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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.
Based on the title I expected to read a list of criticisms about what features are hard to use, obvious bugs and just general problems.

What I read is that you don’t think it looks pretty.
 
Would it be a mistake to upgrade my iPhone SE 2, or is it considered (by users, not by Apple) too underpowered for iOS 26?
 
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 don't think so. Usually when people just hate the change the criticisms are more based on "why did they change this, it didn't need to be changed" and stuff like that. The critique of Liquid Glass I'm seeing is mostly specifically pointed at real usability, functionality, and style issues
 
Haha I remember all the hate when that one dropped. Eventually it all faded away though.
That's because Apple responded to and fixed most of the usability complaints. People are mad now because they didn't do that for most of the feedback and complaints because their beta was way too short. 3 months is nothing
 
Based on the title I expected to read a list of criticisms about what features are hard to use, obvious bugs and just general problems.

What I read is that you don’t think it looks pretty.
You do know that Apple operates on the whole visual style. It’s like one of the main selling points of their products. So if someone doesn’t find it pretty, its important criticism for their customer.
 
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I absolutely love iOS 26, the best update in years!!! It’s faster than iOS 18 and my 15 Pro literally feels like it’s brand new.
For me on iPhone 16 pro max the animations were choppy and not smooth like iOS 18 , the glass elements make things unreadable, the stock apps seem unusable because the obsessive need for apple to make everything transparent .
I could go on but it makes me wonder how any one at apple thought this was the right thing to do .
And you can’t compare this to the iOS 6 to iOS 7 redesign it’s completely different
iOS 6 did have its issues and iOS 7 while dramatic did resolve issues and eventually it was better , iOS 26 and beyond will never get better this is bad really bad and for the average person who upgraded to the 17s because of phone plans will have a massive shock .
 
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Installed on my iPhone 15 Pro and it seems ok. There's still some visual glitches here and there but that's to be expected with a X.0 release. I expect it to be more polished by 26.1.
 
What a rude comment. This guy lost thousands of his photos. Anyone would be upset about that.
While it most definitely sucks I also find it wild anyone would rely on an online service like that and not also do regular backups to a separated physical drive at home. I’d never trust any online service with my data like that.
 
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ATV4k's: Notice almost no difference other than CC and see through stuff on buttons for native apps (just AppleTV+ for now? others are unchanged). But I do notice 2nd gen 4k feeling much more sluggish going through UI. They ought to fix that it's really ugly.
Odd, because speed and response tvOS 26 is about the same on my 2015 ATV4. It's crazy to think that box is still getting OS updates 10 years out. I've been hoping for it to get cutoff from OS support so I can buy a new ATV 4K.
 
So I reduced the transparency in the settings
The problem with Reduce Transparency in iOS 26 is that it also reduces contrast (even with Increase Contrast activated). Instead of black or dark gray text/symbols on white-ish background you get them on a grayish background. So while Reduce Transparency makes for a uniform background instead of color blotches, it can still decrease legibility instead of increasing it.
 
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Would it be a mistake to upgrade my iPhone SE 2, or is it considered (by users, not by Apple) too underpowered for iOS 26?
I’m using iPadOS 26 on my iPad gen 9, and it has same processor and RAM as SE2. It works fine with reduced transparency but is a little jittery at times with full Liquid Grass. YMMV
 
In what ways?

I found some of them he UI tweaking make things less intuitive and omitting some of the controls, e.g. exposure adjustment for night shots, indications of number of pics in full or summary mode in trip albums, wiping off a tab in Safari requiring one more click, notification popup shown on the top hardly visible owing to the transparency nature of the new UI.
I think it is a great iOS update - mainly iPad ! It’s a Mac that is touchscreen. It’s all fun to play with and Liquid Glass is great addition. I was over the matte look for years. If you hate it - the articles have told you how to turn liquid glass off… go that direction if you want … it’s an option. So yes I love this iOS - if it continues I am all for it.
 
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