The 5 greatest iOS 26 options I would like Android to repeat ASAP

Properly, Apple has executed it. After releasing iOS 18 in 2024, this 12 months’s iPhone replace jumps up by eight to iOS 26. Not solely is the brand new title vital, however due to Apple’s new Liquid Glass redesign, it’s additionally probably the most drastic iOS updates we’ve seen in years.

Whereas I hope the entire Liquid Glass factor stays far, distant from Android, there are some parts of iOS 26 that I really fairly like. They aren’t drastic options, however they’re issues I’d like to see come to Android — as blasphemous as that will sound.

Considered one of my favourite updates in iOS 26 is extremely unimportant, however I can’t assist however find it irresistible. The lock display clock now routinely adjustments in measurement to take up all of the free house above/across the topic of your lock display picture, and it seamlessly adjustments from image to image.

What I notably love is how, as notifications seem, the clock shrinks slightly bit with every new notification card that pops up, after which expands once more as you swipe them away. It’s a lot extra reactive than something on Android, and whereas it’s purely an aesthetic contact, I believe it seems to be unimaginable — and I’d like to have it on my Android telephone.

For all the AI calling options Google has added to Pixel telephones over time, the Google Telephone app itself seems to be fairly archaic. It’s not poorly designed or tough to make use of, but it surely simply feels outdated and in want of a contemporary coat of paint.

If/when Google refreshes the Telephone app, I’d like to see the corporate take inspiration from what Apple is doing with its Telephone app in iOS 26. As a substitute of remoted pages on your current calls, voicemails, and many others., the brand new Calls web page teams the whole lot collectively in a very intelligent means.

Your favourite contacts are pinned on the high of the app for straightforward entry, whereas the Recents timeline not solely reveals current calls you’ve made or obtained, but additionally any voicemails you’ve got. It places a lot extra data on the display directly, and it’s infinitely higher than Google’s Telephone app — or any of the opposite producer telephone apps on Android right this moment.

As somebody who was on a aircraft final 12 months extra occasions than I can depend, I do know the significance of an excellent digital boarding move. Boarding passes in Apple Pockets and Google Pockets are each strong lately, however iOS 26 is making Apple’s variations even higher.

Now, boarding passes in Apple Pockets embody a couple of further controls not beforehand accessible. My favourite choice is the “Share Flight Tracker” button, which lets you shortly share your flight with a contact, and if they’ve an iPhone, it’ll seem for them as a Reside Exercise. My mother continuously asks me to share my flight information along with her every time I journey, and having one thing like this on Google Pockets boarding passes would make my life ten occasions simpler.

I additionally respect the brand new choices for viewing an airport terminal map or monitoring your baggage instantly out of your boarding move. They’re issues you possibly can already do in different functions, however having them surfaced for you proper by your boarding move simply is sensible.

Going again to the lock display for a second, I completely love that iOS 26 now allows you to see animated album art work from Apple Music on the lock display. Apple Music is stuffed with attractive animations for therefore many albums, and solely with the ability to see them with the Apple Music app open is a rattling disgrace.

Whereas not a mandatory function by any means, it’d make me so completely happy to see Android observe go well with right here, though I think about implementing it could be tougher. Apple Music, Spotify, and Tidal all have animated album covers, and so they all have Android apps, so there can be sources to drag from if Android ever added dwell album art work to the lock display. And hey, perhaps it could encourage YouTube Music to lastly get on the animated album art work practice.

I’m an enormous bank card individual, with money again and factors scattered throughout a number of completely different playing cards and accounts. However as a rule, I by no means assume to redeem my bank card rewards, so that they typically sit unattended for months (if not years) at a time.

iOS 26 introduces the power to immediately redeem your money again/factors when utilizing Apple Pay in individual, which I believe is implausible. Whereas I save my Chase and Amex factors for journey redemptions, it’d be nice to pay for espresso or lunch utilizing my Uncover or US Financial institution money again. It’s a comparatively small function and one I admittedly wouldn’t use on a regular basis, but it surely’d nonetheless be nice to see Google Pockets on Android provide one thing comparable.

As Picasso as soon as stated in a quote Steve Jobs was famously impressed by, “Good artists copy; nice artists steal.” Everybody copies everybody within the cellular tech world, and it’s one thing we’ve seen repeatedly — whether or not it’s Apple copying one thing from Google or vice versa.

Whereas I believe what we’ve seen of iOS 26 to date largely pales compared to Google’s Android 16 replace (particularly, Android 16 QPR1), it’s vital to present Apple credit score for what it bought proper with this 12 months’s iPhone software program. I’m actually not a fan of the whole lot Apple did with iOS 26 (significantly, what’s going on with Liquid Glass), however I’m fairly impressed with the options talked about right here — and I hope to see all of them make their technique to Android sooner reasonably than later.