{"id":953063,"date":"2026-05-11T17:31:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:31:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/953063\/"},"modified":"2026-05-11T17:31:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-11T17:31:14","slug":"no-signs-of-upgraded-apple-intelligence-as-ios-26-5-arrives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/953063\/","title":{"rendered":"No signs of upgraded Apple Intelligence as iOS 26.5 arrives"},"content":{"rendered":"

It appears that iOS 26.5<\/a> is laying the groundwork for a lot of backend changes like ads in Apple Maps and Apple Intelligence in China, but there are no indications of AI upgrades. <\/p>\n

The early release time<\/a> for upgraded Apple Intelligence features powered by new Apple Foundation Models has come and gone. At this point, it seems Apple will wait until WWDC<\/a> to debut any changes to Apple Intelligence. <\/p>\n

The iOS 26.5 release that has arrived does have a few changes, but nothing user-facing. It does lay the groundwork<\/a> for several new features and upcoming upgrades. <\/p>\n

iOS 26.5 is build number 23F77. <\/p>\n

What’s new in iOS 26.5<\/p>\n

Apple is working to bring ads<\/a> to Apple Maps<\/a>, and iOS 26.5 enables the feature to be activated. Now all Apple will have to do is enable the backend and users will start encountering ads in search results. <\/p>\n

A new annual subscription feature<\/a> is also being introduced to the App Store<\/a> with the update. It allows users to get annual discounts while still paying month to month with a 12-month commitment. <\/p>\n

End-to-end encryption in RCS hasn’t arrived yet, but the backend for it is being built<\/a>. Code found in beta builds suggests the feature is on its way. <\/p>\n

Apple was also forced to allow some system features to become more compatible with third-party accessories in the EU. With iOS 26.5, EU users can forward notifications<\/a> to third-party smartwatches. <\/p>\n

Apple Intelligence upgrades still pending<\/p>\n

There are also signs that Apple is continuing the work to bring Apple Intelligence to China. It was accidentally enabled<\/a> prematurely in an early iOS 26.5 beta, which could mean Apple is preparing for a full launch soon. <\/p>\n

The bigger news of the release is the lack of the upgraded Apple Intelligence. Some rumors pointed to a spring 2026 release of a more contextual Siri<\/a> powered by the Gemini-trained<\/a> Apple Foundation Models. <\/p>\n

Of course, that could still occur at any time since Apple Intelligence updates occur independently from OS updates. However, since Apple would surely announce such a release ahead of time, it seems that update isn’t coming before WWDC. <\/p>\n

While iOS 26.5 lacks any user-facing features, users should still update as soon as is reasonable to ensure they get the bug fixes and security patches it includes. Navigate to the Settings app -> General -> Software Update to manually install the update.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It appears that iOS 26.5 is laying the groundwork for a lot of backend changes like ads in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":953064,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3159],"tags":[547,53,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-953063","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mobile","8":"tag-mobile","9":"tag-technology","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953063","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=953063"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/953063\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/953064"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=953063"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=953063"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=953063"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}