As part of the overall redesign, Liquid Glass has been implemented throughout iOS 26, changing how app icons, toolbars, tab bars and system controls look and behave.
But Apple is also open to just having a bit of a fun with the new material, like the completely-over-the-top refraction effect when you pull down the Lock Screen. With beta 6, Apple hid another fun Liquid Glass easter egg inside the Preview app on iPad. See the video after the break …
Preview is a new app available on iPadOS 26 that helps users quickly view and edit documents like images and PDFs. Based off its macOS heritage, the icon for Preview is a desk magnifying loupe.
The main screen when you launch Preview looks like a plain file browser. It shows shortcuts to recent files, and quick actions to create a new document or scan one using the iPad’s camera. But here’s the fun part: next to the UI chrome is a 3D loupe, just like the one you can see in the app icon.
It looks cool as is, but the real easter egg is you can actually pick up this loupe with your finger and drag it around. It responds like a fully rendered 3D object, with the content underneath being magnified and distorting as if it was real glass.
This element has no functional purpose. It just looks cool and adds a bit of whimsy to an otherwise mundane file browser application.
To try this out, you need an iPad running iPadOS 26 developer beta 6. (A corresponding public beta version should be released by Apple in the next couple of days). The loupe is not shown on the iPhone Preview app due to the lack of spare screen real estate.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
Comments