Normally user testing is done in the design phase with prototypes, using focus groups. Long before the beta phase. Beta testing traditionally is to eliminate implementation bugs, not to change the features that are implemented.
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Apple Improves Liquid Glass in iOS 26 Beta 4, Reversing Some Beta 3 Changes
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Did apple actually listen and get rid of that useless blur at the top & bottom of some apps like safari & messages?
Please say yes… even if it isn’t true 🫣😅
Please say yes… even if it isn’t true 🫣😅
Not sure why all the “I hate Liquid Glass” people don’t just opt for the “standard” icon set or use the accessibilty setting to reduce transparency… (that is what it’s there for, right? To improve readability for that need/desire it)
Why should the rest of us be hamstrung by the complaints of a vocal few?
apple is so lost. all the *OS 26 (macos, ios, ipados...) is going to be the laughing stock of tech world. every UI professionnal out there is going to look at that liquid sh*t brain fart and wonder what they are smoking at apple. it's beyond ridiculous. it's completely clueless. it's chaining all the known "Big No" and "Don't do that" like the world had no UI experience from the past 40 years. even the basics like "readability is a must" are getting ignored. it's appalling, dreadful, ridiculous.
My issue is the notion that Apple can just simply stick a slider in settings and it solves any/all problems. Has anyone actually shown a working implementation of this? All I’ve seen are some mockups of what a slider would look like. Nothing actually showing how it would work in practice.
To be fair, every one of these screenshots looks blurry. But I do think the accents should be either black or white, get rid of the colors.
They’re screenshots of the images in the main article. You can go look at the originals if you want. It’s not even just the glass effect that’s an issue, look at the one of the status bar where the clock is illegible.
Liquid Glass is a failure from the beginning. I don't understand what they were thinking. While it looks good, the readability sucks! I don't know how they can fix this, while maintaining the cool effects.
I wouldn’t say it’s improved. More like the mess is back…
Tbh, when I heard about the new UI, I was very excited, but I also knew execution will be bad. Lots of what Apple has delivered in the past couple of years, software-wise, has been half-broken, and we’re talking even about basic features. Obviously, there are issues - don’t know if with the engineers, the product managers, the quality control (seems all of it), but I knew putting this up will be hard to to right. It just seems so low quality, especially the macOS which should also be a professional tool.
Tbh, when I heard about the new UI, I was very excited, but I also knew execution will be bad. Lots of what Apple has delivered in the past couple of years, software-wise, has been half-broken, and we’re talking even about basic features. Obviously, there are issues - don’t know if with the engineers, the product managers, the quality control (seems all of it), but I knew putting this up will be hard to to right. It just seems so low quality, especially the macOS which should also be a professional tool.
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This glass finish needs to be OPTIONAL. I don't like this, and I don't want it.
100% - I don’t understand why you wouldn’t do this.
Even as a designer I’m struggling to accept ‘maybe this would be too difficult to implement’. There’s layers involved in an effect, which dependent on the element is set at X transparency/effect. Open them up to users - Widget transparency, control centre transparency, dock transparency etc.
It seems that with every beta version, they dial something back, making it less “Liquid Glass” and more like iOS 18. This supports my theory that Apple intentionally went overboard with the whole Liquid Glass design to get people talking about it and to divert attention from the issues related to AI. The iPhone 16 lineup was marketed with the promise that AI would arrive with it, with a “couple” of weeks’ delay. If this theory sounds far-fetched, remember that Apple is all about creating perceptions and marketing, so these kinds of manipulations wouldn’t seem impossible to me at all.
Is this more usable than iOS 18.x?.
Does it provide some improvements or just change for change’s sake?.
Can the user use a slider to select how much transparency I get?.
For an adult consuming iPhones since the first one, my eyes are not improving, so this “new” design language is some steps back, only enjoyed by tennagers, every adult will have trouble with the buttons.
Does it provide some improvements or just change for change’s sake?.
Can the user use a slider to select how much transparency I get?.
For an adult consuming iPhones since the first one, my eyes are not improving, so this “new” design language is some steps back, only enjoyed by tennagers, every adult will have trouble with the buttons.
Option 4: update and complain.
Vocally and publicly.
Criticism and complaints foster change.
Shutting up and silent acceptance do not.
Better ... but ... It still looks bad either way, and hopefully can be turned off, in accessibility, if need be.
I get eye strain from out of focus & blurry stuff ... especially out of focus 2d / 3d like stuff at a fixed distance that
should be in focus.
I get eye strain from out of focus & blurry stuff ... especially out of focus 2d / 3d like stuff at a fixed distance that
should be in focus.
This design is severely lacking in accessibility and exemplifies the concept of form over function. Design should prioritize simplicity and avoid being intrusive. This does not.
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Is this a medical condition? Vertigo? Is it the movement or the static image? I imagine you could have a reaction but nauseous seems extreme 😕
The one that has an oval around it? 😋
I agree there needs to be a tiny bit more contrast or definition on this but I don't tend to have that many tabs open at once in Safari so it's not as much of a problem for me. Beta 4 on MacOS totally did away with the "Show color in tab bar" functionality and just kind of defaults to a light/dark tinted glass panel at the top. I'm not sure if this setting is working as intended right now.
These colored highlight buttons the Apple apps are using are probably the worst examples of Liquid Glass in the whole OS. I remember in the video they showed main action background tinted versions of icons. I wonder if those would look better here. They could bleed into the bar when they need to and use some extra frosting behind just this so it's legible.