I absolutely loathe iOS 26

[FeliApple]

I did NOT watch the keynote but I read the website. They’re advertising performance improvements.

Historically, when they’ve done so, it has been true, but it has never come in hand with battery life improvements; in fact, just the opposite. They’ve been able to do one OR the other.

Let’s see if 27 doesn’t obliterate battery life further.

Honestly… I have a certain degree of confidence in Apple’s performance claims. When they say it’s better like this, it’s typically true. Battery life can go from similar to 26 to absolutely obliterated. We’ll see.

 

[Brettka7]

So… how’s everyone feeling about the liquid glass changes coming in September?

 

[ProbablyDylan]

So… how’s everyone feeling about the liquid glass changes coming in September?

The slider is nice. I'm running the beta and have it set to 3/4 tint and I'm pretty happy with that. They toned down the specular highlights too which is nice.

Now my biggest issue is the enormous padding for controls but progress is progress

 

[Brettka7]

The slider is nice. I'm running the beta and have it set to 3/4 tint and I'm pretty happy with that. They toned down the specular highlights too which is nice.

Now my biggest issue is the enormous padding for controls but progress is progress

The slider is nice, I did 3/4 tint at first but now I’m about 90% to max tint. I can hardly express how much I missed blur. I do like the fact that blur isn’t as intense as iOS 18 because you can really make iOS 27 glass look frosted and beautiful.

Agree about the specular highlights. The fact that they’re symmetrical is a huge win alone. Nothing feels tilted any more. My home screen is no longer distracting.

Really just want to see light mode button shading get fixed and I’ll be satisfied with the whole update.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

The slider is nice, I did 3/4 tint at first but now I’m about 90% to max tint. I can hardly express how much I missed blur. I do like the fact that blur isn’t as intense as iOS 18 because you can really make iOS 27 glass look frosted and beautiful.

Agree about the specular highlights. The fact that they’re symmetrical is a huge win alone. Nothing feels tilted any more. My home screen is no longer distracting.

Really just want to see light mode button shading get fixed and I’ll be satisfied with the whole update.

I really don't like the background bar they added to toolbars. It's maybe defensible on Mac but on iPhone it just looks goofy.

 

[boswald]

While I applaud the LG slider in 27, I'm most excited for the return of decent first-party icons. They look a lot more sharp and clean.

 

[Brettka7]

I really don't like the background bar they added to toolbars. It's maybe defensible on Mac but on iPhone it just looks goofy.

I personally like it, the new top bar looks like glass in a way last year’s glass components didn’t. I like watching content slide behind it.

It would be nice if Apple gave users a toggle for it or if they removed it automatically if the user goes below 50% tint, though.

 

[now i see it]

So…everyone on this thread had been going on and on and on about how sucky iOS 26 was — so I didn’t install it.

Today 6/29/26, Apple issued a massive security update via iOS 26.5.2 - and this was my trigger to finally update my iPhone from iOS 18.

I did it and the upgrade went smoothly—- and iOS 26.5.2 looks virtually identical to iOS 18!

I have reduced transparency and reduced motion turned on in accessibility settings and it looks indistinguishable for the most part from iOS 18.

I guess I missed all the bad buggy stuff earlier in the year.
Everything seems fine so far.

 

[FeliApple]

So…everyone on this thread had been going on and on and on about how sucky iOS 26 was — so I didn’t install it.

Today 6/29/26, Apple issued a massive security update via iOS 26.5.2 - and this was my trigger to finally update my iPhone from iOS 18.

I did it and the upgrade went smoothly—- and iOS 26.5.2 looks virtually identical to iOS 18!

I have reduced transparency and reduced motion turned on in accessibility settings and it looks indistinguishable for the most part from iOS 18.

I guess I missed all the bad buggy stuff earlier in the year.
Everything seems fine so far.

On which iPhone? Virtually identical is a bit of a stretch, but I do reckon you can make it look better via settings.

 

[Brettka7]

On which iPhone? Virtually identical is a bit of a stretch, but I do reckon you can make it look better via settings.

They turned all the blur off on iOS 18, all the glass and floating components off on iOS 26, and all the animations off for both.

I’m sure both versions look equally hideous in use 🤷‍♂️

 

[now i see it]

They turned all the blur off on iOS 18, all the glass and floating components off on iOS 26, and all the animations off for both.

I’m sure both versions look equally hideous in use 🤷‍♂️

You may be right.
I only use iPhones in grayscale since it’s much calmer to look at. So maybe that’s why iOS 18 and 26 look pretty much the same to me except for the rounder app icon corners

 

[FeliApple]

You may be right.
I only use iPhones in grayscale since it’s much calmer to look at. So maybe that’s why iOS 18 and 26 look pretty much the same to me except for the rounder app icon corners

I unwittingly updated the Telegram app to Liquid Glass, enabled grayscale, and it still looks like glass to be honest.