iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design Draws Criticism From Users

[MacRumors]

It's been two days since iOS 26 was released, and Apple's new Liquid Glass design is even more divisive than expected.

Any major design change can create controversy as people get used to the new look, but the MacRumors forums, Reddit, Apple Support Communities, and social media sites seem to feature more criticism than praise as people discuss the update.

Complaints

There are a long list of complaints about Liquid Glass, from the impact on readability to lag caused by animations. Here are some of the main critiques:

• Animations run slow, and the interface feels sluggish on older iPhones.
• The constantly changing colors, shapes, and shading are distracting.
• The animations make no sense.
• It looks like a Barbie phone with battery wasting features.
• Basic actions require too many taps.
• The bubbles and floaty icons are cartoony.
• The contrast is awful.
• Some app icons look blurry.
• The design is inconsistent, and some things are flat while some are glass.
• Highlights on UI elements are inconsistent.
• It's hard to read things like notifications.
• The effects are too subtle for the system overhead costs.

Some People Like It

On the MacRumors forums, complaints about Liquid Glass are interspersed with responses from people who have been using it during beta, and the consensus is "you'll get used to it."

It does always take time to get used to a new look, and Liquid Glass will become less jarring as people become accustomed to the new animations and the behavior of buttons and other interface elements.

Not everyone hates Liquid Glass, and there are also many positive comments from people who prefer the new design. Some of that sentiment:

• It makes the iPhone feel faster.
• It feels modern and clean, and makes a boring smartphone a little more fun.
• It's bright, bouncy, and just plain cool to use.
• Getting notifications is satisfying, and the Lock Screen keypad is like bubbles.
• It's fresh and easy to get accustomed to.
• iOS 18's flat UI was depressing, so iOS 26 is an improvement.
• It's technologically impressive with the light refraction and diffusion of chromatic aberration.
• The icons are slick and it harkens back to the OG Apple UI design.

Media Complaints

• The unbearable sameness of Liquid Glass
• Liquid Glass Could Be One of Apple's Most Divisive System Designs Yet
• This Liquid Glass Optical Illusion on iOS 26 Is Driving Me Insane
• Apple's Liquid Glass: The liquid works, but the glass is broken

iOS 7

Everyone remembers iOS 7, because it was the first big design change that Apple made to iOS. Apple did away with skeuomorphism in favor of a "flat" design, and it was not a change that people were prepared for. A lot of the comments shared when iOS 7 came out mirror the comments we're seeing now about Liquid Glass.

• iOS 7 Interface Design is so UGLY!
• The real problem with iOS 7 Design
• Does anyone dislike IOS 7 as much as I do?
• iOS 7 Bugs: Will They Ever be Fixed
• The biggest complaints about iOS 7 so far
• The design of iOS 7: simply confusing

Despite the complaints about iOS 7, Apple stuck with it. There were ongoing refinements to fix bugs and to tweak the overall design, but Apple didn't reverse course. Design updates in iOS 8, iOS 9, and iOS 10 didn't change the fundamentals, but it got better and bette... Click here to read rest of article

Article Link: iOS 26's Liquid Glass Design Draws Criticism From Users

 

[Seoras]

I absolutely love it! I love how my iPhone and iPad screens now look.
I also love how the buttons in my apps pop and are much more defined and obvious.
Lovely work! Nice and refreshing to look at.

EDIT: I should add this. I'm an App developer. This is the first time I can ever remember downloading the new Xcode and not having to spend all day fixing my apps so they still compile and work. They compiled first time.
Not only does '26 look good but it seems to run smoothly with no glitches or bugs. Normally I'd advise my family members not to install until the .1 or .2 updates came out but yesterday I was encouraging them all to upgrade immediately. Apple's really cleaned up their software in comparison to previous year's updates.

 

[1284814]

Hoh brother

 

[MysticCow]

Staying on 18 for a while. I’ve learned many times to NEVER update for a week or so, because problems and issues.

 

[blairh]

The time being so small when I have a podcast playing on my lock screen drives me crazy.

 

[LordArchie]

It is what it is.. Maybe a toggle to disable it all would be helpful if that was even possible.

I don't care, I like it

 

[Macropanda]

The easiest solution here is a giving the users an option to add a frost effect to the glass on a sliding scale. Let them pick the amount.
For me, some parts of it I love. The clear icons are amazing. But menu bars are near impossible to read at times. Just a bit if a frost/matt effect on it with some darkening would completely fix it for those that want it.

The current option to nope out of liquid glass under accessibility is awful. Just makes the clear app icons and control center an awful grey.

 

[cybercommand]

I knew this was gonna be an issue

 

[Nash Fender]

I haven't experienced the liquid glass look yet, but it looks like a pretty minor change compared to when they moved away from skeuomorphism, which I still miss.

 

[thosmatthews]

It’ll pass.

 

[ppdix]

Sometimes I love it and sometimes I hate it...You can't please everybody. People will always complain no matter what.
If the design is too similar, they say Apple is not innovating... If it's too radical, they say it is too different...
No matter what people say, I think there will be a s**tload of orders of the iPhone 17 Pro Max and the adoption of iOS 26 will be the biggest one so far.
We have to wait and see tomorrow...

 

[blicked]

It's a surprisingly sloppy release that needs a ton of polishing. And reducing translucency and increasing contrast only helps a little bit - it should help more.

 

[Adysubman]

Apple windows Vista

 

[velemar1]

I immediately downgraded back to iOS 18. I was embarrassed for how silly, cartoonish, and fruity my phone suddenly looked. And it ran super slow. Surprised they don’t even let you switch it off. Avoid the upgrade especially if on an older iPhone.

 

[jz0309]

I'm in camp "Loving it", iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS ... I am very happy having upgraded all my devices

 

[ppdix]

It is what it is.. Maybe a toggle to disable it all would be helpful if that was even possible.

I don't care, I like it

You can. Reduce transparency in Accessibility

 

[fantasyname_qwertz]

I dont know what a sh*itload of apps users are having on their phones, but for me who only uses phone, WhatsApp, safari, mail, and occasional instagram, I like the new iOS very much. I like the new interface. I just installed MacOs 26 and this also to seem to work very well.

The one thing that troubles me is the number changing animation on the clock on the lock screen of the iPhone, because my background is black, and the number looks like it vanishes and then appears again, and that looks like I am having trouble seeing correctly, like a blind spot in my eye.

 

[rchaser]

Tim keeps racking up wins. Deification awaits this visionary.

 

[MDTyKe]

My issue is not with the design, it's with the sloppiness. Both iOS 26 and macOS 26 are full of visible bugs - ones which have been around, and well reported since the initial betas. There are gross inconsistencies everywhere, and basic legibility has gone out the window.

I am generally forgiving of a bug here and there, but what I am seeing is a complete disregard of any form of QC from Apple. For a trillion $ company their sheer inability to have a small team of developers focus on each official app to clean up very visible UI issues is appalling.

That is the main issue here.

Note: A simple example of well-reported bugs, which have been around since B1 and are unfixed:
- Spotlight: Swipe down... the search bar is a mess of overlapping text for a second until it fixes itself
- Home Screen: Each app icon undergoes some kind of redraw when it's minimized, making something 'pop' on the icon 1/2 second after it's finished minimizing.
- Spotlight: When you hold down on text in the search field to move the cursor, it glows so bright you cannot read the loupe at all
- Spotlight: Files content appears, despite being turned off.
- Keyboard: There are two versions of the keyboard, each which react differently to certain words. For example "Hey man how's it going man" will almost always drop the final "n" on the "old" keyboard.

 

[_Spook_]

I love it! Slick, smooth and beautiful. Best iOS yet! Also, it has improved my battery live and doesn’t get any where near as warm when using or charging it.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

I don’t think it’s actually being that negatively received, I just simply think that no one wants to read a thread that’s “The New iOS Is Good, I Have No Problems, It Works Great”.
That’s not fun, that’s not interesting.
Complaints? Hyperbole? Anger? Now that’s fun, that’s interesting, that’s something to interact with.
If you go off of these forums and (especially) Reddit, every version of iOS, macOS, Windows, android, whichever OS is the worst ever, never been anything worse, the buggiest, the most inconsistent, the glitchiest.
And this goes back to the days of iPhone OS 1.1, which, yes, you can seriously find posts in the archives of people absolutely swearing up and down that 1.0 ran better than 1.1.

 

[Cirlonde]

I have only been using it for a couple of days, but so far I really like it. I feel like the colors are brighter and POP more, I find the new animations subtle but interesting. I have a 13 pro max and everything feels snappier, I haven't noticed any sluggishness at all. I haven't had any issues with legibility. Overall, it just seems "fun" and it makes me happy to use/look at. If Apple does make any changes, I hope it's just to provide some kind of toggle because everyone deserves a phone UI they are happy with...but I sure hope they don't tone it down across the board for everyone.

 

[RogueWarrior65]

Graphic artists are either celebrating because they don't have to make nice full color icon for an app or they are pissed because they did just that and now it looks like ass.

 

[Biro]

No iOS 26 for me until at least 26.2 - if at all. The same with macOS 26 Tahoe.

 

[GMShadow]

The "Media Complaints" section is clickbait from clickbait outlets.

Most of the forum complaints are ragebait.