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Apple Seeds First Developer Betas of iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe and More
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I've always been a big admirer of Apple's design philosophy and the clean aesthetic of iOS. For years, I've appreciated how they've managed to blend form and function seamlessly. However, with the release of iOS 26, I'm genuinely disappointed. To be frank, it's an absolute mess.
The new design language feels like a jarring step backward, strongly reminiscent of Windows Aero. Perhaps I'm just getting old, and design trends truly do have a cyclical nature, but this glassy, somewhat skeuomorphic look feels incredibly dated and utterly out of place in 2025. What was once sleek and modern now feels clunky and cluttered.
Overall, iOS 26 feels like a significant misstep for Apple. The design is a retrograde move, and the usability issues make for a far less enjoyable user experience.
The new design language feels like a jarring step backward, strongly reminiscent of Windows Aero. Perhaps I'm just getting old, and design trends truly do have a cyclical nature, but this glassy, somewhat skeuomorphic look feels incredibly dated and utterly out of place in 2025. What was once sleek and modern now feels clunky and cluttered.
Usability Woes and Glaring Bugs
Beyond the aesthetics, the usability has taken a significant hit. The most glaring issue is the legibility of text, especially on the lock screen. With a white and black background, many of the text elements are practically invisible. This problem isn't confined to the lock screen; throughout the OS, text often clashes with the new "glassy" backgrounds, making it a constant struggle to read information.- The flat font option for the lock screen clock doesn't save. It constantly reverts to the default "glassy" look, which I find genuinely unappealing and hard to read.
- The Software Update section persistently displays an error message: "Unable to verify updates."
Overall, iOS 26 feels like a significant misstep for Apple. The design is a retrograde move, and the usability issues make for a far less enjoyable user experience.
This is the first thing that entered my mind when I saw the demo. It looks like a massive accessibility fail with legibility. It would probably fail it's own native testing tools. I believe anyone with eyesight difficulties is going to find the OS much more difficult to use with such limited contrast ratios.
i put instructions on how to make bootable usb for tahoe installer here: https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/make-bootable-tahoe-usb-installer.2458565/
i tried it and it worked
in startup manager after selecting the usb
i get this
i tried it and it worked
in startup manager after selecting the usb
i get this
The problem apple have got in my opinion
Is they are like your favourite old pop/rock
Artist that when they try & do something different then some section of their customers complain
I understand your comparison, and to a degree, I agree. Innovation always carries the risk of displeasing a segment of customers, especially for a well-established brand like Apple, with its loyal user base accustomed to a certain standard.
However, there's a fundamental difference between "doing something different" and "doing something that compromises basic functionality." My disappointment with iOS 26 doesn't stem from a simple desire to keep things as they are. In fact, I've always been a huge admirer of iOS's design and its clean aesthetic; I've never been one to criticize it aesthetically, quite the opposite.
My issue isn't a stylistic change I merely dislike, but rather design choices that hinder daily interaction with the operating system. It's not like an artist experimenting with a new musical genre; it's more akin to them altering the recording to the point where the lyrics become incomprehensible due to issues with usability and legibility, like unreadable text.
I understand what your saying however these are the same challenges that apple got when they went from iOS 6 to 7
Then just stay on iOS 18 until things get fixed and further changes are implemented just like when they changed the photos gallery they had to implement away for some customers to change it back to the old way
My Mac says it's 15.5 Sequoia so I had them reversed. The point is that people have lived with name + number for a long time but are all of a sudden acting like it confuses them.
Yeah I see that in mine as well there is no developer option there anymore I wonder how they will fix it
I like certain elements of the new UI, but on the whole, it feels like a step backward. It's so heavy-handed on iOS that it looks like I just downloaded an Android launcher versus a sleek, stock feel. It feels like a novelty, not an upgrade. I think the UI's accessibility has also taken a step backward.
Is there a way to turn off screen calling in settings under notifications? I feel like the way they talked about it there isnt a way to turn that feature off. I currently have my settings set to where unknown callers go straight to voicemail but this ios 26 is making it sound like thats not an option anymore. I would think if live voicemail is turned off in settings then this would turn off screen calling too right? I also noticed they took away the voicemail button in the phone app. It used to be on the bottom.
You can choose to sceen the calls or send them to voicemail directly. If you have your phone app UI to unified, voicemail is accessible by clicking three lines on the top right corner. There you can also change the look to classic and get voicemail button on the bottom.
I really dislike the glass aesthetic entirely, but the thing that makes me NUTS is the traffic lights inside that extra margin around the sidebars. I don't know what it is—the waste of space? The way the left margin from the lights isn't the same as the top because of the extra large rounded corner and it's messing with my OCD? I don't know.
As for the rest of it, I'm making a mental list of things I hope I can turn off. The glass look is unappealing and feels like a usability nightmare. I love my flat buttons. And my poor Finder icon, my boy, look what they've done to my boy.
What will be interesting is seeing how this new OS runs on devices with only 3gb & 4gb of ram
It has 6gb of ram so it should run the new OS just fine however I wonder what the devices with less ram will be like
I agree. I think the translucency and fluid animations are designed to tax the CPU/GPU more so that iPhone 11-14 start to feel slow, laggy, maybe even unusable. They will probably feel the way my 15 Pro Max feels on beta 1, once it’s finished. Maybe there will be accessibility settings to flatten out the appearance and make it more like iOS 18. My 16 PM feels more modern since I did not install the beta on it.
I never believed in the planned obsolescence people would accuse Apple of during battery gate but the lengthening replacement cycle due to hardware/silicon that is arguably too good and lack of revenue growth while services business is under regulatory siege is a problem for them.
My second day opinion is this feels like a theme and not a UI. Something that looks cool in the thumbnail preview but doesn't work well when applied system-wide.
You have a point in regards to older devices
But I suspect it will maybe be the ones with 4gb and under that will probably struggle unless certain features are restricted to devices on 6gb & above.
I think come about beta 4 you should be able to tell if any devices struggle on iOS 26 because the first few ones are always buggy then about beta 4 it settles down
Stable. Same as Sequoia so take that was you will. There aren’t any real changes outside of UIkit being remodelled. Outside of graphical bugs with the kit itself, everything works just as well as Sequoia.
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