Today is the day that iOS 26 finally emerges from beta and is officially launched. The headline feature is of course the Liquid Glass look, which has proved almost as controversial as the minimalist look of iOS 7 back in 2013.
Apple has made some pretty substantial changes to the look of the operating system after beta testers complained about poor legibility and confusing design elements. Even so, some developers are not at all convinced that Liquid Glass is ready to be unleashed …
Wired’s Craig Grannell is not a fan.
Instead of sharpening focus, it too often muddies it due to legibility issues and distracting visual effects. On Mac, controls are overly prominent, yet on iPhone, they are relentlessly eager to disappear into a new Apple take on hamburger menus, denying users the chance to build effective muscle memory.
A number of developers agree with him. Hello Weather designer Jonas Downey said that while there are things he likes, “the new interfaces feel complicated” and simply get in the way a lot of the time.
He reels off a list of issues. Translucent components causing distraction. Low contrast making it harder to differentiate elements. Excess shading and dimension on buttons and tabs making them pop more than the content beneath them. This, he says, can result in friction rather than focus.
Obscura Camera creator Ben McCarthy likes what Apple is trying to do, but doesn’t think it’s very successful.
“Apple’s goal is to blend interface and content to reduce distraction, but I think Liquid Glass achieves the opposite,” McCarthy says. “It creates distortions that catch your eye as content scrolls. There are fundamental legibility issues, because Liquid Glass can’t control what passes behind it. And as the system tries to adapt, flipping between light and dark to stay readable, that only further adds to the distraction.”
Héliographe developer Gulliaume Ardaud worked for Apple for seven years, but still isn’t sold on Liquid Glass.
There are real tensions between stated goals—separating interface and content layers, and then elevating the latter—and the reality of elements partially obscuring content and creating a swirl of distracting, constantly shifting colors as you scroll.
Top comment by Blurft
I'm running the betas on my iPhone, Watch Ultra, iPad and MacBook Pro. It's obvious that Apple has refined the design since it was announced, and it is possible to learn the new interface to some extent such that changes aren't as frustrating or weird as they first seem...but overall it does not feel ready for release.
There are too many issues with legibility and distracting elements, as the developers quoted in this post mention, but it also feels like Liquid Glass has been applied to the OS very inconsistently. On watchOS, the notification view is very translucent and glass-like, while Control Center is very frosted and much easier to read. On iOS, the PIN entry on the lock screen is very translucent and glass-like, but PIN entry to "trust" a computer when performing a backup appears to be the flat UI from iOS 18.
I will admit that I fundamentally do not like the concept of "Liquid Glass," but even if you do like the concept of Liquid Glass, we should all acknowledge the fact that there are genuine usability issues and that Liquid Glass in its current state is not ready for release.
Grannell argues that at a time when smartphone design has plateaued, Apple is looking for Liquid Glass to provide some form of excitement.
9to5Mac’s Take
I’m not sure the ‘boring hardware hence glossy software’ argument quite holds water given that the iPhone Air is the biggest hardware development we’ve seen in iPhones for many years. At the same time, it is true that Apple hasn’t given me a reason to upgrade this year.
Personally, I am on balance a fan of Liquid Glass, though I would certainly acknowledge the problems identified during the beta process and would agree that it’s still far from perfect. But the official launch is of course not the end of development, so I’m confident we can expect further improvements.
What’s your take now that it is officially launching? Please share your thoughts in the comments.
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