iOS 26.2 Beta 2 Arrives With Games App Tweaks and More Liquid Glass
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Apple’s iOS 26.2 beta cycle is moving along quickly. Less than two weeks after the first iOS 26.2 developer beta, we’re already seeing its successor, with a public beta likely to follow by the end of the week.
The iOS 26 roadmap that Apple unveiled at its Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) in June has left room for plenty of surprises. Unlike past years, when a WWDC keynote outlined an entire year-long plan, Apple chose to focus instead on what it would deliver in iOS 26.0 in September — and it managed to deliver nearly all of it.
Only one feature — passport-based Digital IDs in Apple Wallet — didn’t make the cut for iOS 26.0, but even that was likely ready on the iOS side; Apple just needed to get all the back-end pieces in place, and it rolled out yesterday without an iOS update.
Apple didn’t add any groundbreaking “tentpole” features in iOS 26.1, but it was still packed with some fun and useful “quality-of-life” enhancements. From what we’ve seen, iOS 26.2 will likely continue that trend.
What’s New in iOS 26.2 Beta 2
The first iOS 26.2 beta set the stage earlier this month, introducing full alarm support in the Reminders app, offline lyrics for Apple Music, tables in the Freeform app, and some tweaks to Sleep Score, Liquid Glass, Apple News, and new Podcast enhancements. Now, the second beta is applying similar refinements across a few other apps. Here’s what’s new.
The Games App
Games is the newest first-party app to come to the iPhone family, and Apple is already polishing it up a bit in iOS 26.2. The first beta added support for live events and real-time updates in games you’re currently playing, along with more social features directly in the app.
The second beta adds a new splash screen to highlight these changes, plus expanded sorting and filtering options to let you narrow the list down by size and source. You can also now more effectively find your way around the app with a game controller, which helps when you’re already in the middle of a gaming session.
Liquid Glass in Measure
It’s a small change, but Apple’s Measure app gets the Liquid Glass treatment, with the level now showing two glossy bubbles instead of the classic white circles. They also interact with each other — and the number in between them — in more whimsical ways.
Unpin Messages in CarPlay
A new toggle in CarPlay settings allows you to revert to the classic view, which simply lists your contacts without pinning your favorites at the top.
Apple added the ability to pin contacts to the top of the iPhone Messages app in iOS 14, but it didn’t come to CarPlay until this year’s iOS 26 release, which mirrors whatever you’ve set up on your iPhone. Some users found that shift slightly jarring, so a new “Pinned Conversations” toggle in the CarPlay Settings app now lets you switch it off.
Enhanced Safety Alerts
The first iOS 26.2 beta showed signs of a new Enhanced Safety Alerts feature, but like most early betas, it didn’t really offer much information on how these would work or what they’d be used for.
The second beta fills in those blanks, with a screen that explains how they differ from Emergency Alerts, which are sent by government agencies.
Enhanced Safety Alerts are designed to notify you of emergency events, such as earthquakes or floods in your area, based on your device’s location. They’re sent out by Apple, presumably based on its aggregation of regional hazard data, “and will appear and sound different to a Government Alert sent by your local government.”
What Else is Coming in iOS 26.2?
The second developer beta builds on several features already added in the first round, including the ability to set “Urgent” notifications in the Reminders app that will alert you in much the same way as a Clock app alarm, plus some polish to Liquid Glass, automatic chapters and contextual links in Podcasts, offline lyrics for Apple Music, and tables in the Freeform app.
It also introduces support for third-party app marketplaces in Japan, and includes references to a mysterious new “Creator Studio,” which feels like it could point to a new Apple suite for video or content creation.
As to when it’s coming, the new Japanese app freedoms have set a hard deadline for Apple this year. While the company typically gets its “.2” betas out in mid-December, in this case it needs to have iOS 26.2 out by December 18 to ensure that it’s in compliance with Japan’s new laws, which go into effect on that date. At the pace at which the beta cycle is moving, an early December release doesn’t seem out of the question.
