I Would Like to Know About the Functionality of iOS26 - NOT the Look

[Shawn MacApple]

There is enough complaining about the look of Liquid Glass (and that awesome Homage Orange color 😁). That stuff has been run into the ground. I want to know what people think about the rest of it.

Those who are using it (regardless of liking Liquid Glass or not) I would like to know what are your thoughts? Are there major issues with usability of the OS? Quirks? Changes to be aware of you like or don't like other than the UI? I know there are many new things and I would like to know your thoughts on those as well.

These are things that are really helpful to others on the forum like myself. I am using a 15PM so that would be a good comparison but I'll take any info since most of it will be available to my phone.

Thanks.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

Issues with usability are largely down to the UX implementation - buttons being hard to read, nonsensical labels, etc. As far as features and functionality, here are some improvements and regressions that aren't about Liquid Ass:

• The new Phone app layout is great. Voicemail inline with call history feels obvious now that I've used it in that way.
• Messages Filtering is so much better than it was before - it works well, has distinct categories (like Mail in iOS 18), and actually remembers what filtered view you were in last.
• I like the big clock.
• Photos now has a two-tab layout, an improvement over iOS 18's single view. The new second tab is for collections - think albums, holidays, etc. Basically one is the firehose of photos that iOS 18 forced on us, the other is the organized bit.
• I like the look of the keyboard now. I thought iOS 18's (and every version prior's) was super ugly, now it actually looks like it belongs in iOS.
• Camera is now much simpler to use. The UI is less cluttered with unlabeled buttons. Granted I use a non-Pro, so this may not apply to phones with 3 cameras.
• Animations are much faster across the whole UI. This wasn't an issue with phones that have ProMotion, but now us peasants without it also get a more responsive UI. It's not 120Hz w/ VRR but it feels much better than before.

One gripe I do have is the share sheet. Feels like they changed it again for not a whole lot of reasons, and it requires more taps usually to send whatever I'm sharing to wherever I need it.

 

[HouseLannister]

Everything is too many clicks now. Things are hidden or just unintuitive. ATP had a good rant about it. Camera app, Phone app, Safari... so many extra clicks. You can revert some of the changes, but it is intentional obfuscation and it is everywhere. The Circle to Search ripoff is just far too fiddly when it could have used the same gesture as Google (which is basically the Type to Siri gesture no one is using).

 

[Shawn MacApple]

Issues with usability are largely down to the UX implementation - buttons being hard to read, nonsensical labels, etc. As far as features and functionality, here are some improvements and regressions that aren't about Liquid Ass:

• The new Phone app layout is great. Voicemail inline with call history feels obvious now that I've used it in that way.
• Messages Filtering is so much better than it was before - it works well, has distinct categories (like Mail in iOS 18), and actually remembers what filtered view you were in last.
• I like the big clock.
• Photos now has a two-tab layout, an improvement over iOS 18's single view. The new second tab is for collections - think albums, holidays, etc. Basically one is the firehose of photos that iOS 18 forced on us, the other is the organized bit.
• I like the look of the keyboard now. I thought iOS 18's (and every version prior's) was super ugly, now it actually looks like it belongs in iOS.
• Camera is now much simpler to use. The UI is less cluttered with unlabeled buttons. Granted I use a non-Pro, so this may not apply to phones with 3 cameras.
• Animations are much faster across the whole UI. This wasn't an issue with phones that have ProMotion, but now us peasants without it also get a more responsive UI. It's not 120Hz w/ VRR but it feels much better than before.

One gripe I do have is the share sheet. Feels like they changed it again for not a whole lot of reasons, and it requires more taps usually to send whatever I'm sharing to wherever I need it.

Certainly piqued my interest with these things. Sounds like some improvements that really make a lot of sense.

• That phone layout sounds like a definite improvement
• In the past I had the filters on Messages and I ended up missing a few important messages regarded as spam so I will give this new version a try
• I don't clutter my lock screen with anything other than the current limit of widgets so that huge timepiece will be handy.
• I have hated the Photos app since they ruined it a few updates ago so anything will be an improvement.
• I never really gave the keyboard any thought so I will have to see that
• Having a PM, I am hopeful the camera got simplified a little
• I didn't like the last time they messed with the Share Sheet and it took me a while to change my old habit. Some things they really don't need to touch.

Thank you for your thoughts; this is exactly what I was wanting to see - good or bad. I really appreciate it.

 

[Shawn MacApple]

Everything is too many clicks now. Things are hidden or just unintuitive. ATP had a good rant about it. Camera app, Phone app, Safari... so many extra clicks. You can revert some of the changes, but it is intentional obfuscation and it is everywhere. The Circle to Search ripoff is just far too fiddly when it could have used the same gesture as Google (which is basically the Type to Siri gesture no one is using).

Again, good info that I was looking for. Thank you.

I just don't know why they would make any changes that force a user into more work, especially since the steps we have been taking to use apps the way we do have not really changed that much for a long time. Seems like a step or two backwards to do that. It goes back to change for the sake of change. I am not against change if it makes sense, but not just for the heck of it.

It really makes me wonder, if they believe in their update, why they have built in options to undo what they built to revert back.

I will have to look at the Circle to Search when I can. I do not know much about it.

 

[tomtattoo]

Everything is too many clicks now.

THIS.
It is really everywhere - iOS, MacOS, in so many apps....makes you crazy.

 

[aperfectcircle]

I find iOS 26 to be really fluid, and yes part of that is the animations. I’ve been using it since beta 3 on my 14PM and for the last 24 hours on my Air. There is some adjustment of course, as not everything works the same as iOS 18. Some things require an extra tap or two due to restructuring or menus, but now that I’m used to it those things don’t bother me at all.

I’m a lone wolf in that I preferred the consolidated style of the Photos app in iOS 18, so the split into library and collections is one thing that still slightly annoys me - but I’ve got used to it and it is what it is. The unified view in the Phone app is great and the filtering in Messages is awesome as here in Vietnam the telcos love to spam you with offers (and I run two SIMs with different providers so I get double the spam).

Music is a little annoying with no next track button on the collapsed toolbar, but then the pinning feature is really great. Safari is fine, the swipe up from the address bar to view all tabs is nice and easy, the extra click to clear history isn’t too annoying as I only do that once or twice a week. The toolbar that sits atop the keyboard when in a text box sometimes covering the text box gets annoying so I’m hoping they’ll sort that out. It tends to only be an issue on sites like this where I’m entering a novel of text, but still drives me mad.

Overall I’m liking 26 more than 18, but be prepared for the adjustment to take time.

Edit: I’d also add that using Music seems much improved, with queuing much better than it was previously. Not sure if this was a 26 thing as it may have changed in a later 18 release? Either way just general use of Music seems simpler/easier now.

 

[ProbablyDylan]

I just don't know why they would make any changes that force a user into more work, especially since the steps we have been taking to use apps the way we do have not really changed that much for a long time. Seems like a step or two backwards to do that. It goes back to change for the sake of change. I am not against change if it makes sense, but not just for the heck of it.

Apple's designers seem to think that visual simplicity = simplicity in use. This simply isn't true, it doesn't take a genius to know that hiding functions makes using the thing more complicated, not simpler.

It really makes me wonder, if they believe in their update, why they have built in options to undo what they built to revert back.

Those options don't actually revert the design. In fact they actively make it worse. People online only say that do that to put down people that do not enjoy Liquid Glass.