish (Spain). Some users are debating whether Apple should have included these languages from day one or if this gradual rollout makes sense.
Beyond language updates, iOS 26.1 also brings practical improvements. Alarms now feature a Slide to Unlock interface, making it harder to dismiss them by accident—a small but significant change for anyone who struggles with oversleeping. The Music app is getting more intuitive controls, with a new swipe gesture that lets you change songs effortlessly. And there are additional tweaks across the system that enhance overall usability.
And this is the part most people miss: each beta version can reveal subtle refinements that hint at Apple’s longer-term plans for iOS. We’ll be testing iOS 26.1 beta 3 on our devices and will provide updates on any new features or hidden changes we uncover.
What do you think? Are these language expansions and interface tweaks enough to make iOS 26.1 a must-have update, or should Apple be doing more? Share your thoughts in the comments—we’d love to hear your take on this evolving platform.
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