iOS 26 Liquid Glass Design Drama: Beta 2 vs. Beta 3 Changes in Every App

[hasanahmad]

Cowards. Playing it safe instead of doing something truly innovative.
Doesn't work well in some situations? Make it better.
Instead, they thrown the towel.
Rename it, because it's no longer glass.

cute

 

[JaylenFast]

For what it's worth I am in the design industry, and I am just flabbergasted at how the original state of Liquid Glass was passed and presented to millions of people, and ONLY NOW they see issues and make drastic changes. It doesn't take user feedback to realize it's legibility flaws.

It now leads me to believe that this entire iOS redesign was rushed and half-baked, and that animations were the priority. For a large company this is not the feeling I should have about their design process. They should want to be known for careful planning and innovation... scary times for Apple.

 

[btrach144]

Liquid ass now

 

[McKodiak]

There will be a controversy with this forever. Apple should decide on something and make it default and consistent across apps. They should also give the user control options over tinting and frosting.

 

[xplora]

@tim_apple For example, I am not getting the frosted glass look in Apple Music the article clams is what beta 3 is doing, I only get that if I turn on Reduce Transparency first. The article is an example of bad reporting that I know is rare for Macrumors, so they need to be called out for it when they make those kinds of errors.

 

[jclo]

I just reported this article as the testing performed has been horribly badly reported on, there is a setting that enables the frosted glass look that is clearly turned on in the beta 3 examples, and not on in the beta 2 examples, that seems to have been missed by the tester, the reality is beta 3 is cleaner and easier to read, but the frosted glass effect IS NOT a beta 3 change, but merely a setting (Reduce Transparency in Accessibility I believe) that is turned on. Please get the testers to run there tests again making sure the settings are identical between devices so as not to get this kind of reporting error.

Reduce Transparency is not enabled in these screenshots on either device, FYI.

 

[hasanahmad]

@tim_apple For example, I am not getting the frost glass look in Apple Music that post clams is what beta 3 is doing, I only get that if I turn on Reduce Transparency first. The article is an example of bad reporting that I know is rare for Macrumors, so they need to be called out for it when they make those kinds of errors.

another example. Macrumors say the glass is completely opaque in App store...and yet..me...the same location

 

[jclo]

MacRumors and some users, tries to say that the buttons themselves have less glass effects and ignore the screenshot that there is a clear white and black haze layer between the content and the glass buttons which creates this effect depending on the light mode and background. the buttons themselves are not more opaque as in the design elements the Glass elements sit on top of every UX element on screen. where is the fundamental analysis of the design and physics of this instead of blind non detailed look . hilarious takes being had

This is a totally fair assessment. You're right, it does look like there's a gradient there in some of the screenshots, though I don't see it in all of them. Either way, it's kind of semantics. The end effect is a more opaque look for the navigation elements.

 

[JGIGS]

That's iOS 18.7. Lol. Stop playing in our faces, Apple.

To be fair, even og liquid glass beta was iOS 18.9.

 

[Parowdy]

I just reported this article as the testing performed has been horribly badly reported on, there is a setting that enables the frosted glass look that is clearly turned on in the beta 3 examples, and not on in the beta 2 examples, that seems to have been missed by the tester, the reality is beta 3 is cleaner and easier to read, but the frosted glass effect IS NOT a beta 3 change, but merely a setting (Reduce Transparency in Accessibility I believe) that is turned on. Please get the testers to run there tests again making sure the settings are identical between devices so as not to get this kind of reporting error.

You obviously have no clue what Reduce Transparency looks like in beta 3. Because if you did you‘d know that this isn’t it… which you can clearly see in the beta 3 Apple News screenshot. The color wouldn’t be visible on the right, but it is.

 

[jclo]

another example. Macrumors say the glass is completely opaque in App store...and yet..me...the same location View attachment 2527178

Beta 2 looks like this for me, but not beta 3. The screenshots aren't doctored -- they're taken in the same spot in the same way. I do not have this effect in the App Store navigation bar. Maybe there's some kind of display bug, but I don't see this in the third beta.

 

[oldwatery]

Apple continues to spend time and money on these useless and oft times negative “improvements” while ignoring age old problems with software and various OS releases. They have become a company focused on fluff and not on innovation. Cook really needs to retire.

 

[GrassShark]

Cowards. Playing it safe instead of doing something truly innovative.
Doesn't work well in some situations? Make it better.
Instead, they thrown the towel.
Rename it, because it's no longer glass.

Wait until you find out that frosted glass has existed since roughly the mid 1800s.

 

[thenahon]

Only Apple could announce a cool new UI and utterly ruin it before it ships.

 

[iZac]

Anything that increases legibility is welcome

 

[jclo]

@tim_apple For example, I am not getting the frosted glass look in Apple Music the article clams is what beta 3 is doing, I only get that if I turn on Reduce Transparency first. The article is an example of bad reporting that I know is rare for Macrumors, so they need to be called out for it when they make those kinds of errors.

I am running beta 2 on one iPhone next to another iPhone running beta 3, with no transparency reduction settings on. If you read the article, you will see that I point out differences between Light Mode and Dark Mode. When Dark Mode is turned on, you will see more transparency, including in Apple Music. Are you using Dark Mode?

The screenshots for Apple Music are in Light Mode, but I added a specific section to address the difference between Light Mode and Dark Mode.

Edit: This is Apple Music in Dark Mode in iOS 26 beta 2 vs beta 3. I'll add it to the article as well.

 

[hasanahmad]

Beta 2 looks like this for me, but not beta 3. The screenshots aren't doctored -- they're taken in the same spot in the same way. I do not have this effect in the App Store navigation bar. Maybe there's some kind of display bug, but I don't see this in the third beta.

Same location , this time in motion . you can even see the haze go from white to black on darker content

 

[JohnC1959]

Only Apple could announce a cool new UI and utterly ruin it before it ships.

I think this latest version is pretty decent. The earlier one was too transparent for readability. I guess these things are pretty subjective and vary a lot between people.

 

[TheHeron]

How to fix it:

Not even joking. Everything after iOS 6 has been AWFUL.

 

[shapesinaframe]

Yeah, will still be turning this off when it’s foisted upon us.

 

[hieranonymous]

I hope there are degrees of translucency depending on the use case and legibility because in some instances the higher transparency and diffraction are still kind of delightful and cool to look at.

 

[Parowdy]

@tim_apple For example, I am not getting the frosted glass look in Apple Music the article clams is what beta 3 is doing, I only get that if I turn on Reduce Transparency first. The article is an example of bad reporting that I know is rare for Macrumors, so they need to be called out for it when they make those kinds of errors.

Im on beta three without RT on and it looks exactly like it does in this article.
The article isn’t the problem here, your device apparently is.

 

[SFjohn]

I like beta 2 over beta 3. I hope Apple will let us all choose the look we each want… 🤞🏻

 

[hasanahmad]

Im on beta three without RT on and it looks exactly like it does in this article.
The article isn’t the problem here, your device apparently is.

ok..lets test this. which location/app?

 

[ghostface147]

Set the default to frost, but give end users the option to be full on glass with a slider.