Apple just fixed this annoying lock screen feature with iOS 26.1

• How to disable the lock screen swipe in iOS 26.1
• What else is new in iOS 26.1?

There’s a new toggle in town with iOS 26.1 — Apple’s first update to iOS 26 officially rolled out to users this week, and it comes with several intuitive improvements. From customizing the look of Liquid Glass to a new way of turning off your alarms and timers, most of the changes felt small but substantial, making iOS feel all the more natural.

One of my favorite additions is actually the ability to remove a longstanding feature: swiping left on your lock screen to access the camera. For nearly a decade, it has offered both convenience and frustration. On one hand, it’s an easy way to access your camera for a quick shot. But on the other, sometimes dozens of accidental openings per day. No one likes a messy camera roll, and it’s been the reason for my cluttered gallery for almost ten years.

Luckily, the iOS 26.1 update will finally let me close the chapter of surprise camera appearances. Here’s how to disable the swipe-to-camera accessibility and everything else you need to know about iOS 26.1.

How to disable the lock screen swipe in iOS 26.1

Update your iPhone to get rid of it

Swiping left anywhere on your lock screen to open the camera is a handy gesture released with iOS 10 in 2016. Now nearly a decade old, Apple has finally recognized that some users don’t really jibe with it. My encounters with accidental camera launches aren’t unique — whenever I visit my parents, I see them accidentally opening their camera several times a day. While they don’t seem to mind it, it drives me nuts.

Between an on-display lock screen button for the camera, the physical button that emerged as iPhone 16’s Camera Control, and the Camera app itself on iOS, it wasn’t like we were running out of ways to quickly snap a picture.

Originally teased in its fourth beta, iOS 26.1 lets you disable the slide-to-launch-camera gesture completely. Now that the official update is out for everyone with a compatible iPhone, here’s how to turn it off:

1. Open Settings.
2. Choose Camera.
3. Scroll all the way down to Lock Screen Swipe to Open Camera. Toggle it Off.

Yes, it’s that easy. No more unintentional openings, accidental action shots on your next run, or helping a confused family member get out of their camera when they were trying to show you a Facebook post.

What else is new in iOS 26.1?

Liquid Glass begone, Apple Music gestures, and Photos tweaks — oh my

Like I mentioned, this first update to iOS 26 doesn’t feature any scroll-stopping alterations — outside of the Apple TV app’s loss of the “Plus” to reflect the bigger rebrand. The most notable change thus far is the customization toggle to “Tint” Liquid Glass to increase contrast and opacity, which has many users sighing in relief. Liquid Glass was quite the controversy.

However, there were several other updates that may strike your fancy, including the following:

• Live Translation with AirPods support for Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Japanese, Korean and Italian
• New Apple Intelligence languages: Danish, Dutch, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Turkish, Chinese (Traditional), and Vietnamese
• Apple Music MiniPlayer swipe gesture to go to the next or previous track
• Apple Music AutoMix support over AirPlay
• Gain control is available for external USB microphones when recording with local capture
• Local capture files can be saved to a specific location
• Manual workout logging is available directly from the Fitness app
• Improved FaceTime audio quality in low-bandwidth conditions
• Communication Safety and Web content filters to limit adult websites are enabled by default for existing child accounts for ages 13-17 (Age varies by country or region)

My personal favorite is the change to the alarm and timer screens. Now, instead of tapping either Snooze or Stop, the actions are separated by gestures to avoid accidental alarm dismissal: tap to Snooze and slide to stop. I guess I won’t be oversleeping or seeing straight through my apps, thanks to iOS 26.1.