Tucked along the picturesque Zeravshan River in the rocky mountains of northwestern Tajikistan lies the ruins of a forgotten, ancient palace. The monumental royal complex once presided over a bustling city along the Silk Road, not far from modern Tajikistan’s border with Uzbekistan. In its heyday, the palace’s walls were covered with colorful murals and intricate wooden carvings, most of which have been lost to time—until now.

A study recently published in the academic journal Antiquity recreates and analyzes one of palace’s most surprising murals. The mural shows four priests accompanying a young boy to a fire altar and is unlike anything that has been previously discovered. For the archeologists in this new study, the depiction raises far more questions than answers. 

For centuries, the palace was an impressive seat of power of Sogdiana, the homeland of an ancient Iranian people known as the Sogdians. One of the earliest mentions of Sogdiana is in the fifth century BCE, when the land was a territory of one of the world’s first empires—the Achaemenid Persian Empire. During the early fourth century BCE, Alexander the Great conquered Sogdiana, absorbing the land into his own massive, but short-lived empire.

Seven hundred years after Alexander, the Sogdians reached their zenith. Capitalizing on their strategic location between Asia and Europe, they became skilled merchants, trading in Indian gemstones, Tibetan musk, and luxurious furs from the Asian steppes during the fourth century CE. 

The Sogdian golden age persisted until the eighth century CE, when Islamic forces took control of much of the region. Some Sogdians converted to Islam, while others assimilated into Chinese culture or other civilizations. Within several centuries, the Sogdians had largely lost their distinct cultural identity. 

While much of Sogdian culture may be lost to time, some of their structures still stand, including the ruins of an ornate palace hidden among northwestern Tajikistan’s dry, rocky terrain. Known as the Royal Palace at Sanjar-Shar, its remains are about seven miles east of modern-day Panjakent. 

Built sometime in the fifth century CE, the palace was a massive complex built to impress. It had numerous, grand reception halls arranged asymmetrically along a central T-shaped corridor, a layout that mirrors other official Sogdian residences. Visitors to the ancient palace would’ve been greeted by a treasure trove of goods from across the ancient world, from ornate Chinese mirrors to gilded belt buckles. 

But some 300 years after its construction, the illustrious palace burned to the ground. Peasants moved into the ruins, using the once-noble palace as utilitarian storage space for at least another century.

In the late 1940s, Soviet archaeologists began excavating the Royal Palace at Sanjar-Shar. In the decades since, numerous excavations have taken place at the site. Archaeologists have found a wealth of goods that once decorated the lavish residence, including numerous fragments of wall murals. 

A bright blue lotus flower once adorned the palace’s central T-shaped corridor. Nearby, a hunting scene graced the walls of a smaller square room. The walls of a great rectangular hall displayed mounted cavalry riding alongside demonic figures with “bulging eyes and raised eyebrows,” the study’s lead author, archaeologist Michael Shenkar of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, writes.

In the same room as the big-eyed demons and horseriders, perhaps the most puzzling mural fragments were discovered in 2022 and 2023. Reconstructed for the first time by Shenkar and his team, the fragments show four priests, and possibly a small child, approaching a stationary fire altar. Depictions like these have only ever been found on ossuaries (chambers for storing human remains), and even then, those paintings usually only show two priests. 

The priest at the front of the mural’s procession was “evidently the most significant,” but he’s “also the most poorly preserved,” Shenkar writes. “He was likely depicted kneeling on both knees, raising a small altar towards the larger, stationary one—a common posture in Sogdian art, often showing worshippers offering incense on a portable incense burner.” 

However, offerings like these were usually made to painted or sculpted deities, not to fire altars. Shenkar and others are still figuring out what exactly the connection is between the incense offering and fire worship.

Meanwhile, “the second and third figures in the procession likely held objects,” but what exactly they held remains a mystery. The third figure also wears a padām, “a ritual mouth cover, still in use today by Zoroastrian priests,” Shenkar writes. “The second figure may also have worn a padām, while the ribbon extending from the back of his neck is an unusual feature, as such ribbons in Sogdian art typically accompany deities and kings.” 

Is the priest some sort of deity or king, then? Perhaps this specific priest held a particularly important position of power? Scholars don’t know. “The fire-worship scene is a rare addition to Sogdian visual culture,” Shenkar writes, offering unparalleled insights into Sogdian society on the eve of their downfall. 

Today, scholars can only hope that the Sogdians have left more clues to unravel this mysterious mural and other secrets of the illustrious Royal Palace at Sanjar-Shar.

The post Lost mural reveals ancient Silk Road fire ritual appeared first on Popular Science.

It’s that time of year again! Open up the weather radar and you might see what looks like precipitation when it’s not raining at all. Those bright green spots are often birds during their annual fall migration–and you can follow along.

According to BirdCast, 262 million birds are predicted to hit the skies tonight alone. The bird tracking and forecasting tool helps scientists and citizen scientists alike monitor bird populations as they travel. For tonight, the largest concentrations are expected to be in the Midwest and parts of the southeastern United States.

It’s generally pretty simple: food and nesting locations. They move away from areas with lower or decreasing resources and into areas where resources are higher or increasing. 

In the Northern Hemisphere, they tend to migrate north during the spring, when insect populations are increasing, plants are budding, and more nesting locations are available. 

During the late summer and early fall, the availability of insects and other food drops. Birds will then move south for the winter. According to Cornell Ornithology, getting out of the cold is a motivating factor for many species, but some like hummingbirds can survive freezing temperatures as long as they have enough food.

There are over 800 known species of birds in North America and not all of them migrate alike–or at all. Ornithologists use the distances that they travel to group them into four main migrant groups.

Permanent residents like northern cardinals and black-capped chickadees do not migrate at all. These birds can find adequate supplies of food all year and do not need to head south. 

Short-distance migrants make relatively small movements. They may move from a higher elevation down a mountainside towards a lower elevation.  The American robin and red-winged blackbird are considered short-distance migrants.

Medium-distance migrants generally fly only a few hundred miles. For example, they may breed in the Northeast and then spend the winter in the Southeast. Many types of warblers, the western tanager, and the snow bunting are all considered medium-distance.

Long-distance migrants are in it for the long haul, with some traveling upwards of 8,000 miles.  They typically move from their breeding spaces in the United States and Canada, south to their wintering grounds in Central and South America. The ruby-throated hummingbird takes a non-stop journey of up to 500 miles across the Gulf of Mexico during their biannual migration. Globally speaking, the Arctic tern has the longest migration with some from the Netherlands flying over 50,000 miles in one year. 

BirdCast uses National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration weather data (which detects large groups of them) and weather forecasts to predict nightly migration hotspots. Every night, the live map will give you an idea of how many birds will be in the air across the country. The brighter and warmer colors mean more birds.

BirdCast’s developers recommend starting with their three-day forecast maps. These offer a good nationwide view of where the birds are expected to take off a few hours after sunset.

For more location-specific data, you can use the Migration Dashboard. This will show how many birds crossed a county the previous night based on radar. If you want to know which species might be traveling through your area, the dashboard is integrated with Cornell’s eBird database, which indicates common bird sightings from the same time in previous years.

Some simple ways to help avians include making your windows safer by adding a film or break up reflections that keep birds from colliding with the glass, keeping cats indoors, planting native plants, and avoiding pesticide use. 

You can also turn off all excess outdoor lights and use motion-sensored lighting systems, especially during the spring and fall migration seasons. 

The post 262 million birds forecast to take to the skies tonight appeared first on Popular Science.

Millions of years of evolution have taught some reptiles the importance of the old adage, “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire.” Take the sleepy lizards (Tiliqua rugosus) of Australia. Researchers at Macquarie University found that these small, stubby-tailed reptiles become agitated after catching a whiff of something burning. But as they explain in their study recently published in the journal Biology Letters, there are still limits to the animals’ sensory cues.

The theory that certain reptiles innately recognize the dangers associated with smoke is supported by years of anecdotal evidence. One of the odder examples occurred completely by chance at the Audubon Zoo in New Orleans. After staffers accidentally burned their lunch, they noticed that the facility’s sleepy lizards started frantically tasting the circulating air with their tongues. Their agitation was so severe that the lizards even attempted to escape their enclosures. Meanwhile, other nearby reptile species remained calm despite the smell.

What made the incident even more striking was that most of Audubon Zoo’s sleepy lizards were bred in captivity, implying the reaction was an innate response instead of learned behavior. Since then, multiple studies have explored potential evolutionary explanations to the responses. But reptiles aren’t the only animals documented to possess a sensitivity to smoke.

“Many animals from fire-prone regions, such as Australia, appear to have this miraculous ability to survive their homes being burned,” Macquarie University animal behavioralist Chris Jolly explained in a statement.

In the case of sleepy lizards, Jolly and colleagues decided to test this direct correlation in a controlled environment. To do so, they safely exposed a group of the reptiles to the scent of smoke and sound of crackling fire separately, then combined together. It soon became clear that the sleepy lizards would flee if they smelled a fire, but did nothing if they simply heard the flames.

“Our study demonstrates that some lizards innately recognize smoke as a cue of approaching fire and respond by running away,” said Jolly.

The theory’s confirmation is particularly significant as climate change continues to increase the frequency and intensity of wildfires in Australia and around the world. A common assumption is that animals caught in these dire emergencies rarely escape harm, when many species already possess lifesaving evolutionary strategies.

This is not to say that wildlife is suited to handle the climate crisis—mountains of evidence clearly show otherwise. But understanding that species like sleepy lizards may have at least some advantages helps inform ongoing conservation efforts.

“As fires become more frequent, intense and unpredictable—including in habitats that rarely burned in the past, like rainforests—we need to know which species can respond to fire cues, and which are most vulnerable,” said Jolly.

The post A zookeeper’s burnt lunch revealed a lizard’s secret survival skill appeared first on Popular Science.

There are plenty of studies that suggest that being out in nature is good for your health, so it makes sense that sleeping beneath the stars would be, too. But if you’re not a person that’s prone to camping, are you missing out? 

“Like most things related to sleep, there’s a lot of personalization involved,” says Dr. Jennifer L. Martin, a spokesperson for the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and former president of its board of directors. “What helps one person sleep well may not work for everyone.” Still, there seems to be real evidence that a night (or three) in nature can help both your body and mind reset.

Unhoused populations aside, Martin believes there are two main reasons why some people feel like they sleep really well outside. The first is that many of the factors that disrupt our rest in a normal sleep environment—things like smart phones, television sets, and laptops—have been removed from the equation. When you’re out in the wilderness things like electricity and good WiFi are typically limited, and you’re in a place that’s “quiet, cool, and comfortable,” she says. “All factors that can benefit sleep.” 

Secondly, people who find themselves sleeping outdoors are often on vacation. “Overall stress levels tend to be lowered,” she says, “which can lead us to be more relaxed and allows us to fall asleep more easily and sleep more soundly.”

There’s also proof that spending time outdoors in general promotes better sleep quality.

Nature can reset our circadian rhythm, the body’s natural 24-hour clock, helping us synchronize our bodies with the natural rise and fall of the sun. This ensures we can maintain healthy wake-sleep cycles.

Why does food by the campfire taste better?

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Can tracking make my sleep worse? The quiet torment of sleep tech.

“Human sleep changed a lot with the advent of artificial lighting,” the kind that comes from electricity, says Martin. Before that, one of our main sources of light exposure beyond the sun was from fire. Although a campfire is still an artificial form of light, the warm yellows and reds of its flames are less disruptive to our wake-sleep cycles than the bright, cool blue lights emitted from computers, TVs, and fluorescent bulbs. 

Disruptive blue wavelengths can wreak havoc on the body’s internal clock, even suppressing the production of melatonin—a hormone that helps regulate our circadian rhythm. By sleeping outdoors we’re limiting those illuminated snooze-disrupters and allowing melatonin to occur naturally while we rest. The morning sunlight then keeps our bodies in balance, cueing up the production of serotonin—the “feel good” hormone—to start the day. 

“Noise, light and temperature—all of these things definitely come into play when you’re sleeping outdoors,” says Martin, “just like when you’re in your home environment.” 

For the best night’s sleep, Martin recommends considering what relaxes you and makes you cozy when planning a night under the stars. If you’re staying in a campground, think about booking a spot that’s removed from roadways, so that you’re not dealing with constant headlights. The sounds of nature can be much more calming than artificial sounds like TV sets and traffic horns, but bring along ear plugs in case noisy neighbors tend to keep you up at night. Check that you have an appropriate sleeping bag and enough layers for adequate warmth, and have a comfortable surface to sleep on. “I bought my son, who’s a big outdoorsman, a really nice sleeping pad [which provides padding and thermal insulation beneath a sleeping bag] for camping,” she says. “He’s been telling me what a difference it makes.” 

The ideal sleeping spot should be flat and level, away from the wind and possible falling branches, and out of the line of water drainage paths. When it comes to getting proper ZZZs, comfort and safety are key. 

“If the thought of sleeping outside is going to stress you out, it sort of counteracts the potential benefits,” says Martin. 

One alternative to spending the night in a tent (or even sleeping in the open air) is glamping, which combines the benefits of being outdoors with many of the comforts of home. Think furnished canvas tents or yurts, proper beds, electricity, and often heating and/or air conditioning. “You can have that experience of sleeping in nature without giving up many of the creature comforts that many people have come to like and enjoy.”

Glamping offers a kind of middle ground for people who aren’t quite ready to ‘rough it’ but want to enjoy the many perks of being out in nature. “You still wake up in the morning and walk out, breathe in fresh air, and see beautiful scenery and trees and all of that good stuff,” Martin explains.

While breathing in outdoor air is generally advantageous, things like wildfires (which can release dangerous smoke from fine particulates) and allergens in the environment may do more harm than good. Whether we’re sleeping outside or getting comfy in our beds, getting a good night’s sleep should be our primary goal, says Martin. 

The benefits of a good night’s sleep are countless. “Getting the right amount of sleep consistently is probably the best way to avoid chronic health problems and to maintain good mental health. It’s really good for immune systems, reduces inflammation, and helps regulate blood pressure.” Our moods are often better, as are our relationships with other people. 

Most adults need seven or more hours of sleep to maintain our physical and mental health. Having a consistent sleeping schedule is also important. “It doesn’t have to be perfect, but you should go to bed within an hour of the same time every night,” says Martin. “You should get up around the same time,” too, give or take an hour.

Add in the many health benefits associated with being outdoors, and it’s a win-win situation. 

“Spending time in nature is just so good for us in general,” says Martin. 

Bedding down under the stars not only parlays these benefits, but it also allows us to get our bodies and minds back in balance. 

This story is part of Popular Science’s Ask Us Anything series, where we answer your most outlandish, mind-burning questions, from the ordinary to the off-the-wall. Have something you’ve always wanted to know? Ask us.

The post Is sleeping outside good for you? Science has a clear answer. appeared first on Popular Science.

The New York City ferry system is eyeing an expansion of the system as more people use the service, which saw a record ridership of over 1 million boardings in August. 

As Sri Taylor explains in Bloomberg CityLab, “Best known for its ferries gliding in and out of Manhattan, the 38-fleet system was used by more than 7.4 million travelers in 2024 on routes that cover 70 nautical miles to all five boroughs.” As a result, the municipal subsidy per passenger has dropped from $13 per passenger in 2022 to $8.55 in 2024. 

According to Taylor, “The figures come a few months after NYC Ferry officials proposed major route changes. The request includes splitting the East River route into two, combining the Soundview and Rockaway routes to get riders to Midtown and East 90th Street and adding connections on Staten Island’s route.” Officials say the changes could reduce the subsidy even further and make the system a convenient option for more commuters.

The NYC Ferry is one of several water transit systems in the region, where the Staten Island Ferry and the NY Waterway also provide services to parts of New York City and New Jersey. “A finalized plan for the ferries’ systemwide reconfiguration is set to be released this fall and implemented later this year, according to the release.”

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• Liquid Glass - ‌watchOS 26‌ adopts Liquid Glass, with translucent, glass-like buttons and interface elements. It's most visible with select watch faces, the Smart Stack, and Control Center.


• Control Center - Control Center is customizable, and you can rearrange it and add third-party app controls. If you don't like your changes, you can revert to the original design.


• Smart Stack - The Smart Stack uses a new prediction algorithm and it will prompt you if there is a suggestion that's immediately useful.


• Widgets - Widgets in the Smart Stack are customizable, so you can rearrange them to show what's most important to you first. Third-party apps are supported.

• Wrist Flick - There's a wrist flick gesture for things like silencing incoming calls and dismissing notifications one-handed.

• Hypertension Notifications - ‌watchOS 26‌ adds hypertension notifications based on heart rate, letting you know if high blood pressure is detected over time. It's available on the Series 9 and later and Apple Watch Ultra 2 and later.


• Sleep Score - Sleep Score gives you a number-based evaluation of your sleep quality. It takes into account sleep duration, the number of times you woke up in the night, and when you went to bed.

• Workout Buddy - There's an AI-powered Workout Buddy that motivates you during workouts and provides helpful insights.


• Workout app - Apple redesigned the Workout app with an updated layout that makes options like custom workout, Workout Buddy, and Pacer easier to get to.


• Media - There's an Autoplay Media option that will automatically play music that matches your workout. You can also select your own media to have autoplay when a workout is started.

• Smart Actions - The Messages app can suggest smart actions like location sharing, providing an address, and more based on the context of a text.


• Smart Replies - Smart replies have been improved so you should get more relevant one-tap responses for incoming messages.


• Live Translation - The Messages app supports Live Translation, so incoming texts in another language can be translated to your language.


• Backgrounds - Personalized backgrounds that you create for conversations on iPhone sync to the watch.

• Call Screening - Call Screening asks callers for more information before your phone or Apple Watch rings.


• Hold Assist - You can use the Hold Assist feature on the Apple Watch. It waits on the line for you so you can do other things.

• Photos - The Photos watch face uses Liquid Glass for the time, and the size and location of the time adjust based on the image that's being displayed. The shuffle option also uses Featured content from ‌Photos‌.


• Flow - Flow is a watch face designed for Liquid Glass. It features an orb of color with Liquid Glass numbers.


• Exactograph - Exactograph has hour, minute, and second dials for precise time keeping. If you tap on the face, it zooms in on the minutes and seconds dials so you can measure in even smaller increments of time.


• Waypoint - Waypoint is only for the Apple Watch Ultra, but it shows points of interest in relation to where you are.


• Hermes - There's a Hermes Faubourg Party watch face for Hermes watches. It displays different animations based on the time of day.


• Ticking Seconds - More watch faces support the 1Hz refresh rate on the Apple Watch Series 10 and later, showing a ticking second hand even when your wrist is down.


• Gallery - The watch face gallery has a new design that groups faces into collections.

• Volume Adjustment - The volume of incoming calls and notifications adjusts based on the ambient sound around you. So if you're in a quiet room, your watch won't have a super loud ring.


• Live Listen - When using Live Listen on a connected ‌iPhone‌, a transcript of what's being said is displayed on the watch.


• Notes - The Notes app is available on the Apple Watch, so you can view existing notes and create new ones.

A new 3D map can take you 4,000 light years from the sun–without leaving Earth. This first-of-its kind project from the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Gaia mission encompasses over 44 million stars, massive plumes of ionized dust, and regions of immense cosmic energy. But as large as the map already is, its designers are already planning to expand it even further.

It’s relatively simple enough to see what the Milky Way looks like from Earth. But with a diameter of around 100,000 light-years, it’s unlikely that humanity will glimpse the galaxy from an outside perspective anytime soon. However, accurately envisioning what it looks like isn’t impossible. From July 2014  to March 2025, the Gaia mission mapped our cosmic neighborhood by surveying every detectable star and nebula. Now, scientists have utilized Gaia’s galactic data to create the most accurate 3D map of its kind. But it wasn’t as simple as pinpointing all those stars.

Stellar nurseries are extremely difficult to chart because their stars are generally obscured by dense clouds of dust and gas. At the same time, astronomers can utilize that same murkiness to their advantage. Gaia’s space observatory was capable of measuring stellar positions by way of the “extinction” of stars. In this case, “extinction” refers to the amount of light that is blocked by all that cosmic dust. Once they measured the star’s extinction, the team then rendered those dusty regions into a 3D map which they could chart for ionized hydrogen gas. Areas with higher levels of ionized hydrogen are known as clear indicators for nearby stars.

In addition to 44 million “ordinary” stellar objects, the new map contains 87 O-type stars. These rare, massive cosmic entities are early in their lifespans, but also burn brightly at extremely high temperatures. An O-type star’s UV light emissions are so powerful that they even tear electrons from the hydrogen atoms they hit, creating even more noticeable ionized gas.

“There has never been a model of the distribution of the ionized gas in the local Milky Way that matches other telescope’s observations of the sky so well,” astronomer and study co-author Lewis McCallum said in a statement. “That’s why we are confident that our top-down view and fly-through movies are a good approximation of what these clouds would look like in 3D.”

McCallum and colleagues have already noticed new peculiarities about O stars and the regions in which they are born. Based on additional analysis, it appears that some of the star-forming clouds have broken open, creating a giant cavity that’s being filled by dust and gas.

“This map nicely shows how radiation of massive stars ionizes the surrounding interstellar medium and how dust and gas interact with this radiation,” added astronomer Sasha Zeegers. 

The new map features detailed views of the California Nebula, North American Nebula, Gum Nebula, and the Orion-Eridanus superbubble, but it won’t end there. According to the Gaia team, the plan is to integrate the next dataset into their model currently scheduled to release in December 2026. With that new information, the team believes the map can be expanded even further while including even larger and higher quality data.

The post 44 million Milky Way stars glimmer in galaxy’s largest 3D map appeared first on Popular Science.

• Liquid Glass design that reflects light and refracts what's underneath. It's system wide, with dynamic tab bars and toolbars that morph to provide more tools or let you view more of what's on the screen.


• There are new animations for when accessing the Control Center, Lock Screen, and more.


• Buttons, sliders, switches, and other controls have new animations and a reflective Liquid Glass look.


• App icons have a layered glass look, plus there's an option for clear glass-like icons.


• The Time on the Lock Screen adapts to ‌iPhone‌ wallpaper and notifications, and you can make it larger or smaller.


• Buttons, the keyboard, menus, navigation bars, and other UI elements have a more rounded look.

• Live Translation available for calls and texts in Messages, FaceTime, and Phone.


• In-person Live Translation with AirPods 4, AirPods Pro 2, and AirPods Pro 3.


• Two or more emoji can be mixed together to create a new emoji.


• Customize Genmoji based on people with expressions that show emotion like happy, sad, and more.


• You can change the hairstyle of ‌Genmoji‌ created based on people from your Photos Library.


• Customize Image Playground creations with expressions and emotion using emoji.


• Generate images in any style using ChatGPT.


• When you ask Siri for help with a device, ‌Siri‌ knows on-screen and on-device context, such as settings, model, and software.


• ‌Siri‌ can take action on responses from ChatGPT, such as playing a song in Apple Music when you ask ChatGPT for recommendations.


• The ‌Siri‌ ChatGPT integration feature now uses GPT-5 instead of GPT-4.

• Ask questions about what's on your screen, from finding products to figuring out what you're looking at. It uses the screenshot interface.


• Summarize, read aloud, or translate text on your screen.


• Add an event to your Calendar from your screen.


• Visual Intelligence can identify more types of objects, including art, books, landmarks, and sculptures.

• AutoMix can smoothly transition from one song to the next using time stretching and beat matching. Apple says it's like a DJ in your pocket.


• Your favorite albums, songs, and playlists can be pinned to the top of the Music app.


• Playlists can be organized into Folders directly on the ‌iPhone‌.


• You can get monthly replay insights rather than just a yearly report.


• There are Translation and Pronunciation guides for lyrics.


• When you AirPlay audio to a HomePod, everyone else in your house can see what's playing, control the music, and change which ‌HomePod‌ speakers are playing.


• The ‌iPhone‌ works as a microphone for karaoke on the Apple TV.

• Any website can be added to the Home Screen as a web app and will open as a web app.


• New Compact design option for tab bar, but Bottom and Top remain available.


• Advanced Fingerprinting Protection now automatically obscures browser and device data in all browsing modes.

• Simplified two-button navigation.


• Panoramic photos are captured faster with less motion blur.


• Alert to clean camera lens if it's dirty.


• AirPods work as a Camera remote.


• AirPods can be used to record high-definition audio.

• The Tab design separating Library and Collections is back.


• You can add 3D movement to 2D photos with Spatial Scenes.


• When searching, you'll now see video thumbnails in search results so you can find a specific video that matches your search term.

• A custom background can be set for every conversation. You can choose built-in options, use a photo, or generate an image with ‌Image Playground‌.


• Messages supports polls, and Apple Intelligence can suggest a poll when it might make sense.


• There's new on-device spam detection that filters out spam messages. The model that determines what's considered spam is regularly updated with user feedback.


• Unknown Numbers can be filtered into a new list that's out of view. The feature separates out spam, transactions, promotions, and general unknown.


• You can copy and paste just a part of a text message instead of the whole thing.


• Group chats support typing indicators.


• Group chats support Apple Cash payments.


• Search understands natural language and can also show results based on related terms. So if you search for "sand," you might also see results with ocean or beach.


• Unfinished messages are saved in a Drafts filter section.


• When dictating a message or other text, the dictation feature supports spelling out names.

• Unified layout that aggregates Favorites, Recents, and Voicemails into one screen.


• Hold Assist waits on the line for you.


• Call Screening can ask unknown callers for their name and reason for calling so you can decide whether to answer. You can also ask for more information with Live Reply.


• Filter out spam calls and calls from Unknown Numbers. Unknown Numbers go into a separate list, but you can mark them as known.


• SharePlay works for Phone calls.


• There's an option to report voicemails as spam.


• Incoming voicemails are summarized.


• When traveling, eSIM setup is easier, and travel eSIMs turn off automatically when you return home.


• There's a SIM-based Focus Mode, so if you have two SIMs, you can change your Focus filter options.


• Using the eSIM Quick Transfer feature requires Face ID or Touch ID when Stolen Device Protection is turned on.


• There are seven new ringtones in ‌iOS 26‌, including six variants of the Reflection ringtone and a ringtone called Little Bird.


• You can set a new custom ringtone by saving it to the Files app and using the Share Sheet.

• Adaptive Power conserves battery when you're using more power than normal. It adjusts performance, background activities, and screen brightness. Adaptive Power is available for ‌Apple Intelligence‌ iPhones.


• You can see how long it will take your ‌iPhone‌ to charge when it's plugged in.


• The Battery UI has been overhauled to provide more information about your battery life from day to day and which apps drain the most battery.

• Shortcuts can incorporate ‌Apple Intelligence‌ models to summarize text, create images, organize documents, compare documents, and more.


• There are pre-set options to use ‌Image Playground‌ and Writing tools in Shortcuts.

• ‌FaceTime‌ has a new main page with Contact Posters from recent callers.


• Use Unknown Callers filter to block people you don't know from calling you.


• ‌FaceTime‌ calls can detect nudity and blur it out when Communication Safety options are turned on.

• The Files app now has a list view option.


• File folders can be customized with emoji and colors, with changes syncing across devices.


• You can select which app to use to open different file types by tapping and holding then choosing the Open With option.

• Live Activities support.


• Messages supports tapbacks for quick responses, and you can pin important conversations.


• Compact call UI that doesn't block the entire screen.


• Support for getting glanceable information from widgets on the ‌Home Screen‌.


• There's an option to wirelessly stream videos to the CarPlay screen over ‌AirPlay‌ when parked, though this requires car manufacturers to implement support.

• If you have a commute, the ‌iPhone‌ can learn your routine and let you know if there's something that will make you late.


• Your ‌iPhone‌ can also let you know about severe weather alerts for your destination or significant location.


• You can automatically keep a list of all of the places that you've visited for later reference.


• Maps supports natural language search.

• The Wallet app supports U.S. passports, and the digital document can be used at TSA checkpoints for domestic travel. This isn't live yet, but is coming soon.


• Boarding passes now support Live Activities and have information like airport maps.


• You can track all of your orders, with data pulled from the Mail app.

• There's a new Games app that shows App Store games and Apple Arcade titles.


• Challenges let you compete with friends in single-player games, and you can also team up for multiplayer games.


• Games Overlay lets you adjust settings and see what your friends are doing without leaving a game.

• You can customize the interval between alarms when using the snooze feature, choosing between 1 minute and 15 minutes.

• HomeKit-enabled thermostats have an Adaptive Temperature option to adjust the temperature when you're on your way home, when you're away, and when you're sleeping. The feature uses on-device intelligence to save energy when you're away.

• The Notes app supports Markdown import and export, so you can import Markdown formatted files or save and download your notes as Markdown files.


• Math Notes supports three-dimensional graphs when writing an equation starting with z=.

• Reminders can suggest items you might want to add to your to-do list from emails, notes, and more.


• There's an option to pull ingredients out of a recipe in Safari and add it to Reminders by sharing text on a page to the Reminders app.


• Reminders can categorize related tasks into sections that are grouped together, such as sorting a grocery list into logical categories.

• Podcasts supports Enhance Dialogue to cut down on background sounds on a per-show basis.


• There's an option to change your listening speed from 0.5x to 3x.

• Passwords supports autofilling verification codes from notifications received from apps.


• There's now a timeline of changes you've made in Passwords, so you can see your previous passwords.

• The Mac Preview app is now available on the ‌iPhone‌.


• PDF AutoFill can fill out PDF forms automatically with your information.


• PDFs can be marked up, resized, and rotated, plus scanned images can be opened in Preview as a PDF.