Apple’s iOS 26 comes with the new Liquid Glass design and several new Apple Intelligence features. But the hidden features scattered throughout are arguably more exciting. After using iOS 26 for over a week, here are some small but useful features I’ve come across.
8Set Your Own Custom Snooze Time for Alarms
If you, like me, rely on setting multiple alarms in the morning, you know Apple’s default Clock app has long used 9 minutes as the only snooze timing option. The inability to change this is frustrating, since most Android competitors have offered the ability to change the snooze period for years.
With iOS 26, Apple is finally letting you change the snooze duration between alarms. In iOS 26, you can change snooze periods in the Clock app to anywhere from 1 to 15 minutes. The default remains at 9 minutes, but you can easily change it by tapping and selecting your preferred time.
7Check Call History for Just One Contact
Before iOS 18, the iPhone only showed your most recent 100 calls in the Phone app. With iOS 18, Apple raised this limit so the device could store up to 1,000 call records. Now with iOS 26, call history is getting another upgrade: you can now look up the call history of a specific contact in the Phone app.
To do this, select a particular contact in the Phone app and tap theCall Historyoption. iOS will then display the full call history of that specific contact.
6Tap Recent Contacts to Instantly Call Them
Until now, tapping a recent call in the Phone app opened the contact information screen. To make a call, you had to then tap thecallorvideo callbutton in the recent history on the right, which was frustrating due to the small touch target.
Now, you’re able to change this and instantly start a call when tapping a call history entry. To enable this, go toSettings > Phoneand turn onTap Recents to Call. Once enabled, tapping a recent entry in your call history will place a call to that contact—no interim steps needed.
7 iOS 26 Features You’ll Actually Want to Use
The very best of iOS 26.
5Feel Subtle Vibrations When Calls Connect or End
One of the most annoying historical shortcomings of the iPhone is that it didn’t provide any feedback when the person on the other end picked up the call, or when the call ended. Android phones from OnePlus and Samsung have offered this feature for quite some time, and with iOS 26, Apple is finally adding it to the iPhone.
Now, whenever someone picks up or cuts the call, your iPhone gives subtle feedback that the call is connected or disconnected. This is quite helpful when you’re busy with something else during the call.
4Charging Time Now Shows on Your Lock Screen
Most new iPhone models support fast charging, but the iPhone still doesn’t show how long it’ll take to fully charge. With iOS 26, Apple is adding this feature.
Now, whenever you connect your iPhone to charge, a new lock screen label will show the time it’ll take tocharge your phone to 80%. This small but helpful addition can make it easier to plan your phone’s usage around quick top-ups.
3Adaptive Power Mode Controls iPhone’s Battery Usage Automatically
Another minor but useful addition to iOS 26’s battery section is the newPower Modeoption. Your iPhone now lets you disableAdaptive Power Mode, which automatically adjusts battery usage when more resources are in use—making small tweaks like dimming the display or letting some activities take a bit longer.
You can now turn this off inBattery > Power Mode > Adaptive Power, so your iPhone delivers the best performance at every moment.
2Your iPhone Will Warn You About a Dirty Camera Lens
We’ve all been there: you click a photo and later realize it’s allsmudgy because your camera lens wasn’t clean. With iOS 26, Apple has added a pop-up label in the Camera app when your lens is dirty and needs cleaning. This has already saved me several times.
1Change Podcast Playback Speeds Easily
Apple updated a lot of apps with iOS 26,including Apple Music, Messages, and even the Phone app. Another app with changes that largely went under the radar is Podcasts.
While Apple Podcasts is easily one of the best podcast apps, it lacks some features of competitors like Spotify or YouTube Music. With iOS 26, Apple is finally adding a feature that lets you change podcast playback speed with just a few taps.
These are just some of the lesser-known features coming to your iPhone with iOS 26. Apple might add more during the beta testing stage, but for now, these are the most notable tweaks. However, it’s worth being aware thatnot all iOS 26 features may be available on your iPhone, since Apple is limiting some to newer models only.
