iOS 26.5 likely to arrive this week with these 3 new features: Here's what you should know

While rumours around Apple's latest big update, iOS 27, are flying fast and loose, the company last week released a new release candidate (RC) for iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5. As you may see from the RC label, the update is currently only available to developers and public beta testers, but is expected to be rolled out to the general public soon.

iOS 26.5 release date

The stable version of iOS 26.5 is expected to be released this week. We do not currently have a confirmed release date for the update, but it could arrive today (Monday).

iOS 26.5 features

Apple's big Siri features and any other AI features you may be expecting will most likely not be arriving with iOS 26.5. Instead, these features are expected to come with the iOS 27 update that will be unveiled at WWDC in June and arrive with the new iPhones in September.

However, the update is likely to come with three major updates:

RCS messages

Apple first added end-to-end encryption (E2EE) for RCS messages between iPhone and Android during the iOS 26.4 beta update. However, the feature was removed during the stable build of the update.

The feature is expected to be limited to supported carriers at launch and may be rolled out in a phased manner.

The presence of E2EE encryption means that messages between supported iOS and Android devices are secured so that only the sender and recipient can read them and cannot be read by any third party, including Apple.

Suggested Places

Apple is also expected to add a new Suggested Places feature with iOS 26.5 that will provide recommendations to users based on their location and recent search history.

This feature will coincide with ads coming to Apple Maps. The company has already confirmed that ads are coming to Apple Maps, and they are likely to begin with the iOS 26.5 update.

With the new update, Apple will allow companies in the US and Canada to place their ads in the search results and at the top of the Suggested Places section.

"Ads on Maps will appear when users search in Maps, and can appear at the top of a user's search results based on relevance, as well as at the top of a new Suggested Places experience in Maps, which will display recommendations based on what's trending nearby, the user's recent searches, and more," Apple said earlier this year.

New wallpapers

Apple will release a Pride Edition wallpaper for iPhone with the iOS 26.5 update, which will "dynamically refract a spectrum of colours". The wallpaper features a selection of curated colour combinations that can match well with Liquid Glass. Users will also be able to select 12 different colours from a total of 75 colours to create their own personalised theme.