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I miss the iOS 18 design

MakaniKai

MakaniKai

macrumors 6502
Original poster
Jul 26, 2023
292
419
I’m liking the new iOS 26 features and the glass is certainly pretty in a lot of places, but it’s kinda giving me a headache to be honest. I saw a friend using iOS 18 today after myself having used iOS 26 Beta for the last couple weeks, and a sense of nostalgia and desire to go back just rushed over me. I do really miss that nice flat design, personally.

Oh well I guess.

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Update 1 month later (Aug 3 2025):
MakaniKai said:
I am back on iOS 26; the latest beta is looking a lot nicer to me than when I made this thread. My main negative feedback was that iOS 26 made it hard to read a lot of things, and it was giving me a headache for that reason. Lately though it is looking much more polished and I'm happy with it. Part of me will probably always have a little longing for the simpler, flat UI, but y'all are probably right — when they move away from liquid glass I will probably feel the same way as when they moved away from the flat UI. Change is hard!
Click to expand...
 
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This (and Tahoe) is one of the first betas I've skipped in years.

iOS 18 and MacOS Sequoia are running so well for me (iPhone 11 and M4 MBP respectively) that I'm waiting for the betas to progress a bit further before jumping in.

However, I know from experience that after I get over the initial shock (eurgh, this is awful, why did I uprade?) that a few weeks later both iOS 18 and Sequoia will look old fashioned and I'll be happy with the new look.
 
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adrianlondon said:
This (and Tahoe) is one of the first betas I've skipped in years.

iOS 18 and MacOS Sequoia are running so well for me (iPhone 11 and M4 MBP respectively) that I'm waiting for the betas to progress a bit further before jumping in.

However, I know from experience that after I get over the initial shock (eurgh, this is awful, why did I uprade?) that a few weeks later both iOS 18 and Sequoia will look old fashioned and I'll be happy with the new look.
Click to expand...

I’ve had the beta on my iPad since the first dev release, and honestly, I’m still not used to it. I much prefer the design from before. I’m hopeful it will be refined like iOS 7 was over time, but as of now, this direction is not for me.

Your point about needing time to adjust rings true. It’ll be interesting to see how the public responds once it’s more polished. For now, I get why you’re holding off and letting the betas mature.

I have decided to skip updating my Mac to Tahoe even when it’s released. I’ll keep my iPad as the testbed for the liquid glass design to see if it improves over time. That way, I can stay with a stable Mac experience while keeping an eye on how the new design evolves.
 
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I miss my Palm VII and my Motorola Talkabout pager. Best cellular devices ever made.

Screenshot 2025-07-02 115724.jpg
Screenshot 2025-07-02 115705.jpg
 
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Interestingly, the FPT leak video for „iOS 19“ I think didn’t mention Liquid Glass or show anything about it other than a few icons that had the shimmering effect.
It seems there have been development builds with some new features and design changes but without the Liquid Glass.
I’m certain there will be a way to turn it off almost completely if Apple thinks the general public needs more time to transition.
 
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MakaniKai said:
I’m liking the new iOS 26 features and the glass is certainly pretty in a lot of places, but it’s kinda giving me a headache to be honest. I saw a friend using iOS 18 today after myself having used iOS 26 Beta for the last couple weeks, and a sense of nostalgia and desire to go back just rushed over me. I do really miss that nice flat design, personally.

Oh well I guess.
Click to expand...
I have a funny feeling that this is how people will react to iOS 26 when it gets released. People will be quite happy to begin with, the glass effect is pretty fun. After a while it will get a bit annoying though.
 
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MakaniKai said:
I’m liking the new iOS 26 features and the glass is certainly pretty in a lot of places, but it’s kinda giving me a headache to be honest. I saw a friend using iOS 18 today after myself having used iOS 26 Beta for the last couple weeks, and a sense of nostalgia and desire to go back just rushed over me. I do really miss that nice flat design, personally.

Oh well I guess.
Click to expand...
Nostalgia for iOS 18. Now I've heard it all LOL..
You kids get melancholic over the slightest changes in life
 
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MakaniKai said:
I saw a friend using iOS 18 today after myself having used iOS 26 Beta for the last couple weeks, and a sense of nostalgia and desire to go back just rushed over me. I do really miss that nice flat design, personally.

Oh well I guess.
Click to expand...
and so it begins.
rest assured that when that flat design came out, people were saying the same thing about the previous design.
The grass will always be greener, no matter what.
seven years from now you’ll be saying “I miss liquid glass, can we go back?”
 
colinw123 said:
Remind me of Windows Vista lol, hopefully they make it so you can toggle it on or off.
Click to expand...
When my employer upgraded me from an XP desktop to a Win7 laptop, I was delighted that Win7 had an XP skin option.

The thing I dislike the most about dev2 is the white fade at the top of Mail and others. Pointless.
 
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Parowdy said:
Interestingly, the FPT leak video for „iOS 19“ I think didn’t mention Liquid Glass or show anything about it other than a few icons that had the shimmering effect.
It seems there have been development builds with some new features and design changes but without the Liquid Glass.
I’m certain there will be a way to turn it off almost completely if Apple thinks the general public needs more time to transition.
Click to expand...
Indeed I saw that , I believe he said the version he saw was a lot less glassy but still had the same floating tab bars etc .
(So I guess iOS 18 but semi transparent and floating tab bars )
I also wish that the semi circled icons made it the final build it looked amazing and would have felt more of a change .
I have not installed the beta because I am loving my 16 pro max and will probably go and see iOS 26 on the new phones in shops in September and see if I like it before installing on main device
 
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