The Pride Collection Spoiler

Truth is, Apple had already more or less revealed the schedule anyway earlier today, when it announced the 2026 Pride Collection — full details here. Alongside the wallpapers and Apple Watch face were quiet notes which said that the collection would go live after iOS 26.5, iPadOS 26.5 and watchOS 26.5 were released.

Apple doesn’t like to waste the momentum its announcement would bring, so it was pretty clear the software was almost here.

The One-Week Window

Since the Release Candidate went live, though, things have come into a sharper focus. The time between the Release Candidate and the software going on general release is almost always a week. It could be a day more or less, but rarely more than that.

While it’s still possible it could be later, it strongly suggests that iOS 26.5 will appear on Monday, May 11. If there’s a hiccup, it’s still likely to arrive on Tuesday, May 12.

The Big Messaging Feature

The one thing that might hold things back is the biggest new feature in the update. If that’s not ready, things could drift a little. That feature is the arrival of end-to-end encrypted messages sent between iPhone and Android, thanks to the implementation of RCS.

It’s being beta-tested right now, as it has been for a while now, which is why it’s hard to categorially say it will arrive in the next release. But I’d say it’s highly likely and the chance of it not appearing is slim to none.

In fact, the release notes for the Release Candidate specify that this update is coming in iOS 26.5.

Other features, beyond the Pride wallpapers already definite, include a Suggested Places feature in Apple Maps and benefits for EU users, for instance, for third-party accessories to support Live Activities.