Apple’s iOS 26 update will add a much loved MacBook feature to your iPhone: Know all about it

Apple’s big plans with iOS 26 haven’t exactly been off to a smooth start, with the company facing widespread mockery on social media due to the new Liquid Glass redesign, while the long-promised AI features in iOS still remain undelivered.

However, beyond the gloomy news, Apple is bringing some new apps to the upcoming operating system, one of which will introduce a long-awaited MacBook feature to iPhones this September.

Meet iPhone’s Preview app:

iPhones and iPads running iOS 26 will be greeted with a new Preview app, using the same name as Apple’s popular PDF and image viewer on MacBooks. The new Preview app will offer an option to view PDFs and images saved on iCloud, on the device, or from other file sources.

The app will allow users to browse PDFs, making it easier to keep documents organised and accessible in one place. Users will also be able to edit PDFs and images directly within the app, with options to resize, rotate, and adjust files as needed. It includes a built-in document scanner for quickly digitising paperwork, along with a PDF AutoFill feature to fill out forms. Users can also create new images within the app, either starting from scratch or using content copied to the clipboard.

On MacBooks, opening a PDF or image from Finder automatically launches it in the Preview app. With iOS 26, your iPhone and iPad will work similarly: opening a PDF or image from the Files app will now launch it directly inside the new Preview app by default.

The interface won’t look exactly like the Mac version. Instead, Preview on iOS 26 uses the new document browser design that Apple introduced with iOS 18, which is already used in apps like Pages and Keynote. This means it will feel consistent with other Apple apps while still bringing Mac-like Preview functionality to your iPhone.

iPhone SE (2nd generation and later)