26 will be a stinker

[Parowdy]

The RC is still a mess, carrying over bugs even from the very first beta.
I recently had to reinstall 18 and then update to 26, and my hopes that some of these bugs may be gone were shattered the moment I started using the phone, because I even encountered visual issues I only ever read about previously.

If the biggest new features are new visuals, but these visuals are flawed, glitching or simply still missing, can anyone expect this release to go over smoothly?
I expect the public to have a real field day, or rather months, with this one.

There is one thing I’m conflicted about, though.
When the first beta dropped, people argued it wasn’t yet time to complain about all the bugs and visual problems in the initial „release“, or rather global and semi public reveal.
I argued it WAS TIME, simply because I expected better from Apple.
Turns out, I was WRONG. It wasn’t the right time.
It would never be the right time. Because despite the numerous online discussions and many bug reports, 3 months later Apple still releases just another flawed and unfinished build.
Should have spent our time arguing about something else I guess.

Edit:
For some examples see post #4

 

[chabig]

Can you give some examples of the bugs you see? I’m running the RC and don’t have any problems.

 

[petershaw_]

at first i wasnt to excited about ios26 but after a few days with the rc i got used to it. i hope apple will refine the liquid glass as they refined ios7 release after release when it came out

 

[Parowdy]

Can you give some examples of the bugs you see? I’m running the RC and don’t have any problems.

For me right now, it’s that the transition between a „closing“ app icon and a normal Home Screen app icon is choppy, instead of an animated transition. Same with folders. Some folders even show different icons when closed compared to the actual app icons.
Furthermore, using Reduce Transparency still has many issues. For example, when the status bar is made pure white, the border between it and the active screen is too high, resulting in the DI being slightly in the active screen area.
Switching between wallpapers can have many unintended results, like app icons retaining their tinting from the previous wallpaper.
And when switching between Light and Dark Mode, even when having the same wallpaper, widgets with more and separate text, like Reminders, some text is barely visible and some is too saturated.
App Library only has the LG shimmer for the Recently Added folder.
Here on MacRumors, actually right now I have two issues (out of three), see the screenshots.
The third issue would be that the url bar is blocking the window I write in. Right now the line I type in is centered between the bottom and top UI elements which is still not what I’d like, but it snaps to it the moment I touch the keyboard and it’s better than the other way.
Looking at my screenshots in the photos app, the UI isn’t even working properly.

TL;DR
Too many to list

Some recent screenshots

 

[Parowdy]

at first i wasnt to excited about ios26 but after a few days with the rc i got used to it. i hope apple will refine the liquid glass as they refined ios7 release after release when it came out

I definitely agree, it grew on me, too. And I like the rounded corners they put everywhere. It’s just simply not finished.

 

[theapplehead]

I’ve found that the animations between different actions like typing or viewing notifications are very distracting (and maybe even were causing headaches although I can’t verify that). Either way, there should be an option to disable Liquid Glass. Honestly not a fan of it - another reason being, in text threads, it is distracting seeing content higher up the thread when typing. I kind of appreciate the more opaque experience of iOS 18. Anyways, that’s my opinion haha

 

[xxFoxtail]

Apart from a couple crashes on the RC (because the external display with my iPad), it's mostly visual bugs I’m seeing. I expect a lot of them to be fixed in the coming months.

 

[Broken Hope]

It has some minor bugs, hardly a mess, Apple will fix those as the iOS 26 release goes on e.g. 26.1, .2 etc.

 

[crouch]

Im shocked how much I like IOS26. It’s just so pretty.

Happy so far with the RC on both my 16 Pro and Ipad Pro M2. I’ve been running with them for two days now. Much better shape than last year’s RC. Battery life has been good. There have been a few overheating-for-no-reason periods (still even today) and a few graphical redraw glitches when swiping from one hope screen to the next, but overall, it’s been stable.

All that said, i really like where they’re taking the interface graphically. IOS26 on the IPhone 17 Air is going to be gorgeous 🤌

 

[Parowdy]

I’ve found that the animations between different actions like typing or viewing notifications are very distracting (and maybe even were causing headaches although I can’t verify that). Either way, there should be an option to disable Liquid Glass. Honestly not a fan of it - another reason being, in text threads, it is distracting seeing content higher up the thread when typing. I kind of appreciate the more opaque experience of iOS 18. Anyways, that’s my opinion haha

I agree completely.
I’ve also noticed that some of these new LG animations aren’t event disabled by Reduce Animations… like a notification coming up from the top, the NEW animations in Control Center also play while the old buggy ones remain.
This year really should have been a Snow Leopard release

 

[Parowdy]

Im shocked how much I like IOS26. It’s just so pretty.

Happy so far with the RC on both my 16 Pro and Ipad Pro M2. I’ve been running with them for two days now. Much better shape than last year’s RC. Battery life has been good. There have been a few overheating-for-no-reason periods (still even today) and a few graphical redraw glitches when swiping from one hope screen to the next, but overall, it’s been stable.

All that said, i really like where they’re taking the interface graphically. IOS26 on the IPhone 17 Air is going to be gorgeous 🤌

View attachment 2548845

I also, after having used it for 2 and a half months, have grown to it. I see the vision, I understand why it was decided this would be worth a shot as the new ecosystem design language. It’s just not done yet.

 

[gigapocket1]

iOS 26 isn’t that bad. There are minor bugs. But nothing show stopping.

 

[Parowdy]

It has some minor bugs, hardly a mess, Apple will fix those as the iOS 26 release goes on e.g. 26.1, .2 etc.

Apple should have had enough time already. Bugs aren’t uncommon for the first full release, but when the new design is the biggest new features, that’s the one to get right on version .0
It will just further erode people’s trust in Apple for the current time and that’s so unnecessary.

 

[jz0309]

The RC is still a mess, carrying over bugs even from the very first beta.
I recently had to reinstall 18 and then update to 26, and my hopes that some of these bugs may be gone were shattered the moment I started using the phone, because I even encountered visual issues I only ever read about previously.

If the biggest new features are new visuals, but these visuals are flawed, glitching or simply still missing, can anyone expect this release to go over smoothly?
I expect the public to have a real field day, or rather months, with this one.

There is one thing I’m conflicted about, though.
When the first beta dropped, people argued it wasn’t yet time to complain about all the bugs and visual problems in the initial „release“, or rather global and semi public reveal.
I argued it WAS TIME, simply because I expected better from Apple.
Turns out, I was WRONG. It wasn’t the right time.
It would never be the right time. Because despite the numerous online discussions and many bug reports, 3 months later Apple still releases just another flawed and unfinished build.
Should have spent our time arguing about something else I guess.

I wasn't in the iOS beta but upgraded my 13PM to RC on Friday and I am not experiencing any issues or bugs, and everything runs quite smoothly.

 

[Parowdy]

iOS 26 isn’t that bad. There are minor bugs. But nothing show stopping.

Show stopping no, but when the new design was announced 3 months prior and it’s still not finished, that’s not helping Apple or the user.
I have to say I like iOS 26, but these visual bugs have been sooo obvious for so long and Apple couldn’t find a way to fix them so far, or they didn’t care enough.
It’s just not fair for people that had perfectly working animations and a cohesive design language one day and something unfinished and radically new the next.

 

[Parowdy]

I wasn't in the iOS beta but upgraded my 13PM to RC on Friday and I am not experiencing any issues or bugs, and everything runs quite smoothly.

That’s great for you.
But you have been around long enough to know that not every device and user experiences the same issues.
I wish I would either, and believe me when I say I don’t chose to experience the visual bugs I do in post #4, and those are by far not all of them.

 

[MDTyKe]

RC is definitely full of bugs, and it's quite shocking. It's the little, very obvious things they have completely neglected - such as the ability to actually read text clearly, without text behind it. Certain bugs have existed since B1 that they have refused to fix, for example:
- Files app, when turned off in Spotlight, still has its content appearing. Annoying AF
- Can't hold down text in Spotlight to bring up the loupe. It's blown out. See pic below. I've reported this in every beta.
- The "old" keyboard (one without A on the spacebar) routinely skips characters altogether.

In addition, the little things like enabling/disabling cellular lines/eSIMS has become ridiculously confusing.

For a trillion $ company, they should have 10x the amount of developers making every aspect of iOS pristine. Instead, they are releasing sub-par products. Jobs would have fired this entire team - he stood for excellence. I'm convinced if Apple unsigns iOS 18 quickly, there'll be lawsuits it is that bad.

 

[jz0309]

That’s great for you.
But you have been around long enough to know that not every device and user experiences the same issues.
I wish I would either, and believe me when I say I don’t chose to experience the visual bugs I do in post #4, and those are by far not all of them.

I am sorry you experience these issues, but you also have been around long enough to understand that we all use our devices differently and what is a big issue for one, is a minor annoyance for the other ... just using blanket statements (the title you chose for your thread is a blanket statement) don't really help ...
I truly hope your issues will get resolved

 

[Nermal]

iOS 26 isn’t that bad. There are minor bugs. But nothing show stopping.

I haven't used 26, but this comment makes me nervous. There are minor, non-show-stopping bugs in 18 as well, and a full year later they're still there. Can I have any confidence that bugs in 26 are ever going to be fixed?

 

[AlixSPQR]

It's named iOS 26 because it won't be finished until next year.

 

[tbgb50]

I am taking a wait and see approach - Iv'e turned off auto update on all my devices. For my phone, I probably won't care. For my Mac mini and MacBook, I will care very much. I use them for working and managing personal stuff. I use my phone as little as possible. Part of me thinks if LG is so great, Apple should give us the option to turn it off and see what percentage of people do.

 

[Parowdy]

Apart from a couple crashes on the RC (because the external display with my iPad), it's mostly visual bugs I’m seeing. I expect a lot of them to be fixed in the coming months.

I hope so, it’s just almost fascinating how they couldn’t get it just right. That quote at the beginning of the latest keynote had me feel a mixed way considering LG and all the OS‘s as a whole.
I’m wondering what else could be on their mind.

 

[Parowdy]

RC is definitely full of bugs, and it's quite shocking. It's the little, very obvious things they have completely neglected - such as the ability to actually read text clearly, without text behind it. Certain bugs have existed since B1 that they have refused to fix, for example:
- Files app, when turned off in Spotlight, still has its content appearing. Annoying AF
- Can't hold down text in Spotlight to bring up the loupe. It's blown out. See pic below. I've reported this in every beta.
- The "old" keyboard (one without A on the spacebar) routinely skips characters altogether.

In addition, the little things like enabling/disabling cellular lines/eSIMS has become ridiculously confusing.

For a trillion $ company, they should have 10x the amount of developers making every aspect of iOS pristine. Instead, they are releasing sub-par products. Jobs would have fired this entire team - he stood for excellence. I'm convinced if Apple unsigns iOS 18 quickly, there'll be lawsuits it is that bad.

The keyboard skipping characters is the single worst thing, but I’ve had it on and off since iOS 17 actually, but the past few betas, and ALWAYS when using low power mode, it’s been really bad again. So weird and unnecessary.

 

[onthebuses]

I will be waiting for 26.1 at least

 

[Parowdy]

Another dishonorable mention are the micro stutters in Safari that have not been present this bad in iOS 18