Thanks & I want to apologize if I came off aggressive / negative. That certainly wasn't my intent, but after I posted that, I regretted it a bit.
I appreciate you not taking any offense, as it truly wasn't intended. 😎 🙌
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Liquid Glass popularity.
- Thread starter LiquidGlassfan
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I appreciate you not taking any offense, as it truly wasn't intended. 😎 🙌
And hey; that's cool! That's your prerogative! 😎
I don't hate it, but again; it's unquestionably NOT worth all the other bugs, glitches, **** battery life & abysmal performance problems that objectively came with it. All the bad VERY far outweighed the good.
I'm too busy being tied to a charging cord to appreciate / enjoy / care in the least about the eye candy. 😒🙄
I've always been heavily annoyed by how much apple touts the "look at all the new wallpapers! emoji! MEMoji!" meanwhile ignoring actual functionality. 🙄😒
Anyway; I absolutely hear, see & agree your other points; I have ranted here before about the "flat & minimalist" design aesthetic that has taken over EVERYWHERE. I absolutely can't stand it. There are no buttons anymore; you just have to frantically hover your mouse over Every. Single. Word. or image. on a webpage in hopes that it is a hyperlink to do what you are trying to....
Hate it. 🤬
Oh well......
And that's a healthy perspective.
🙂
I guess you'll love 27, because they are apparently giving us a lot more control over the appearance of the liquid glass aesthetic...
I'm just stoked that alarms & phone calls will FINALLY have separate volume controls!!!
And hey; it's absolutely a 2-way street. I personally have never attacked / been negative towards anyone (well, kinda except for my above post; which I already apologized for 😵😮💨) for saying they love & have no problems with iOS 26. I wish I could say the same! I'm glad they are. iOS 26 did introduce some pretty cool new features & I don't hate liquid glass. It just came at the expense of (for me) battery life, overheating constantly, abysmal performance, etc....
To be perfectly blunt; I had similar views in years past; I'm blessed that I'm very good with I.T., but of course many people aren't. And that's OK. So in years past, I'd write off 99%+ of iOS (and other tech) complaints as user error.
Well, I got a nice big reality check with iOS 26..... 😮💨😮💨🤐🥴
And commenting on my compensation from anti-Apple sources would be a violation of our ND.......wait......er.....No! I'm not paid by any anti-Apple groups! 🤣🤣🙃🙃
I'm seriously not. just coulndn't pass up that joke. 😁🤓
Ah, yes; thanks for reminding me. i had forgotten.
You are absolutely corect.
I purchased AirPod Pro 3 shortly after release & was VERY ticked off to discover that they required iOS 26 to do anything other than super basic headphone functions. 🙄 🤬 🤬
ANY gestures & other fancy features did NOT work until I upgraded to iOS 26 - including even displaying their battery life on my phone..... 😒🙄😒
Boy, was I hot about that!
Oh yes; as I've said here multiple times;
I used to always brush off major iOS complaints as user error. And I mean, come on; you update an entire OS - say from 16 to 17 - and then wonder why your phoen is a bit slower than normal or battery doesn't last as long?
Obviously taht's normal & to be expected - for a few days.
THEN the phone should normalize.
The problem obviously is that the "norm" for too many of us on iOS 26 is **** battery life, **** performance, overheating constantly, etc.
So again; I now have more sympathy & understanding for people who complained about past iOS releases. I truly never really had a seriously bad (at least nothing memorable) iOS experience prior to 26.
And yeah; I hear you & get it, but that's Apple's fault.
They market their stuff as "it just works" and "so simple anyone can use it" and unfortunately, forcing updates out is part of that.
I see both sides, so IDK.....
You have to remember that probably 99% of iPhone users couldn't even tell you what an "OS" is, let alone make any sound, responsible decisions about automatic updates.
What if they disable automatic updates & suffer a security breach, which could otherwise have been prevented by updating to the latest iOS release?
There's a zillion "what if" scenarios.....I just don't know.
I hear & agree with you....but I also hear & agree with the people who want their tech to "just work" and do not want to fiddle with it endlessly.
🤷♂️
Well said, and absolutely yes; having so many devices absolutely lessens the impact.
In fact (OMG, I do NOT need to justify having so many devices!! 🤣) I actually get the best of both worlds.
I can test out new OS's for myself, not have to watch, re-watch, overanalyze YouTube vids, etc. but yes; I can pick up another device while the guinea pig is updating.
I honestly don't now how I'm gonna deal with ever upgrading my M4. I'm just so perfectly, totally happy with it; IMHO; it is pretty much flawless. It will just kill me if I update to 27 (definitely never considering 26 for it!!!) and the battery life is massively impacted, or if performance takes a noticeable & long-term dive......etc......
I honestly don't know how I'm ever going to upgrade the os on it...... I guess you are right & I can take a cue from you; I absolutely do not have to upgrade it - ever! 😁
Picked up my iPhone 13 the other day. The menu's and icons are just so simple and straight forward. Personally Liquid a$$ has made things too convoluted and overly-engineered.
Luftkopf
macrumors 68000
I definitely understand the feeling, I've been in the same place myself. We're all passionate about our stuff here, and we all have different perspectives.
I hope all the glitches get worked out and all your devices behave themselves again!
FeliApple
macrumors 603
Yeah, the “tying hardware features to iPhone software” part is beyond ridiculous.
No, it does not normalise. It never normalises. This is a myth. It is a myth so damaging that people end up believing it.
The battery life and performance impact is irreversible relative to the original version of iOS. It will always be worse.
Maybe it wasn’t as poor as 26, yeah, but it was definitely worse vs the first version. A LOT worse, on practically all devices that are old enough to suffer these severe consequences.
It is not Apple’s fault. Apple is at fault for many things. Forcing updates for hardware features, deprecating older iOS versions so that it is easier to target newer ones, dropping support with their own apps for practically everything but the latest version, etc.
Marketing? Come on. You can fall for that once. How many years do you need to learn?
Hypothetical:
-“I updated my iPhone 4s to iOS 9 and it was destroyed”
-“I updated my iPhone 5c to iOS 10 and it was destroyed”.
-“I updated my iPhone 6s and iPad Air 2 to iOS/iPadOS 15 and they were destroyed”
-“I updated my iPhone Xʀ and my iPad 6th-gen to iOS 18/iPadOS 17 and they were destroyed”
-“I updated my iPhone 12 and my 3rd-gen iPad Pro to iPadOS and iOS 26 and they were destroyed”.
Apple isn’t at fault. The user is stupid enough to keep making the same mistake over and over and over and over again.
Automatic updates? How many times can you fall for that? Once! Then you disable it when you set up your second iOS device and you’ll never fall for that again.
Nah, users refuse to learn and suffer the consequences.
Users despise Liquid Glass? Should’ve stayed behind. The information is out there.
ESPECIALLY because my airpod pro 2 - the older model - could do many of the exact same gestures / functions as the APP3....... so clearly it was a deliberate choice by apple to FORCE people to upgrade..... 🤬
Sorry, I'm not following; what do you mean? That iPhone performance & battery have steadily declined? And relative to what original version; like 26.0 vs. 26.3? Sorry; it's been a long day, but I'm just not following. Could just be me. 😅
Yeah man, I see your point..... IDK man....it's a tough one. I still just see both sides.
I definitely agree with; how many times is the same person going to make the same mistake..... 🙄😒🙄🤷♂️
Happy to hear this, Thank You! Truly.
And your wish came true a few weeks ago.......26.6 FINALLY seems to have stabilized my devices!
BOTH my iPhone 16 Pro & M1 iPad are FINALLY running so much better. The battery still isn't as great as it could be, but whatever.... at least they're functional & not constantly overheating and just killing battery.
Literally; most days both my 11" and iPhone would be at ~30-40% before 11 am.....and with honestly barely any usage...just sitting there......
Anyway man; Thanks & see ya around the forums. 🫡🙌
FeliApple
macrumors 603
Yeah, this is sad and as a user you have no valid solutions. Tough.
Yes, relative to the first major version of the device (iOS 18 for the iPhone 16, 17 for the 15, 16 for the 14, 12 for the Xʀ, 9 for the 6s, etc).
I have no issues whatsoever with first-time sufferers. Or even with those who haven’t updated in a long time. If the only updated device you’ve used is an iPhone 4s on iOS 9 (which sucks), I kind of understand you trusting that Apple has improved enough so as to see no difference (and it has improved relative to the 4s, but it’s still garbage), but the difference is still massive. Regardless, with so much time in the middle I can understand.
Now, if you’ve been a constant user it’s just something that I cannot comprehend.
Likewise with the design, the videos are out there.
unkl bob
macrumors regular
This from google: No Liquid. No ass. No fancy.
The term GI (or G.I.) most commonly refers to a soldier in the U.S. Armed Forces
firewire9000
macrumors 6502a
capamac
macrumors 6502a
Came across this today:
He goes over many of the problems with Liquid Glass, such as how text is much harder to read when it's on "glass" coz it intermixes with whatever is underneath the tex.
I also dislike the "jelly" like movement of Liquid Glass. It's just plain weird. No thank you.
He goes over many of the problems with Liquid Glass, such as how text is much harder to read when it's on "glass" coz it intermixes with whatever is underneath the tex.
I also dislike the "jelly" like movement of Liquid Glass. It's just plain weird. No thank you.
It’s also weird to me that touching a button causes it to expand (“pop up”), rather contract (“push in”).
Ledsteplin
macrumors 68000
I'm loving the liquid glass on my 17 Pro Max. My homescreen looks great with some of my wallpapers and how I have it all set up. Some are quite striking!
jameseld82
macrumors 6502
I have reduce motion turned on for this reason. That way the jelly movement seems to disappear.
baryon
macrumors 601
These are the two reasons why liquid glass doesn't look like real glass:
Real glass can be either clear or opaque/matte. It can't have the properties of both simultaneously due to the laws of physics: if you scatter light (due to the rough texture of the glass surface) then you cannot transmit a sharp image, and you must blend the colors together and reduce their overall saturation. If you transmit a sharp image (like a lens or a simple piece of glass) then you cannot scatter light and must preserve the original color, contrast, saturation and brightness. With Apple's liquid glass, you have both coexisting: you have sharp images coming through the glass, while also having a matte layer that desaturates and "whitens" the image.
The second reason is the change in saturation and hue: clear untinted glass CANNOT change the hue of a color. No untinted glass can make yellow appear orange. Untinted matte glass can only make the color less saturated due to scattering by blending all the colors together. It can't make it more saturated, and it can't change the color.
This is what Apple designers messed up and failed to notice. Had they spent more than 10 minutes looking at actual glass, this would have stood out to them:
Real glass can be either clear or opaque/matte. It can't have the properties of both simultaneously due to the laws of physics: if you scatter light (due to the rough texture of the glass surface) then you cannot transmit a sharp image, and you must blend the colors together and reduce their overall saturation. If you transmit a sharp image (like a lens or a simple piece of glass) then you cannot scatter light and must preserve the original color, contrast, saturation and brightness. With Apple's liquid glass, you have both coexisting: you have sharp images coming through the glass, while also having a matte layer that desaturates and "whitens" the image.
The second reason is the change in saturation and hue: clear untinted glass CANNOT change the hue of a color. No untinted glass can make yellow appear orange. Untinted matte glass can only make the color less saturated due to scattering by blending all the colors together. It can't make it more saturated, and it can't change the color.
This is what Apple designers messed up and failed to notice. Had they spent more than 10 minutes looking at actual glass, this would have stood out to them:
- NO change in hue, NO increase in saturation.
- EITHER sharp images and no cloudiness, OR cloudiness and scattered, diffused images with no sharp borders. You can't have both if you want to emulate physics.
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Diopter
macrumors regular
Physics wants to have a word with you about neutral density filters, light polarization and especially ultraviolet light and quantum valence/conduction 😜
But I agree with you and the point you're making is right: the effects they're adding frequently make it look not at all like real glass. The extra saturation in particular is egregious and wrong and only makes it harder to read text. That's something seemingly inherited from iOS 7's frosted effect where the extra saturation was used to make overlays look better, but it simply isn't appropriate to use it with something that is supposed to look like glass. They should remove the saturation completely, or restrict it only to the most "frosted" look.
Personally I think the 27 OSes are at least an improvement on the look of liquid glass from 26. Last year's release and the state of the design was just so half-baked.
I continue to hope they also use the colored glass effects more, since that's where it looks best (with the benefit of text also being easier to read on colored buttons).