Apple Improves Liquid Glass in iOS 26 Beta 4, Reversing Some Beta 3 Changes

[gimmesomemo]

Is that just because it’s beta? Why would Apple try to prevent using Liquid Glass? I’ve seen an app in TestFlight that is redesigned with LG.

No the apis to customise it, things like tint or background color, certain container values like padding and corners, animation, etc etc.

They did the same thing with navigation controller apis because they wanted ui to be consistent, but of course plenty of apple apps magically had different designs which made use of the private classes, which the rest of us are not allowed to use.

A small example. The new floating tab bar. There is a new container which is private, where you could change the background color to let’s say match brand design, or heck I donno - make it less impossible to read stuff - but it’s a private class. It’s totally possible to customise these things, but if Apple finds the code you risk a ban

 

[Sputman99]

Let’s hope there’s an option to turn off this nonsense

 

[thettareddast]

You might want to flip the screenshots in that last image or flip the other three. 4-3, 4-3, 4-3, (suddenly) 3-4.

yes, and why even place it out of sequential order in the first place.

should be old vs new

 

[heeloliver]

I don’t think they ever planned on getting rid of it or reducing it like they did in beta 3. They were simply trying new things to enhance readability but surely the changes in beta 3 were never meant to be permanent. It’s a beta for a reason. They try different things to see how people react.

 

[Princejb134]

Please don't improve Liquid Glass, just flush it down the drain!

The media will go wild if they do this. I highly doubt apple will back down.

 

[Haiku_Oezu]

View attachment 2530892

What’s that about?

Somebody was a little too excited and held the tube of Liquid Glass a little too tight

 

[MAlbi]

I do not mind, as long as “liquid glass” is just another skin in the library. On the contrary Apple seems to me as determined enough to release this “daylight challenge”, sorry “liquid glass”, as an ultimate new design.
I am looking forward to what Apple is going to do with the phone app - call screening, mute when on hold, this is interesting.
I will not upgrade untill 26.3.x is released anyway. I am not brave enough for “early adoption” anymore.
Let the feast on emotions begin in September.
Excuse my english.

 

[twolf2919]

It's the one with the slightly frosted cartouche around it that you can see clearly if you press your nose against the screen

My workaround has been to set my laptop's brightness to 100% whenever I need to find the active tab & background is like this. But that's no way to live a decent life :-(

I don't know what Apple's pre-occupation with translucency is when it comes to the Safari address bar, Favorites, and tabs. I have seen their 'explanation' of wanting to provide more space for content - but in this case, it's just the appearance of more space for content - at the real expense of usability.

I already had to give up my usual Dark Mode setting when I started using Tahoe - because in dark mode, the problem is even worse. It's a bit disconcerting how little usability testing seems to be going on at Apple these days.

 

[robertosh]

You should stop complaining, you will have it in your next brand new iPhone even if you don't like it

 

[turbineseaplane]

In what universe are the ones on the left "better"?

On this one I'm confused .. typo?
Or did the Beta4 shot end up on the right for this particular comparison?

 

[Stormz]

The liquid glass concept was flawed from the start, or at least certainly when applied to all these UI elements.

Make something semi-transparent, you reduce readability of the foreground. Reduce readability of the foreground, you reduce user experience.

Textbook form over function.

But ooooooo, shiny shiny...

A half-decent design manager would have nipped this idea in the bud at the start, or at least greatly pared back its application.

Instead, they're now stuck in this awkward place of going back and forth with no idea what to do, under the guise of 'getting user feedback'. A design team should not need users to explain to them basic design principles.

 

[bluespark]

[posted erroneously; please delete]

 

[212rikanmofo]

Open control panel and long press into edit mode, click Add Control and then pick the "Scene or Accessory" control from the Home section... click on the new control and you can pick the accessory and then resize the control if required.

Strange, It doesn't seem to show up for me. But I do have scenes and accessories listed under the Home.app. Control center doesn't seem to see them though.

 

[SactoGuy18]

Let’s hope there’s an option to turn off this nonsense

What I really want is the ability to adjust the level of transparency. Maybe not through an infinite step slider, but at least one with 5-7 levels of transparency.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Saw this and it feels spot on

 

[SactoGuy18]

Saw this and it feels spot on

View attachment 2531309

I'd almost agree but let's see what the final version looks like by the final release in September 2025.

 

[turbineseaplane]

I'd almost agree but let's see what the final version looks like by the final release in September 2025.

Agreed .. but they just made it worse from B3 to B4

My hopes are not high here.

They are basically out of time given how the schedules go for this stuff (for a September release with July nearly over).

 

[alanvitek]

There are some aspects of LG that I really like. For example, how the Customize button has a rim reflection from the background panel above it.

Really nice attention to detail

 

[DennisdeWit]

I have Menieres Disease and Liquid Glass is a disaster. The motions are so agressive now, that I feel dizzy and nauseous when using iOS 26. Yes, you can turn on Reduce Transparency, but that makes a lot of stuff really ugly. I would just want a blur and that’s it. I don’t want a Windows 95 experience.

Those have been 15 fun years with the iPhone, but I am planning on moving to the Pixel 10 Pro XL. So yes, I will stop whining and stop using the iPhone, as some of you wish.

 

[turbineseaplane]

There are some aspects of LG that I really like. For example, how the Customize button has a rim reflection from the background panel above it.

Really nice attention to detail

View attachment 2531315

We could have something like that without all the drawbacks of LG

 

[tim_apple]

I have Menieres Disease and Liquid Glass is a disaster. The motions are so agressive now, that I feel dizzy and nauseous when using iOS 26. Yes, you can turn on Reduce Transparency, but that makes a lot of stuff really ugly. I would just want a blur and that’s it. I don’t want a Windows 95 experience.

Those have been 15 fun years with the iPhone, but I am planning on moving to the Pixel 10 Pro XL. So yes, I will stop whining and stop using the iPhone, as some of you wish.

And Reduce Motion?

 

[Arislan]

When you cannot tell what the contents of a button are, the visual design is broken. Scroll through the App Store in beta 4 and watch the left button disappear multiple times. It's a terrible interface paradigm and it will get worse depending on what colors/objects are under buttons in 3rd party apps.

 

[SactoGuy18]

I have Menieres Disease and Liquid Glass is a disaster. The motions are so agressive now, that I feel dizzy and nauseous when using iOS 26. Yes, you can turn on Reduce Transparency, but that makes a lot of stuff really ugly. I would just want a blur and that’s it. I don’t want a Windows 95 experience.

Those have been 15 fun years with the iPhone, but I am planning on moving to the Pixel 10 Pro XL. So yes, I will stop whining and stop using the iPhone, as some of you wish.

You might want to brace yourself but I've read that Android 16 could have Liquid Glass-like features. But I believe it can be turned off in Settings.

 

[turbineseaplane]

You might want to brace yourself but I've read that Android 16 could have Liquid Glass-like features. But I believe it can be turned off in Settings.

I hope iOS 26 can be reverted to iOS 18 (essentially) with a switch or two.

 

[DennisdeWit]

And Reduce Motion?

No, because I want to enjoy using a functional app switcher I don’t want to see fades everywhere. It’s just not worth the money to pay 1500 euro’s for a phone that I have to cripple to use it normally.

Thanks for the advice, though.