honestly, it looks like a "skin" for some other software from years ago. Not to my liking either but its not too bad...just "eh."
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I absolutely loathe iOS 26
- Thread starter profmjh
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Well here's a warning for everyone. One of my iPads is now infected with a piece of malware called iPadOS 26 (13" M4 iPad Pro).
I had automatic updates off, but I had a notification yesterday there was an update available to 18.7.2. I was surprised I missed that one, so I clicked the Install Tonight button and this morning it had 26.1 on it. I am not sure if Apple tricked me or it was a bug or I just have poor reading comprehension skills. But now I am stuck with it. I played around with it for a bit since I had not used it since July. Yes, I tinted the glass to minimize some of the ugliness, but my opinion on this OS stands. This is still a very inconsistent and incompetently-designed OS made for the same people who like the way TVs demo in a Best Buy at max brightness in an unrealistic vivid mode with motion smoothing on. It sure looks "purdy" until you actually want to get things done.
I cannot get over how hideous some of the new icons look (Calculator/Settings/Camera icons--why did you think gray needed to be a pastel... and blurry?). Solid AMOLED black is now impossible as everything looks frosted black instead. It just looks like the whole screen got smeared. And the icons look crooked. I feel like I am using the iPad underwater (which may be the intended effect). I also have this annoying white edge line in the bottom right of my window to remind me I can resize it when it is fullscreen. I have traffic buttons that I need to long press to get to my old controls (and WHY is there a red one? we have been told for years not to force close apps and now it is a button?). And everything takes more clicks to get to.
And that's before I get into how buggy a mess Safari has become. Menus and buttons just overlap webpages and each other. My clicks on interface elements don't work half the time. I don't think I can actually use this browser in its current state.
According to Gurman, Liquid Glass was 3 years of development. On top of that, we are going to be nearly 2 years since More Personal Siri was announced before it actually ships (or even demos) because Apple had to punt the hard work over to Google. This is just further proof that Apple's software team has been gutted and is running on a skeleton crew of overpaid, unskilled leftovers who couldn't get a job anywhere else. You can't just spend your way out of every problem. You need to hire some talent and train/develop them. It does not instill me with confidence that other longstanding issues are even viewed as "issues" at Apple. What is currently on their To Do list? Do they have a giant whiteboard of things they know they need to get around to fixing when time permits? Or are they always looking forward at the next shiny thing? When the foldable comes out next year, is all we get with iOS 27 a bunch of stuff for a phone only 1-3% of iPhone users will buy? Where's the stuff for the rest of us? Sorry, but that depresses me.
If you read this far, congrats. Whatever medication you take to deal with these feelings, take two today. You earned it!
I had automatic updates off, but I had a notification yesterday there was an update available to 18.7.2. I was surprised I missed that one, so I clicked the Install Tonight button and this morning it had 26.1 on it. I am not sure if Apple tricked me or it was a bug or I just have poor reading comprehension skills. But now I am stuck with it. I played around with it for a bit since I had not used it since July. Yes, I tinted the glass to minimize some of the ugliness, but my opinion on this OS stands. This is still a very inconsistent and incompetently-designed OS made for the same people who like the way TVs demo in a Best Buy at max brightness in an unrealistic vivid mode with motion smoothing on. It sure looks "purdy" until you actually want to get things done.
I cannot get over how hideous some of the new icons look (Calculator/Settings/Camera icons--why did you think gray needed to be a pastel... and blurry?). Solid AMOLED black is now impossible as everything looks frosted black instead. It just looks like the whole screen got smeared. And the icons look crooked. I feel like I am using the iPad underwater (which may be the intended effect). I also have this annoying white edge line in the bottom right of my window to remind me I can resize it when it is fullscreen. I have traffic buttons that I need to long press to get to my old controls (and WHY is there a red one? we have been told for years not to force close apps and now it is a button?). And everything takes more clicks to get to.
And that's before I get into how buggy a mess Safari has become. Menus and buttons just overlap webpages and each other. My clicks on interface elements don't work half the time. I don't think I can actually use this browser in its current state.
According to Gurman, Liquid Glass was 3 years of development. On top of that, we are going to be nearly 2 years since More Personal Siri was announced before it actually ships (or even demos) because Apple had to punt the hard work over to Google. This is just further proof that Apple's software team has been gutted and is running on a skeleton crew of overpaid, unskilled leftovers who couldn't get a job anywhere else. You can't just spend your way out of every problem. You need to hire some talent and train/develop them. It does not instill me with confidence that other longstanding issues are even viewed as "issues" at Apple. What is currently on their To Do list? Do they have a giant whiteboard of things they know they need to get around to fixing when time permits? Or are they always looking forward at the next shiny thing? When the foldable comes out next year, is all we get with iOS 27 a bunch of stuff for a phone only 1-3% of iPhone users will buy? Where's the stuff for the rest of us? Sorry, but that depresses me.
If you read this far, congrats. Whatever medication you take to deal with these feelings, take two today. You earned it!
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I’d love to put iPadOS on my iPad but it’s not supported. I’m thinking of getting a new iPad that supports iPadOS 26. (I need a new one anyway)
I've been running it on my iPad Pro and only experienced minor bugs so far. I like the new look of the OS and am sure as updates are released it will continue to improve.
Where they will passive aggressively allow one to turn off SOME features. Not all. If they had a button that would reverse the new BS entirely, we would not be having this convo.
I'd been following the *OS 26 news for months now, looking at beta screenshots and whatnot, watching video captures on youtube. I strongly disliked the "glass" skeuomorphism and the lack of proper contrast was an obvious flaw that even most amateur graphic designers would know to avoid.
This week I got to try iOS 26.0.1 firsthand on an iPad at work, and it somehow seemed worse in real life than in the screencaps and videos.
Apple needs to remedy the design disaster that is *OS 26 immediately. Get rid of"glass." It's not glass. Everyone knows it's not glass. Everyone knows it's pixels on a display. There's no need for "refraction" on my UI slider elements. Gotta have proper contrast. Gotta implement sound graphic design principles. Doesn't matter if sensible design is "boring" coz sensible design _works_.
I've been a BSD and Linux user since before MacOS X came out; I started trying BSD/Linux in the 1990s coz I read that Apple's next OS at the time (OS X) would be based on BSD. One of the really nice things about BSD/Linux is there's so many desktop environments and so many window managers to choose from. And you can configure the bejeezus out of them. In macOS 26, you're stuck with Liquid Glass.
This week I got to try iOS 26.0.1 firsthand on an iPad at work, and it somehow seemed worse in real life than in the screencaps and videos.
Apple needs to remedy the design disaster that is *OS 26 immediately. Get rid of"glass." It's not glass. Everyone knows it's not glass. Everyone knows it's pixels on a display. There's no need for "refraction" on my UI slider elements. Gotta have proper contrast. Gotta implement sound graphic design principles. Doesn't matter if sensible design is "boring" coz sensible design _works_.
I've been a BSD and Linux user since before MacOS X came out; I started trying BSD/Linux in the 1990s coz I read that Apple's next OS at the time (OS X) would be based on BSD. One of the really nice things about BSD/Linux is there's so many desktop environments and so many window managers to choose from. And you can configure the bejeezus out of them. In macOS 26, you're stuck with Liquid Glass.
maybe suggest feedback to Apple and to provide a toggle. Can’t hurt.
This segment of your wonderful post is exactly what has me concerned.
There is no focus on finish quality or even fixing a whole bunch of things.
It’s always get it to be sort of OK, maybe, and then move onto the next thing.
It’s amazing to me how some posters think Apple could roll out sophisticated operating systems across multiple platforms where the engineers are a “skeleton crew of overpaid, unskilled leftovers who couldn't get a job anywhere else.”
Ouch, that “zinger” really hurt Apple and sent a useful message. And I’m sure Apple only uses a whiteboard for tracking critical issues.
But I digress.
Ouch, that “zinger” really hurt Apple and sent a useful message. And I’m sure Apple only uses a whiteboard for tracking critical issues.
But I digress.
You forgot to include the quotes around "sophisticated" 🤣
Automatic Updates are a tried and true way to eventually ruin a good iPhone. Apple has been wrecking iPhones for over a decade this way.
And yes - if you choose to "install tonight", it will automatically choose the newest version of iOS if there are two versions available, iOS 18.7x & iOS 26.x - it will install iOS 26.x Surprise!).
For those old enough to remember - there was a huge interface design change when the Mac went from System 9 (old style) to the new OS X 10 Aqua look. It was a radical change.
But... for the most part, people liked the Aqua interface, it was just slow to use. Not as snappy as the old OS.
As the years went by, the Macs got faster and faster until the OS was fast and fluid.
I think thats Apple's plan with iOS 26.
First version is clunky but as processors get more powerful over the years it will become snappy again.
Nothing drives new computer/iPhone sales like slowing everything down with a clunky new OS.
Thats the plan
And yes - if you choose to "install tonight", it will automatically choose the newest version of iOS if there are two versions available, iOS 18.7x & iOS 26.x - it will install iOS 26.x Surprise!).
For those old enough to remember - there was a huge interface design change when the Mac went from System 9 (old style) to the new OS X 10 Aqua look. It was a radical change.
But... for the most part, people liked the Aqua interface, it was just slow to use. Not as snappy as the old OS.
As the years went by, the Macs got faster and faster until the OS was fast and fluid.
I think thats Apple's plan with iOS 26.
First version is clunky but as processors get more powerful over the years it will become snappy again.
Nothing drives new computer/iPhone sales like slowing everything down with a clunky new OS.
Thats the plan
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This is all true, but...
You said that Apple has been wrecking iPhones for over a decade. Yes, Apple releases garbage. Apple disallows downgrading. That’s all wrong, that’s malicious, that’s pathetic.
But practically everyone just updates willingly. Then they complain, when their devices are inevitably garbage. This is obviously intensified by this resource-intensive redesign.
And if you didn’t update willingly and the device updated automatically... haven’t you learned by now to disable automatic updates? It’s too late in iOS’ lifecycle to claim ignorance as a valid excuse.
If you updated willingly while caring about performance and battery life, why? What in the world were you expecting? If, as a long-term iOS user, you have automatic updates enabled, why? Don’t you know what they do by now?
It’s the users’ fault almost as much as Apple. Apple gets away with this garbage because people are addicted to hitting that update button. Well, if you keep doing that, then you deserve to use garbage.
I mean, is this so difficult?
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I'm fine with it, more indifferent than anything. Some features have come in handy like call screening (I get 10 telemarketers a day) and Preview. I haven't run into any bugs that affected me, nor has my battery life or performance noticeably changed. I couldn't care less about the aesthetics.
My cousin upgraded her iPhone 14 Pro to the 17 Pro mostly on the basis of what iOS 26 did to her old phone especially the battery. So the more cynical might wonder if this was deliberate to get people to buy a new iPhone.
I see no difference with my iPhone 15 Pro. (Good, because I don’t want to upgrade it.) My spouse has a vanilla 14, also no noticeable difference in battery life. YMMV, I suppose. The 26 OSes seem to be very hit-and-miss for people.
I know what happened here, because I updated to 18.7.2 yesterday. When you click the notification, it goes to the software update part of settings but then offers you 26.1 for installation. To get 18.7.2 you have to press back in the top left.
I don't know if it's a deliberate dark pattern or an oversight (i.e. offer 26.1 first however you access the update screen) but it definitely feels like a trap.
Definitely still the worst experience I've ever had with an iOS version (bar maybe iOS 9, though that was just slow) - lock screen camera shortcut roulette, pitiful battery, not being able to scroll between Home Screen pages with out jitter, random re-springs, untold numbers of other weird glitches...
iPhone 13 Pro Max and I made the rare move of installing the latest iOS 26.0.1. Liquid Glass on iOS is fantastic. To me it's like iOS is healing after more than a decade of the horrible flat UI treatment. My only complaint is they missed an opportunity to give it some subtle gloss and light refraction like Aqua had, because of that when elements are against solid color backgrounds it's still a bit flat and ugly looking.
To those who hate Liquid Glass on iOS and prefer the prior UI over it: yes, it's personal preference. We suffered for 10 years waiting for skeuomorphism to be in again (and always knew it would be since graphic design goes full circle when designers inevitably run out of ideas). Now, it's your turn 🫠
I wish they’d go back to full iOS 6. The transparency of Liquid Glass is anything but, IMO.
As somebody who updates nothing, I’d be very, very compelled to update to a hypothetical new major iOS version if it gave me iOS 6’s design.
You're still waiting, then. There is less skeuomorphism in iOS 26 than the any version prior.
If there is an update to 18 then the update pages takes you to the 26 update page (you may notice it switches to the page with the two OSes before taking you to the 26 page), you need to notice that and hit the back button to access your 18 update. Definitely a dark pattern.
I'm convinced the guys in Cupertino don't use their own products. Why even show the time? Screenshot from Apple News
