Steve Troughton-SmithSep 13, 2025

Alan Dye strikes again:

Did you notice in iOS 26 that the home indicator is permanently hidden?

It only shows when you touch or slide your finger on the empty space where it's supposed to be. This is even more frustrating when you consider that the home indicator can be double-tapped to invoke Apple Intelligence — except now you have to know to double-tap the blank space — or swiped to invoke Reachability.

Another case of hiding system UI you use 100x a day for prettier marketing shots

Show threadJosh Hrach
@stroughtonsmith Reachability is different now, too. It’s not just a swipe down like before, but you have to physically swipe up and then down, almost like you’re flinging the screen down.
Sep 13, 2025 at 6:01pmWeb
Show threadFlorian KriechbaumerSep 13, 2025
@JoshHrach @stroughtonsmith I didn’t observe this. It actually works better in iOS26 for me, previously it constantly invoked Siri by accident.
Show threadAlex KanSep 13, 2025
@JoshHrach @stroughtonsmith just tried multiple times — you can just swipe down as usual 🤷‍♂️
Show threadJosh HrachSep 14, 2025
@alexkancom @stroughtonsmith Interesting. 🤔 And it does so even when the indicator isn't visible?
Show threadAlex KanSep 14, 2025
@JoshHrach @stroughtonsmith
Show threadJosh HrachSep 15, 2025
@alexkancom @stroughtonsmith Ah, I got it now. I used to be able to do it just on the home indicator, but it looks like they moved the swipe to start _above_ the indicator.