On Tuesday, Apple released its fourth developer beta for its next major software update, iOS 26. This brings slight changes to the redesign of liquid glass and the reintroduction of News' AI-powered notification overview.
The rollout arrived just before the iOS 26 public beta. This is scheduled to be released later this week.
Developer Beta aims to give mobile app makers time to test their apps with Apple's new software, so the new operating system is ready to be released in the coming months. Due to consumer demand for early releases, Apple has been offering a public beta for years following the global developer conference in June. This allows iPhone owners to get updated software before a wider global launch, but with fewer stability issues and bugs.
The latest developer beta (iOS 26 Beta 4) mainly reflects what users can expect in the upcoming public beta.
iOS 26 Beta 4 introduces a new “welcome” splash screen when you first update your software, and introduces the introduction screen for a variety of features, such as iOS 26's Revamped Camera App, including an overview and prioritization options for Siri and its AI-powered notifications.
Earlier this year, Apple was forced to suspend a summary of its AI notifications after a BBC complaint. The BBC says the feature misrepresented one of its headings. The AI-driven news summary claimed that Luigi Mangion, the person charged with the murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson, died of suicide, but that was not true. As a result, Apple said a software update will be released to clarify when the text presents an AI summary.
The setup screen for this AI Summary feature, still in beta, contains warning messages under the “News and Entertainment” section. Here, Apple points out that “a summary could change the meaning of the original heading,” and advises users to “verify information.”
Other early adopters of the new beta have also discovered that Apple continues to refine the redesign of the user interface known as Liquid Glass.
Beta 3 pulled back some of the more transparent elements of some of the apps, but Beta 4 turns things around again. Testers have pointed out updates to apps such as the App Store, Photos and Apple Music, noting that the notification center also has dynamic shades added when scrolling.
iOS 26 Beta 4 brings you more visually comfortable changes when viewing notifications.
Now the wallpaper will be darkened when you enter the notification center. pic.twitter.com/uap1fw7rvq
– Alvin (@sondesix) July 22, 2025
The updated software includes new dynamic wallpapers and new carplay wallpapers that change color.
The Beta 4 release notes were not published on Apple's developer website at the time of publication, so much more could be discovered, especially in terms of fixing minor bugs and improving performance.
In addition to today's release, Apple has also announced newer versions of other betas, including the iPados 26 Beta 4, Macos 26 Beta 4, Watchos 26 Beta 4, TVOS 26 Beta 4, Visionos 26 Beta 4, and Xcode 26 Beta 4.