iOS 26.2 Official Release Delayed

Early this morning, Apple pushed the second release candidate (RC2) of iOS 26.2 to iPhones, which indicates that the first release candidate was found to have some bugs and issues.

It is reported that iOS 26.2 RC1 was officially rolled out last Tuesday, exactly one week ago. Under normal circumstances, today’s build would have been released as the official version for all compatible iPhones.

However, to ensure user experience and system security, Apple chose to delay the official rollout and instead prioritize updating the build to fix these hidden problems. As usual, RC2 is mainly for bug fixes and does not introduce new features, with highlights remaining consistent with the previous version.

Details are as follows:

Lock Screen

• New Liquid Glass slider: When selecting the “Glass” option, users can adjust the clock display effect via a slider, ranging from “almost completely transparent” to “frosted texture.”
• Independent “Solid” toggle retained: Allows disabling the liquid glass effect for the clock, switching to a more opaque style, while still supporting clock color customization.

Sleep Scoring

• Optimized scoring ranges to better reflect users’ actual post‑sleep experience:
  • Very Low: 0–40 (previously 0–29)
  • Low: 41–60 (previously 30–49)
  • Moderate: 61–80 (previously 50–69)
  • High: 81–95 (previously 70–89)
  • Very High: 96–100 (previously 90–100)
• Scoring basis: sleep duration (50 points), bedtime (30 points), nighttime interruptions (20 points), total 100 points. Viewable in the iPhone Health app, supported on all Apple Watch models compatible with watchOS 26.2.

Passwords

• New option in the Passwords app “Settings” section: manage websites where passwords are not saved upon login, enabling unified control over password storage rules.

AirPods Real‑Time Translation (EU)

• Feature now available in the EU for the first time, previously delayed due to compliance work with the Digital Markets Act.
• Supported devices: AirPods Pro 3, AirPods Pro 2, AirPods 4 with Active Noise Cancellation (ANC).
• Supported languages: English, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, Simplified/Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean.

Accessibility & Safety

• Alert flash: In Settings → Accessibility, a new “Screen Flash” option is added (previously only supported rear LED). Users can choose “Screen only” or “Screen + LED simultaneously.”
• Enhanced safety alerts: New module in Settings → Notifications, allowing management of “Earthquake alerts, emergency threat alerts,” with an option to enable “location‑optimized alert delivery” for improved reliability.

Other Updates

• Level app adds liquid glass design.
• CarPlay settings now allow disabling fixed message conversations, preventing automatic sync of iPhone messages for stronger privacy.
• Suspected new support for Logitech Muse device with Apple Vision Pro.