Apple announces iOS 26 with Liquid Glass redesign

Liquid Ass

Vista called and wants it’s ugly back

I'm sorry if it's a dumb question, but didn't Microsoft already do this with Vista and Win 7? And I'm pretty sure transparency has been a thing on Android for a good while now:-?

Frutiger Aero.
- I honestly don't even know why I'm paying attention to Apple at this point, I think it's like digging my nail into a freshly scarred-over cut, just to tease that sting out a bit. It's the only way in which they have ever contributed to my feeling alive.
i mean yes, but this is a more dynamic transperency that reacts more to backgrounds, merging/separating with other elements, etc.
- I mean... look, I'm genuinely not trying to be a sour asshole, but why did we need this? How is this furthering the development of smartphone tech? It's, like... sure, pretty graphics are nice, but do we really need ray-tracing on our phones? (I know it's not ray-tracing, but you get my point)

These guys spend a billion dollars every couple years to invent the lock screen again

Hey, it's aqua! We've come full circle!

hey I had that winterboard theme like 15 years ago

jfc. that is one ugly looking ui. really scraping bottom of the barrel. that is soo last years.

Gives me iOS 7 vibes.

I like it in theory, but in some of the examples they provided on https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/06/apple-introduces-a-delightful-and-elegant-new-software-design/, reading text isn't the easiest with all the colors and blurs everywhere.

reading text isn’t the easiest with all the colors and blurs everywhere
Agreed - I like the look of these things in an abstract sense, but it makes the text really hard to read. I ~~assume~~ hope there's a way to disable it in accessibility settings.
Also not a fan of the critical UI elements being popped out into floating islands, very easy to accidentally hit underlying page content when there's effectively zero padding around controls (on touch devices, as the ad companies have discovered by making the × icons smaller and smaller).
Wow, that is bad. The music one is probably the worst of the examples. The artist name is barely readable most of that clip.
The notifications are rough too, a big wall of white text against a burry multicolor background is not fun to read.

Honestly, it looks kind of terrible to me. Not to mention how unreadable text is since there's apparently no guaranteed contrast with black text due to the transparent backgrounds. I feel like I'm going crazy with all the random articles praising it.

This is such a step back to 2005 and those glassy Winamp skins. It looks absolutely terrible. I wonder how Apple users put up with that

I beg to differ. It’s not a „putting up with“. I don’t hate modern flat designs but if I was putting up with anything it’s that.
Loved the translucent look back then, still love it now. Am very looking forward to the design update. Especially since the new design is not just some standard windows aero like transparency but actually has glass like refractions.
I’m very glad we’re getting something with a little more depth again, without going full 180 to the clutter of peak skeumorphic iOS <7.
I’m a little bit concerned about readability of text on the translucent backgrounds but on the other hand, it feels unlikely that Apple didn’t think of that…
Edit: typo
- Yep. I was really annoyed when Windows moved away from the aero effects of Vista and 7 to the flat look of 8/8.1, 10, and 11.
  (Yes yes, Windows bad. I have to use it for work.)
  I’m looking forward to this, I think it looks gorgeous.

What a readability nightmare.

Guess this means Apple has run out of ideas on how to make iPhone better.

What can we do to distract attention away from the fact that we don't have any decent new features?

"Rename the business unit so we can print new letterheads and business cards?" Our customer don't work here, sir. "Dammit!"
"Release a new color that nobody wants? How about a light blue that is so close to the regular silver no one can tell?" We did that last year, sir. "Dammit!"
"Oh, I know: Repeat the year 2000 mistake by naming our OS versions after the current year using only 2 digits. That will never bite us in the ass in the future." Brilliant, sir.

A kind of enshittification, out of boredom I guess...

What’s the liquid glass exactly?

Overheating silicon
It means making it look like Windows Vista. Because that's what we all wanted, the perpetuation of a crappy design.

Almost everything in that list of new features sounds negative to me. A few are neutral, and one might be positive depending on how it’s implemented (having the phone monitor a phone call while sitting on hold). Pretty disappointing, Tim Apple.

I never understood products that use the next year as their version nr. Why isn't this iOS25?

I presume because due to it releasing in September, it’s lifetime will mostly lie in 2026. But honestly Idk, I am godawful at naming things.

This makes me want to get rid of my iPhone even more

I actually really like this…

yeah i don't remember the last time i liked something Apple made (probably over a decade by now) but this actually looks great.
- you guys are weird

What the hell are they thinking

Trick question: null

Using the developer beta and my phone runs quite hot. Of course, it's a beta so they'll probably reduce the effects to make it less of drain on performance and battery life. There is a reduce transparency toggle which does help a bit, esp. for readability. Hopefully when iOS 26 is released there's an obvious option to reduce transparency.

My opinion on the "liquid glass" is mixed. Some parts look pretty cool. The apps (Mail, Photos, etc.) use it quite well, with only some parts are transparent making readability a bit better. I really like the change to the search bars being at the bottom, makes the phone more one-handable. Safari doesn't look too good in my opinion, the glass effects are a bit much. The camera app just hid all the buttons, which is a bit annoying. You can have it show flash and live photos toggles in settings, which is good.

The lock screen effect with the "3d" photos is very cool, but the phone runs extra hot when it's enabled so I turned that off. The glassy clock is pretty cool and there's the option to make it normal again if you select "solid". Swiping up from the lock screen makes a weird glass effect with the edges distorted and lots of rainbow fringing, which looks a bit odd. When you swipe down you can see the home screen app icons until it's all the way down, then they all pop out of existence and the background is replaced. Bit jarring. Similar effect with swiping up, background changes with no transition, but the apps appear in an animation this time. Weird. I'm assuming this is probably a bug with the beta, at least I hope it is...

Onto the home screen. I think the "liquid glass" themes make the tinted icons look a bit better than just colour on black, I like that bit of customisability. I still do not get the "clear" icons, it quite literally is transparent and you can barely differentiate the icons. You can always swap it to the default, but there is still some annoying glass effects on app icons where it clearly isn't natively built (I'm guessing the glass effects is applied to all icons automatically incl. third party apps, but it doesn't look too great with some of them). The app folders look terrible though and the reflection/refraction is really distracting. The pop ups when you select text is especially annoying, popping up a huge bubble. I'll need some time to get used to that vs just clicking right to share, translate, etc. The control center is not very nice to look at but it works fine.

Overall, in places where it's used tastefully (in a lot of Apple's apps, for instance) it works quite well if a bit distracting. I like the lock screen and home screen customisation and the ability to change it to "solid". The glass effects are still quite distracting though. The reduce transparency toggle does help a bit with readability, but it's annoying that it's buried deep in accessibility settings. Not very accessible at all. The lock screen 3d effect is cool but is a bit subtle, and it makes the phone uncomfortably hot. There are still plenty of bugs, but that'll hopefully be fixed in the public release. I like the option for the tinted icons but do not get the clear icons. Camera app isn't too functional, just hiding everything isn't better than before! The iOS 26 beta is quite fun, if very buggy, and the liquid glass works in some places but doesn't work in all places.

I thought I was going crazy as my phone stopped updating after iOS 18. Then I learned that they are changing the version # to match the years. 😏

It has more blur than average Hyprland rice

kinda looks like those backgrounds Microsoft uses on their mobile apps pictures on the App Store and Google Play

Apple is crashing down slowly, but surely

The announcement also marks a change in how Apple signifies its major updates to iOS. Under the previous marketing scheme, this year’s major release would have been iOS 19 — the direct follow-up to iOS 18. But now, Apple’s big iOS updates will be numbered based on the year following their introduction

Well that's interesting. I was certain The Verge was trying to be funny. But this tracks, now Apple has Biggest Number™.

Edit: This has to be a joke. Who the fuck thought this up? I can't take this seriously...

It's not a matter of biggest number, it's a matter of consistency.
They have five operating systems, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, visionOS.
So currently we have macOS 15, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11 & visionOS 2. That's absolute confusion. Do I have the latest version? Dropping support for an older version, how many years ago was that?
A version number should convey useful information, and the year it was released is useful information. Especially when major updates come every year.
Edit: I forgot tvOS, also version 18. So six operating systems.
- I was just discussing this with a friend, I have no clue these days what iOS or macOS version is the latest. I guess this does help but it feels like a Windows 8 to 10 jump in steroids
- It’s not a matter of biggest number, it’s a matter of consistency.
  They have five operating systems, macOS, iOS, iPadOS, watchOS, visionOS.
  So currently we have macOS 15, iOS 18, iPadOS 18, watchOS 11 & visionOS 2. That’s absolute confusion. Do I have the latest version? Dropping support for an older version, how many years ago was that?
  I don't disagree with you on principle, but I still think the implementation is fucking bonkers.
  A version number should convey useful information, and the year it was released is useful information. Especially when major updates come every year.
  Major updates should come when they're needed, not on a set schedule. CVEs don't wait. Yes, I know patches and security updates are a thing. I still think it's ridiculous. And I absolutely blame Apple for setting the "new thing every year" trend in motion.
it's not that unusual, lots of software is named by the date. i think it makes a lot of sense especailly for apple, now they don't have a different release number for all their different platforms.
- Though naming it by the following year instead of the release year is clearly a marketing move.
Samsung has been doing that with their Galaxy for a while.
- Yes, but Samsung went from S10 to S20 -> 21 -> 22, etc. That move made sense. And even skipping the Note 6 for the (ill-fated) Note 7 made sense as that was just a single number skipped.
  iOS 18 -> iOS 26 makes absolutely no sense. Maybe wait until iOS 20, then release iOS 30? IDK, but this is Apple we're talking about. Sense was never in the cards.

I need to buy three immediately!

Android and ios are basically indistinguishable to me at this point

Lol
I use both every day. Pixel 9 Pro XL (personal) and an iPhone 12 (work). Plus my own M1 iPad Pro.
They're not even fucking close.
Seriously?
Look, the one is taking and exploiting nearly all of your data, while giving you 10.000 different well hidden opt out options, the other is taking all of your data for granted while telling you it is for your best and nobody else should have it, and promising they are never ever gonna exploit it, swear with fingers crossed... hm... OK you are right.
- i meant more like the ux, but yea also that stuff 😂