Apple just released iOS 26.5 and

although it's not as big of an update as

iOS 26.4 was, it does still include

quite a few features and changes that

you will want to know about. So in this

video we're going to be discussing

everything new in iOS 26.5. We're going

to talk about the performance, the

battery life, and of course if you

should update or not. Okay, so let's

start by talking about what's new in iOS

26.5. So the first change has to do with

messaging. more specifically messaging

with RCS. So we now have endtoend

encryption for RCS messaging with iOS

26.5 which means that messages sent

between iPhone and Android are now end

to end encrypted. So that means that

only the sender and the recipient can

read them. Not Apple, Google, your

carrier, any type of third party. Nobody

can intercept that message now while

it's being sent. So messages via RCS

will basically be more secure now. And

you'll see this little encrypted key

right here in RCS messages now. So this

showed up before in iMessage, but now

you will see that also for RCS messaging

as long as you and the recipient both

have, you know, an up-to-date device and

you are using RCS, not SMS. And keep in

mind, end to-end encryption is enabled

by default. So it is on by default. And

if you go into your messages settings

right here and go down here to where we

have RCS right here under text

messaging, you will see in toend

encryption, which is currently in beta,

which is worth noting. So it may not be

available for all devices or carriers,

it says. And it says conversations

labeled as encrypted are encrypted end

to end. So messages can't be read while

they're sent between devices. And if

this sounds familiar to you, it's

because Apple did test this feature in

the iOS 26.4 for betas, but it did not

make the final release until now with

iOS 26.5. If you have an Apple Watch,

there's a slight change to the workout

buddy on the lock screen. So, the live

activity here now shows workout buddy on

the lock screen and you can tap to read

and it will show you the transcript.

Before, it did not show up on the iPhone

underneath of the workout view here.

There's also a change to reminders. So,

we have a reminder here for take the

trash out. If we haptic press on that,

you will see that now we have a couple

of changes here. So, first off, it says

remind me in 1 hour now instead of an

hour. This is 26.4.2 on the left, by the

way. iOS 26.5 on the right. Also, before

it said remind me in the morning, now it

says remind me tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. So,

it's more specific with a time. It

actually gives you a time instead of

just saying in the morning. So, that's a

small change here, but something that's

noteworthy for reminders. iOS 26.5 also

includes a new wallpaper. So, if you go

to your wallpaper section here and you

tap on the plus and you scroll down

until you get to the Pride, you will see

this. Now, if you don't have this

downloaded, you will have to tap on the

get button next to Pride. But if you do

have Pride already downloaded, you will

see these first two are the brand new

wallpapers with iOS 26.5. So, if you tap

on that, you can see what it looks like.

And this is actually one of my favorite

Pride wallpaper collections over the

past few years. So, a lot of them don't

look as good as this in my opinion. This

also really just goes well with iOS 26

in general, the liquid glass design. So,

you can see these different colors, the

different, you know, Roman numerals down

there to indicate which one you are on.

And if you get all the way to the very

end, you will see you can actually

choose a custom color. So, we want to do

something like this for example, we

could do that, you know, or different

colors. You can kind of change it up

with all these different colors. So, we

have up to I'm not even sure what the

maximum amount is, but you can see.

Okay, so 12 is the maximum amount. So

you can combine 12 different colors to

make a really cool unique combination

here for your wallpaper. And you can see

this little edit button right here as

well. If you tap on that, that will pull

up the color selector here where you can

choose and kind of swap out the

different color. So that's pretty neat.

Let's go ahead and add this to our home

screen and as a wallpaper pair. So you

can see the animation. So when we go to

our home screen, take a look at that

animation. Very cool animation. That's

something that Apple always does really

well with their default wallpapers. Take

a look at that. Especially the Pride

ones. always have this really cool, you

know, animation effect when you go from

lock screen to home screen. Now, perhaps

the biggest change in iOS 26.5 is that

we now have ads in the Apple Maps

application. Now, before you get super

upset, it's not nearly as bad as it

seems. So, first off, you can see that

Apple does say ads on maps will appear

when users search in maps and can appear

at the top of a user search results

based on relevance. And the main place

you're going to see these ads are with

suggested places. If I search for coffee

shops, for example, in this area, you

will see up top here little sections

where we have suggested places. So

that's going to recommend, you know,

locations and like coffee shops in this

example that are nearby and trending. So

that is one area you will see it. Also,

when you go to search for something in

Apple Maps, you'll see right here we

have suggested places. So now you'll see

on the main search section inside of

maps, you will have suggested places

where as of now it shows two different

suggested places in that area. And if

you're worried about privacy with ads in

maps, Apple makes it very clear that

that's one of their biggest focuses. And

they say that there is no tracking and

everything stays on device. So they say

this, Apple doesn't know which stores,

neighborhoods, or clinics you visit and

Maps doesn't require you to sign in to

use it. Even if you choose to sign in,

Maps keeps your data in sync across all

your devices using end toend encryption.

So where you go isn't associated with

your Apple account at all. Now there's

also a change when you're doing an

iPhone to Android transfer. So, if you

go to your settings, general, and then

transfer or reset, and then you go to

transfer to Android, there is a new

feature, a new change here in iOS 26.5

because now there's a setting for

selecting how many message attachments

get transferred over to your Android

device from your iPhone. So, it can be

all of your message attachments, which

are like photos and videos that were

sent in messages, or you could have just

the past year or the past 30 days. Those

are the only ones that will get

transferred over. So, if you only want

to do like 30 days or a year, that will

absolutely save you some space and also

some time for the transfer. Another

change in iOS 26.5 is when you connect

an accessory, so say a Magic Keyboard to

an iPhone with the USBC cord, the iPhone

will now automatically establish a

Bluetooth connection with that

accessory. So, if you have a cable

nearby and I plugged the keyboard into

my iPhone, the USBC port into the USBC

port on the Magic Keyboard, it will

automatically create a Bluetooth

connection, which can actually be very

handy. It's kind of a shortcut to

connecting devices. Now, if you're in

the EU, there is also a new change in

iOS 26.5 that's going to give you

AirPods like pairing and notification

forwarding for third-party wearables,

plus forwarding live activities to a

third-party wearable device. So, if you

have something that's not an Apple

Watch, for example, you will have that.

And you will see the settings for

notification forwarding inside of your

settings and notifications. Near the

top, you will see a section for

notification forwarding if you are in

the EU. In the books application, iOS

26.5 mentions new awards in Apple Books,

which are likely going to be for

year-end wrap-ups. So, we might be

seeing a year-end wrap-up in books, and

it's going to give you awards. is going

to basically award books that you maybe

read throughout the year. Another change

is inside of settings and go into

general. We're going to go down until we

see keyboard right here. We're going to

go to keyboards and we're going to add a

new keyboard and there is a new keyboard

down here under the eyes. So, these are

the new keyboard layout options right

here. So, we have this and we also have

it in Latin. Now, as far as security

patches go, iOS 26.5 will have some

security patches in this update. So, if

you're not a big fan of any of the new

features or changes in iOS 26.5, just

know that it is probably worth updating

just for the security patches alone.

Now, as of the time of recording this

video, Apple has not yet published

exactly what those bug fixes and those

security patches are, but you better

believe that they will be, you know,

resolving some of those bugs and those

exploits that are out there in the wild.

So, I will leave that link down below in

the description when Apple does publish

that. But just know, you know, if you're

wondering, should you update? Yes, you

should update because those security

patches alone, that's always big enough

reason. And of course, if you are

somebody who messages somebody with RCS,

you know, so if you maybe used WhatsApp

in the past because you didn't have end

to-end encryption on iPhone, now we have

end to-end encryption with RCS

messaging. So you can basically ditch

WhatsApp now and use the iPhone now that

we have that feature. So again, it is a

worthy update if you are somebody who

uses RCS and of course if you care about

the security of your device, which most

of you guys should. Now, as far as the

performance and the battery life goes, I

did run a fresh Geekbench score here on

26.5. You can see we scored a 3809

single core, 9376 on the multi-core.

Nothing too crazy. I've noticed that the

performance overall on 26.5 is very

similar to iOS 26.4. It does feel a

little bit smoother. Like a lot of the,

you know, rough edges of 26.4 and iOS 26

seem to be getting rounded out now. They

seem to be a non-issue. So, I've really

had no crashes, no type of glitches,

really nothing at all like that on 26.5.

So, it's relatively stable, you know, in

general, as it should be at this point

of iOS 26, but I did not notice a

massive difference from 26.4. So, if

you're trying to update expecting a big

performance boost, I would not go in

expecting that. And the same kind of

goes for battery life as well. I'm

currently at 64% right now. You'll have

to tell me what I started this video

with, but battery life overall has been

great. It has been a little bit better

than iOS 26.4 and previous versions. So,

that is a good sign, but you know, it's

still in my opinion not as good as iOS

18, which is kind of a disappointment,

but it is getting close to that point

and hopefully it will continue to get

better as I continue to use the

software. And then looking a little bit

further ahead to the next release for

Apple. So, we will be seeing iOS 26.6 at

some point. We could see those betas

come out pretty soon, but we should see

that at some point in June. But of

course, at this point, all eyes are

going to be on iOS 27 because we are

very close from seeing the very first

beta, the unveil of iOS 27 on day one of

Apple's WWDC, the Worldwide Developers

Conference, which takes place right here

on Monday, June 8th. So, we are less

than a month away from seeing that

update. And that's going to be big. And

we are going to see that first beta get

released right there on Monday, June 8th

as well. And again, that is going to be

the beta, not the final release. The

final release of iOS 27 is not going to

be out until September when the new

iPhones get announced. So that is iOS

26.5. Not a major new feature release,

but it is going to be something that

gives us end to-end encryption, the new

wallpapers, some security patches. You

know, can't really complain when we're

on a.5, you know, updates at this point.

there's not going to be a ton of new

features. You know, of course, Apple is

saving those for iOS 27, but overall,

I'm a fan of iOS 26.5. I think it's

great, and I think that most people

should go ahead and update it. There's

really no reason to stay back on

previous software at this point. But,

hope you guys enjoyed this video. If you

did, I would appreciate if you give it a

thumbs up. Also, know your thoughts down

there on the Pride wallpaper and end

encryption, all that stuff. Let me know

all your thoughts down there in the

comments below. But anyways guys, thanks

for watching and I'll see you