capamac
macrumors 6502a
Flat vs fake-3D is one thing.
Good design vs bad design is another thing.
Good design is the key. Good design works with either 2D or fake-3D.
Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Liquid Glass popularity.
- Thread starter LiquidGlassfan
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
Flat vs fake-3D is one thing.
Good design vs bad design is another thing.
Good design is the key. Good design works with either 2D or fake-3D.
Whatever is going on in the world today, with like 99% of websites, applications, and iOS; it's pure, unfettered garbage and awful design.
FeliApple
macrumors 603
Yeah, not only do I consider it ugly, but the battery life issue is unacceptable.
It is beyond ridiculous that updating to 26 means an immediate minimum battery life loss of at least 20%, especially when even the iPhone 11 was doing very well on iOS 18, and that was a first.
So little consideration goes into older devices’ performance and battery life that it’s beyond ridiculous, considering that Apple can do a great job when they feel like it.
The design is so awful that it doesn’t even make up for part of it. Unreadable, pointless, and ugly.
retta283
macrumors 68040
I do not like the Liquid Glass design language, but I do not inherently have any issue with the glass element of it. My main sticker with the design language is the elimination of traditional toolbars/menubars in favor of individual floating buttons with absolutely nothing connecting them other than a cheap-looking gradient covering the content below. The whole thing looks incredibly half-baked and feels distracting to me. No visual discipline in the slightest.
I am not a fan of the keyboard either, the keys being 100% white on a usually white background is also bad visual discipline. Other than these two things I find everything else to be close enough to 18 that I can accept it. This is coming from the perspective of someone with a vision related disability from birth.
Edit: Apparently at least in macOS 27, my first concern is partially addressed by having a solid-but-still-transparent type toolbar underneath the buttons instead of a gradient. Is this the case with iOS/iPadOS 27 as well? I am having a hard time finding pictures that show this.
I am not a fan of the keyboard either, the keys being 100% white on a usually white background is also bad visual discipline. Other than these two things I find everything else to be close enough to 18 that I can accept it. This is coming from the perspective of someone with a vision related disability from birth.
Edit: Apparently at least in macOS 27, my first concern is partially addressed by having a solid-but-still-transparent type toolbar underneath the buttons instead of a gradient. Is this the case with iOS/iPadOS 27 as well? I am having a hard time finding pictures that show this.
Last edited:
RIGHT?!?!?!
Seriously; I am NOT a complainer. I've been using the iPhone since the 3G, and the iPad since the very first one - I still have my original iPad! I've purchased probably a dozen or more iPads since 2010 - for myself personally (work, etc).
I've never had any major complaints about ANY iOS...until 26...... it has been so blatant, so undeniable.....its just horrific.
I can tell stories, as I'm sure you can too.
i hear ya, I feel ya, and I can NOT wait til 27 comes out to get off this crap-train!!!!
To be perfectly fair; at least NOW, FINALLY after almost a YEAR; iOS 26.6 actually runs halfway decent. My battery lasts longer than 4-5 hours (though many days I've been around 30% by 11 am; and that's with just reading & such.
anyway....amen brother.
GregoryPeckEPA
macrumors 6502
That’s what happens when implement a complex and demanding shader over half the UI! At least Microslop had the sense to let users disable Aero back in W7.
Two years later and Dye’s stink is still there. Also, my M4 iPad Pro memory management is atrocious! Apps get ejected within mins if you visit a couple of web pages or use other apps like Files and Photos. Under iOS 17/18 they stayed in memory for hours of heavy use. Something not a single person has mentioned. Which is crazy. 8GB of RAM is apparently not enough!
FeliApple
macrumors 603
What are you running it on?
Funnily enough, I have no stories as I’m not running 26 anywhere (by choice), but it’s great to hear that 26.6 has improved. You aren’t the first one to say that.
And I do hope that 27 proves for you and everyone else. I’m running iOS 18 on an iPhone and iPad that were released with 18 so I reckon I’ll be fine for a long while.
FeliApple
macrumors 603
This is ridiculous. This should never happen. Again, you aren’t the first one to report similar issues on M4 iPad Pros and it’s beyond pathetic that this happens.
Hopefully 27 improves things for you when it launches.
My only M iPad, an iPad Air 5th-gen (M1), flawlessly runs iPadOS 15.
GregoryPeckEPA
macrumors 6502
It's worse! Apps are ejected within seconds. And I have all the AI slop disabled. Old Siri and even tried disabling her. All my apps (removed all but about 7 third party apps and most stock apps) are restricted from being indexed by search and I have disabled "learning" on them all. Location services are off, save the 2 forced system services). Even Find My location is disabled. EVERYTHING IS DISABLED!
I was hoping for things to get better with 27, and while the visual appearance of LG has been refined and those god awful faux moving borders are finally gone, memory management is abysmal.
iOS disintegrated with 26/27 and my M4 iPad Pro feels unquestionably worse than the 3rd gen Air it replaced.
My biggest regret was not running back to 18 all through the entire 26 beta cycle! I lose sleep knowing my machine can run any version of iOS prior but am a slave to Apple's totalitarian "you can't revert to an older version of iOS because we say so!"
They tanked the hardware through nothing but vibe coding and went off to have a money fight and go diving in a pool full of coins, or whatever the rich do.
In case anyone wants to know why I am so salty on iOS 26/27. I paid good money for that Pro upgrade only to get shanked like a kebab. And then Cook just bails.
This is the biggest reason I think that the iPad will never be a viable computer replacement. I know some people have success with it, but every time I try it's frequent app reloads even if I only switched apps for a few seconds. And these aren't RAM-hungry apps, either.
There are many reasons 26/27 is worse than 18 and earlier, but even ignoring the questionable design choices, they still haven't fixed the horrible stuttering and frame drops. I don’t know why I paid +$$ for the "Pro" model with 120 Hz display when I see low-fps animations all over the place (looks like 30 or less, but I haven't measured it). I'm genuinely perplexed how they managed to screw it up so badly and for so long. Literally impossible for me to feel good about the updates when I see garbage low-fps animations every day. That might seem extreme to some, but I paid for 120 Hz for a reason. It also makes me less confident that any of the engineers or designers actually know the UI they're messing with.
FeliApple
macrumors 603
Honestly I’m just going to be blunt. I’ve stated this a lot. At some point, you must take responsibility as a user and learn from this.
iOS is old enough so that most users have been using iOS for a while. You must accept that updates have this risk and that you cannot go back. It is your responsibility to stay behind if that is what you want.
Users (because it isn’t just you) must stop shielding behind the argument (which is right, I’m not saying you’re wrong) “Look, it’s Apple’s fault for not allowing downgrades”.
Should Apple allow downgrades? Yes. Will they? No. As a user you must accept that and take responsibility for your own actions. You want a stable device? Never update, much less to a redesign.
You’re a MacRumors user, which means that you have access to knowledgeable users’ opinions and experiences. You can’t keep shielding behind “but Apple should do better and allow downgrades”. I am proof that you can stay behind and it will be fine. You cannot revert to an older version, but you can stay behind in the first place.
The best advice I can give you is to learn from this. And I am not acting as a know-it-all who is better than you or anyone. Why do you think I stay behind? Because I had the exact same experience that you are having now! I went through the same thing. And I decided that “this is never happening to me again, ever”. I wasn’t born knowing. I’ve been there and decided that I don’t want to be there again.
iPhone 16 Plus, iOS 18.3.1.
iPad 11th-gen (A16): iPadOS 18.3.
I am never getting burned by Apple again. Not voluntarily. Not if I can help it.
GregoryPeckEPA
macrumors 6502
Facts! Aside from Files.app being absolutely tragic and chocking on copying large amounts of small files (not even that much, like a couple of hundred and poof), freezing and crashing and then just erroring out with a code, the fact everything is ejecting as you move windows in multitasking makes it all torturous. Even if you factor in the 10 taps it takes for something macOS can do in 2, it's just no way better than iOS. Even with the new multitasking window system.
I've tried to use it, like seriously tried and after 10m, I want to set myself on fire! I love the giant screen, but it's a glorified iPhone.
Last edited:
GregoryPeckEPA
macrumors 6502
Learn what? Not to ever update?? What is the lesson? Nobody saw OS26 coming. It's been a train wreck and Cook has the audacity to open keynotes with lines like "Apple's legendary commitment to quality and detail". Uh huh. Not sure what OS he's using.
It's not like any of this is subjective. The apps eject in seconds. It's a demonstrable fact. All for the sake of AI slop NO ONE asked for a stupid glass UI definitely no one asked for.
Maybe you should ease up "stating" stuff.
FeliApple
macrumors 603
Basically, yeah.
I agree though, 26 has been quite a disaster. I guess many expected it to recover as the minor versions progressed and it really hasn’t.
The only reason I’m “stating” stuff is because I have seen the complaints about this for well over a decade now, yet people keep updating and breaking adoption records.
It’s very, very, very difficult to understand for me.
Same with the visual aspect. “I despise Liquid Glass”, well, there was the beta for you to try it out, or four quintillion YouTube videos to watch. What do mean that “I updated from iOS 18 to iOS 26.5 and hate it?” You could’ve known what it looked like in great detail without the need to update to an irreversible iOS version.
I’m sorry, but given iOS’ maturity, it’s really, really difficult to understand from my perspective.
Tar Sniffer
macrumors 6502
I wasn’t a fan of how Liquid Glass was implemented in iOS 26, although I never thought it was as bad as people made it out to be. After being refined in iOS 27 though, I’ve really started to enjoy it. It’s made iOS feel fun again. I used to love playing around with the rubber band effect in iOS 6, and this is probably the first time since 2012 that I’ve found myself playing with the interface once more.
SnowCrocodile
macrumors 6502a
Skwoodge
macrumors regular
capamac
macrumors 6502a
GI was originally short for General Issue or Government Issue or even Ground Infantry.
It can also be galvanized iron, as in piping or sheet metal.
SalisburySam
macrumors 65816
Datapoints:
- My iPhone13mini works just fine on v18.7.8
- My iPadPro(4th Gen) works just fine on v18.7.8
- My wife’s iPhone13mini works for shittz on v26.6
- My wife’s iPadAir(4th Gen) works for shittz on v26.6
- My M4 Mac mini works just fine on Sequoia v15.7.9
unkl bob
macrumors regular
SnowCrocodile
macrumors 6502a
Thank You! and likewise! I've got SO many better & more important things to do than fuss with & come online to complain about & find solutions to my iPhone / iPad not working. 🙄 🤬
I'm running iOS 26.6 on iPhone 16 Pro and 11" M1 iPad Pro.
Going to likely upgrade to iPhone 18 this year, and I'd like to sooner rather than later upgrade my 11" M1 to the M5....but we'll see...... I love my 13" M4. and it is on iOS 18 & staying there for a good while! Even after 27 gets dropped!!! 😂
Likewise; I'm looking forward to 27. Initial reviews of the beta I've read are very optimistic.
I believe one person even said that it's the first iOS beta that doesn't really feel like a beta...... that's awesome!
Because iOS 26.0 was not even ALPHA software....let alone beta!!! 🤬🙄😒
Thanks my friend.
Yep. same.
My own fun little story;
wife & I were watching our childs' school play. Just sitting there, occasionally taking photos & short videos - NOT even trying to record the whole thing.
BOTH our phones - at the exact same time - became almost too hot to hold, and my wife's phone got so hot that the iPhone shut itself down to prevent damage.
That's NEVER. Happened to us before. EVER.
That was 100% iOS 26 ****!!! 🤬
NO; we weren't outside; we were inside; not in the sunlight; there was literally NO valid cause for it, other than iOS 26 sucks that bad.