I absolutely loathe iOS 26

[uacd]

J

If you don't like Samsung's default, unlike Apple, there are 100's of optional launchers and icons available.

That all works like 💩. Been here, tried it all. Even purchased few paid themes and icon packs (that turned to be disgusting low resolution do*****). And Samsung doesn’t even care to somehow clean up that mess.

What I love in Apple is that everything works good out of the box. I would love proper theming capability + icon replacement tho, so everyone would be happy, with 3 preinstalled styles: default, minimal and oldschool (that nice iOS 6 aesthetic)

 

[DanneP]

All of these complaints are normal. Apple made some changes. However, once the initial shock of change wears off, and you use the system for a while, everything that’s now new and scary will become normal. Give it some time.

This is not normal. This is a new low from Apple (talking modern Apple). There are UX and design bugs everywhere!

 

[freezelighter]

if you think iOS 26 is distracting, wait till android. oh boy.

After 20+ Years with endless Macbooks Pro, Airs, iPhones every year since 2007, iPads Pro, iPads Mini, iMacs, Homepods, TVs, iPods etc. I now switched to Samsung Galaxy Fold 7 and the Android 16 with UI 8 looks as clean and beautiful as iOS used to be before 7 and especially before 26 which is an insult to every iPhone user.

Waiting for the next year and watching the situation.

Android is the OS to use currently.

iOS is dead, just like Siri and Steve.

 

[xXRainKingXx]

Would be cool if someone with a 6.1 inch display could post some screenshots of iOS 26 that I can view on my iPhone 12. That way I get to see what it will look like on my device without actually installing it.

 

[SoyMaxV]

After 20+ Years with endless Macbooks Pro, Airs, iPhones every year since 2007, iPads Pro, iPads Mini, iMacs, Homepods, TVs, iPods etc. I now switched to Samsung Galaxy Fold 7 and the Android 16 with UI 8 looks as clean and beautiful as iOS used to be before 7 and especially before 26 which is an insult to every iPhone user.

Waiting for the next year and watching the situation.

Android is the OS to use currently.

iOS is dead, just like Siri and Steve.

I feel very represented by this post, my experience is currently the same. And I made the mistake of updating my MB Pro M4 to Tahoe, now I have to live with the ugliest and glitchiest OS I have tried in a very long time

 

[macdisciple]

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.

On my iPhone 13 mini… at first it ran very laggy, but in a few hours everything seems normal. A new UI always takes a bit of adjustment time. Its normal to feel some frustration. Once people acclimate they most often dont mind or end up prefering the changes.

 

[mikethebigo]

It was shocking on first install, that's for sure. But you know, I at least kind of see what they're doing with it, and while it's not perfect, I'm OK with giving them time to figure it out. It took several years for iOS 7's look to be cleaned up and perfected. It's intended to prepare us for a world where the digital and physical are more blended than ever, and I do think that's the world we are headed towards, like it or not.

 

[macjaffa]

I attached b4 and after of my home screen. looks fine to me. I disabled the transparency per app for messages, having the top bottom transparent too much. Looks good on safari though.

 

[frosty001]

Not overjoyed by the new look - it’s a lot more liquidy in person, rather than the screenshots I've seen.

However, one fix would be a less saturated version of the colour / dark icons. I think that could result in a much more pleasant look.

Are there any aftermarket apps that could do that for me?

 

[iBug2]

I don't mind iOS 26 that much but Watch OS 26 is terrible. That UI does not work on the watch.

 

[klasma]

Dude!

 

[macjaffa]

Dude!

spam innit. If apple train siri to sort it out we'd have something but for now we all have to wait


doe anyone know how to get a custom icon for a saved book mark ? As you can see they just save with the First letter of the site as the icon. This doesn't work good when i have no labels on my icons, I know how to do it for an app but don't know how to get a custom icon for a saved bookmark ? --anyone?

 

[it wasnt me]

Windows 7 was the best Windows.

WfW 3.11 was the best Windows.

 

[klasma]

doe anyone know how to get a custom icon for a saved book mark ? As you can see they just save with the First letter of the site as the icon. This doesn't work good when i have no labels on my icons, I know how to do it for an app but don't know how to get a custom icon for a saved bookmark ? --anyone?

Instead of a bookmark, you can create a Shortcut that opens a specific URL and add that to the Home Screen.

 

[flybub]

I’m not updating to ios26. What I saw in the keynote was enough. Waiting to see what the S26 Ultra brings. If I don’t like what I see I’m going to the Fold7. Either way, Apple lost this Android converter….and I’ve only been here 2 months lol.

 

[flybub]

Apple had to present something and they knew Apple Intelligence is still no where to be found.

Solution: let’s make the OS look like Android from 2011 and call it an upgrade.

 

[Makisupa Policeman]

I suppose that Apple at its worst (meaning today) is still doing a far better job than Microsoft could ever hope to.

Even now in Windows 11, many of the built-in OS functions still haven't migrated to the "new" metro/modern/UWP UI introduced way back in 2012. Off the top of my head, the UI for formatting a disk dates back to Windows 95.

Windows UI is so terrible and messy. Wish I didn’t have to interact with it

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

It’s appalling, all style over substance. Outside of some genuinely decent new features, the new interface has been designed with eye candy in mind rather than actual improvements to usability.

macOS is whole other level of stupidity.

 

[Easttime]

I don't get the hate. Love the clean looks so far on Mac, iPhone and iPad.

 

[macjaffa]

I’m not updating to ios26. What I saw in the keynote was enough. Waiting to see what the S26 Ultra brings. If I don’t like what I see I’m going to the Fold7. Either way, Apple lost this Android converter….and I’ve only been here 2 months lol.

only 2 months ? Some of us have been here from the start, 15+ years. I don't think Apple will miss you, sorry.

 

[ayephoner]

it's impossible to gauge ios 26 with so much hyperbole in threads like this.

"loathing" a mobile OS because it's kind of clear? ok.

 

[rforno]

I'm neck-deep with Apple products (not services thankfully) but this is the first IOS that's ever really, viscerally, made me seriously consider going back to a Pixel to the point I'm already mapping out equivalent apps. Icon lines are fugly on a dark desktop (I use basic black wallpaper) and the Fisher Price rounded icons/bars are visually distracting in things like IOS Mail no matter what Accessibility settings I try.

 

[Mojohanna32]

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.

Just revert back. you can turn the effects off. My lord.

 

[ayephoner]

Just revert back. you can turn the effects off. My lord.

It's funny that someone cares enough to complain with that amount of energy, but doesn't seem motivated to change what they don't like.

 

[philpalmiero]

all the animations run slower than iOS 18, and there is a sluggish feeling in how things perform

That is by design.