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Aside from the ugly new design language, it’s disappointing how Apple has not improved how we use our phones in iOS. I feel like I’m tapping more to get to basic functions. There is no apparent improvement or refinement.
What do you expect? Seriously, the smartphone is a very mature product regardless who sells it. Pretty much everything has been tried. We are now at foldable phones. At a certain point when you realize that everyone knows the answers, you change the questions. Perhaps in 10 years we will be wearing glasses instead of using a phone to communicate.
 
Why do the icons seem less sharp now?

They seem almost slightly out of focus.
Slightly out of focus (Calculator in particular is driving me crazy) and also... slightly tilted and slightly crooked? I don't understand how this is even possible... how are my icons tilted like this?

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I’m finally old enough to know that this whole hatred of iOS 26 is like every other major UI change I’ve lived through in the last few decades, whether it was Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android.

A ton of anger and then nobody will care because change isn’t as scary as they think.

Edit: except for Windows 7 to Windows 8, but we’ll conveniently forget it was pretty much fixed in 8.1
 
I've spent nearly a day with Liquid Glass on all my Apple devices. It's fine. It doesn't add to the user experience. It doesn't distract from it either. It's more gimmicky window dressing, but I have no serious complaints.

The only change I made on my iPhone was to switch to solid numbers on the lock screen clock because the default glass numbers are too hard to read.

It has been a long time since Apple has done anything that wowed me. This could be a combination of a lack of innovation on Apple's part and how stagnant and oversaturated the technology market has become. (Even generative AI is being massively overhyped.) So, I only upgrade my devices when the old ones conk out. As for OSes, I upgrade them, make sure they didn't introduce any major bugs, and go back to work.
 
It’s absolutely fantastic! Absolutely love it! Especially after I re-enabled dark app icons! :)
 
I’m finally old enough to know that this whole hatred of iOS 26 is like every other major UI change I’ve lived through in the last few decades, whether it was Windows, Mac, iOS, or Android.

A ton of anger and then nobody will care because change isn’t as scary as they think.

Edit: except for Windows 7 to Windows 8, but we’ll conveniently forget it was pretty much fixed in 8.1
This isn't unique to UI. Any remake/reboot/sequel to movies is hated. Any rebrand is hated (Cracker Barrel). Any rule change in sports is hated. We live in an age where people just love to complain. Hopefully that changes at some point.
 
I installed iOS 25 on one of my two iPhones. Whoever approved this liquid glass design to be rolled out seriously needs to be replaced. I've been an Apple user since the Apple ][ days, and this is the worst design decision I've yet to see come out from Apple. It's hideous, an eyesore and a completely unnecessary distraction.
 
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I prefer light icons (sorry) but once in awhile some icons will temporarily turn dark, scrolling between pages fixes it.

It's random and it has been a bug since the betas

Maybe I should reboot my phone lol
 
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I really tried to love it. It actually started to grow on me over the months seeing it on screenshots and videos and I was getting a little tired of all the haters.

What can I say? It look like a cheap theme for winamp. Like comically bad. Not to speak of all the many many little bugs and inconsistencies, choppy animations all around. I just hope it gets improved somewhat. Until then I turned on "reduced transparency", changed the clock on the lockscreen and try to look beyond the rest.
I can't unsee Winamp now, thanks
 
It’s bearable on iPhone, but on iPad it’s hilariously bad, I had to completely turn it off.

Whoever is in charge of design now should be replaced, but the real blame is on Jonny Ive. This whole design disaster started with that terrible “Flat Design” concept starting iOS 7. So the actual design team had to work with the existing one, I don’t think they could just completely get rid of Flat Design and start all over with a novel concept.

But what they need is “Courage”, to do it.
 
Liquid Glass is a poorly thought out idea that was poorly executed, but it is really just a distraction so we all spend our time bickering about clear icons and don't realize that iOS 26 doesn't have that much that is new. Call screening is a nice to have, but the call features, ease of use, and actual implementation are still way behind Pixel. A lame ripoff of circle to search that is too fiddly for its own good. And an AI battery setting that no one has really tested to see how it improves anything and probably doesn't mitigate the extra battery drain this glass is creating. That's about it. It's one of the worst OSes Apple has launched for actual features.

And we are also too distracted by all this Vista design language to hold Apple to their earlier promises they still haven't delivered. We still haven't gotten the features of Apple Intelligence that iOS 18 promised. And the ones that did come out were very poor quality compared to what other AI can do. Gemini, ChatGPT, Claude, and others are iterating so fast and Apple hasn't even improved the initial features they launched with 18.1 and 18.2. Their AI photo erasing is the worst, their writing tools are the worst, and they still haven't demoed their More Personal Siri.

I know the UI stuff is still jank, but I really want them to move on already because they have much bigger problems they should be working on.
 
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I'm not understanding, didn't y'all check out what this change was going to look like prior to upgrading? There certainly were a ton of video demos and Beta users giving previews.
No, I haven’t upgraded yet. Came here to get opinions.
 
Just “up”graded my iPhone to iOS 26 and I absolutely hate it. It’s visually the ugliest iOS Apple has ever produced. The icons all have a distracting (and non-sensical) edge to them. The blurred wallpapers look nothing like they used to.

It’s so ugly I’m thinking of cancelling my iPhone Air order and looking at Samsung options.

The design actually has a lot to like… give them some time to mature it.

I agree that the glinty reflections around a lot of elements, especially places like Control Center, are horrible.

Tab bars are also really ugly and a step back in functionality.

But like with ios7, it’s a good foundation for necessary change with a lot of day 1 bugs, and I think cooler heads will eventually prevail and maturity will be restored.
 
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