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Apple Changes Liquid Glass Again in iOS 26 Beta 6
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Stupid user interface designs are outlined in Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy, which I will paraphrase here:
“It’s the wild colour scheme that freaks me,” said Zaphod whose love affair with this ship had lasted almost three minutes into the flight, “Every time you try to operate on of these weird glass controls that are labelled in glass on a glass background, a little glass light lights up glass to let you know you’ve done it.”
I don't think Jony should be catching strays for a design he has nothing to do with. If he hired Alan Dye, I change my mind. That's the guy responsible for this mess
In any given year, there are more people that don’t buy Apple devices than do. So, people hating what Apple’s making, I expect that. Out of 8 billion people in the world, they only have to sell somewhere north of 200 million iPhones. If things are like an average year, half of the people buying a new iPhone will be upgrading from a phone 2-10 years old (with 3 billion out there, just 100 million upgrades, likely not difficult). That leaves them needing to sell 100 million iPhones to folks that own no smartphone or own an Android phone. For someone already considering leaving Android, it’s a cool UI. For those that don’t own any smartphone, still, cool UI. Even if 4 billion people hate it, Apple’s only got to sell 100 million and they can say “good year”.
Looks like it can either look cool or... visible. Noticed same when tried tinkering with similar effects for an app a few years ago. Makes me feel better that even Apple doesn't seem to have secret sauce that would do otherwise.
Can we just get a dedicated bug hunter team to get rid of bugs still lingering from 5 years ago?
Wayyy Better now
Apple is continuing to tweak the way that the Liquid Glass design looks ahead of the iOS 26 launch, and the latest beta makes a change to the Lock Screen.
The Lock Screen clock has been updated with additional transparency, allowing more of the background to peek through.
Beta 6 on left, beta 5 on right
The clock also has more of a 3D, floating look, which is in line with the rest of the Liquid Glass design. Apple didn't change the Liquid Glass look of the control buttons, but the icons are larger. Lock Screen widgets haven't changed.
Beta 6 on left, beta 5 on right
With the updated floating design and added translucency, the clock can be somewhat harder to see on certain darker backgrounds, but it is definitely more of a Liquid Glass aesthetic.
Apple has been tweaking different iOS 26 design elements throughout the beta testing process as it aims to perfect Liquid Glass before the iOS 26 debut in September.
Article Link: Apple Changes Liquid Glass Again in iOS 26 Beta 6
Very pretty. They should just remove the clock, though, since it's not readable anyway.
Predator V … the liquid glass series … they’ll never see you coming
Just put a slider in display settings letting us choose how opaque we want it and be done with it.
Bingo.
Another inconsistency that's been bugging me: the way the bubble slider works in Camera (when selecting different camera types) is different (read: opposite) to how it functions in Safari (when moving between Tabs).
Did I see where there was a fix/setting that addressed this inconsistency?
Absolutely horrible. No contrast, worse readability and overall step back. I can't help but feel that this won't be pretty.
Haha I would love if they showed previous on left an update on right.
I’m hoping somebody was tasked with improving iOS curser and text highlighting when in dark mode. In many instances it literally impossible for me to see the blue against the charcoal taupe background. Should be orange.
Are you feeling OK? You're not supposed to say anything positive about Apple here.
Seriously. Apple never quite finishes implementing the last big thing before tolling out the next.
This will all get fixed over the next ... (checks calendar) ... "4 weeks", right?
It's really something to watch them vacillate around, beta to beta, screwing the pooch, in real time.
It's really something to watch them vacillate around, beta to beta, screwing the pooch, in real time.
Why would you make it harder to read the most-used information on the screen? My bigger complaint is it's not always on top! Sorry, I can't tell you what time it is, my phone decided this picture is better than the time, so you don't get to see it.
The more translucent it is, the harder it becomes to apprehend the time at a glance, or in bad lighting (in the sun for example), or from an angle, or when not wearing your glasses, or...
There’s a wide range between “perfectly readable at first glance under all conditions” and “hardly readable at all”. The present change from beta 5 to 6 moves it further down in that range.