All the Most Important New Features and Changes in IOS 26 Beta 5
Apple released the fifth developer beta of iOS 26 this week. It comes just under two weeks after the first public beta of the update , so public testers can expect a second public beta to be released soon. As with all iOS beta testing cycles, developers get a beta first, followed by a public beta shortly after.
The Beta 5 developer build (which will be similar to the public Beta 2 build) is essentially an aesthetic update: many of the changes are about the way iOS looks and functions, rather than features that add new functionality to your iPhone. Still, it’s an interesting glimpse into the thinking of Apple’s development team as they continue to test and refine the next major iOS update ahead of its official launch this fall.
Here’s what’s new:
“Classic mode” for the camera
In the Camera app settings page, you can now find a new toggle called “Toggle Classic Mode.” However, this doesn’t bring back the Camera app from iOS 18. Instead, when enabled, the scroll direction when switching camera modes is reversed. Apple has long provided the ability to switch the scroll direction for your Mac’s mouse or trackpad , but if I’m not mistaken, this is the first time you can choose the scroll direction of an element in a specific iOS app.
I’m not a beta tester for iOS 26, so I didn’t think it was that big of a deal. But this X post discussing the change has over 1,500 likes, so I’m guessing there are a lot of testers out there.
The Select button returns to Mail
The Select button in the Mail app lets you quickly enter Select mode to start sorting through your inbox. Apple’s engineers may have felt the button was redundant, since you can select messages even faster by swiping with two fingers , since the Select button is hidden in the ••• menu in the Mail app in iOS 26.
That changes with beta 5: Select is back, and right where you’d expect it to be in iOS 18.6. Apple may change course in future betas, but for now it’s here.
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New animations
Once you update your iPhone to the latest beta, you’ll immediately notice a new UI change: You can now swipe up on the lock screen to reveal the passcode entry screen, which has a new wiggling animation:
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A similar animation is present in the Control Center when turning pages:
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Updated Low Battery Alert for Dynamic Island
If you have an iPhone with Dynamic Island, you’ll see a small pop-up notification when your battery reaches 20 percent. You can tap and hold this notification to get a shortcut to turn on Low Power Mode, but you won’t notice it just by looking at the initial notification.
In beta 5, Apple increased the size of this notification, added instructions to tap the notification to turn on power saving mode, and updated the low battery icon.
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New AirDrop icon
iOS 26 beta 5 updates the AirPlay icon to better reflect Apple’s new design language:
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New Macintosh HD Icon
This isn’t technically iOS 26, but I have to mention it: Apple’s fifth beta of macOS 26 is replacing the classic Macintosh HD icon. The new icon resembles an SSD, the type of storage that’s been in most Macs for over a decade. The old icon, which resembled a spinning hard drive, is iconic but not entirely accurate, since Apple hasn’t sold Macs with that type of storage in a long time.
Still, the old icon is a macOS classic, and the new one is, well, not so classic. I might like it, but I wouldn’t mind if Apple gave it a little more polish, like the Finder icon .
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If you’re not already using the iOS 26 developer beta
You can test these changes and all the new features in iOS 26 by installing iOS 26 beta 5 on your iPhone right now . However, I don’t recommend it. It’s still a developer beta, intended for software developers. Anyone can sign up for an Apple developer account to test it for free, but doing so risks introducing bugs and other glitches that Apple hasn’t yet discovered.
The public beta, on the other hand, is released only after Apple has confirmed that the developer beta does not contain any serious issues that could affect the wider user base. There is still a risk of instability, which is why I don’t run betas on my personal devices, but it is less risky, so if you are going to try the beta, I would recommend it over the developer version.