What are your opinions on Liquid Glass?

[UliBaer]

My opinion:
Unnecessary energy consumption due to superfluous visual gimmicks leads to excessive battery wear and tear, and therefore to earlier battery or complete device replacement. That's bad for the environment and my wallet, but very good for the shareholders - no wonder, "they" love it!

 

[Bazza1]

Is that a colloquial saying up there in Canada kinda like "Hoser", or are you just a Labrador Retriever in disguise?😏

Both.

Apple users remain easily distracted.

 

[bondr006]

Both.

Apple users remain easily distracted.

I think it would be fair to say that anyone that loves tech (no matter the brand) is easily distracted. Check out any of the brand or device specific (MS/Windows, Samsung, Google/Android, etc.) popular tech forums and you'll see the same distracted ready to defend/promote their favorite thing folks camping out.😉

 

[SebCohen]

I've seen liquid glass at it's best moments, where I just stop and think 'wow'
i've also seen it bug and look even worse than m3 expressive(it's tough to look THAT bad')
some people hate on it while others shower it with compliments
what is the general ratio?
BTW I am posting this on my kindle coloursoft and my dad has a 16 pro max with my mom having a 17PM

Its our times version of skeuomorphism. And that’s not a good thing.

It doesn’t look modern, it just looks different.

It just looks like early Android skins.

I feel it already looks outdated.

It’s just as annoying and useless as RGB lights on RAM DIMM’s.

It "steals" space around what was before a clean edge.

It’s like velour seats in your car.

The extra movement is annoying visually as it either steals attention or uses up energy while you block it out.

It doesn’t add any "value"

It’s not optional



Hey Apple, just make iOS skinnable already. You don’t have to make things super complicated just because you’re super clever.

 

[SebCohen]

I like it because it prevents me from buying a 17Pro. Saved me 1300 €.

I’m like "how long can I suppress my urges and keep my M1 iPad?"

 

[HouseLannister]

Hey Apple, just make iOS skinnable already. You don’t have to make things super complicated just because you’re super clever.

Absolutely: custom launchers, theme support, icon packs. With Dye gone, Apple should acquire Niagra or Smart Launcher and put those employees in charge of UI.

 

[bondr006]

I’m like "how long can I suppress my urges and keep my M1 iPad?"

Its our times version of skeuomorphism. And that’s not a good thing.

It doesn’t look modern, it just looks different.

It just looks like early Android skins.

I feel it already looks outdated.

It’s just as annoying and useless as RGB lights on RAM DIMM’s.

It "steals" space around what was before a clean edge.

It’s like velour seats in your car.

The extra movement is annoying visually as it either steals attention or uses up energy while you block it out.

It doesn’t add any "value"

It’s not optional



Hey Apple, just make iOS skinnable already. You don’t have to make things super complicated just because you’re super clever.

Sounds like you might just be better moving on, as unhappy with Apple as you are. I'd probably have been frightened to see your BP while you were posting that rant...😏

 

[J4mieB]

Love, love, love it!  ✌️

 

[SebCohen]

Sounds like you might just be better moving on, as unhappy with Apple as you are. I'd probably have been frightened to see your BP while you were posting that rant...😏

I’m on my first iPhone….looong time iPad aficionado. Honestly, the iPhone has impressed me more than its disappointed me. But this stuff here….its rather fuglybugly.

 

[bondr006]

I’m on my first iPhone….looong time iPad aficionado. Honestly, the iPhone has impressed me more than its disappointed me. But this stuff here….its rather fuglybugly.

That would be, rather “fuglybugly” in your opinion. After all, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.😉

 

[eclipse01]

I quite like it. Something different that works for me. I actually like 26. I am on 26.2 for my iPhone and both iPads, and it is probably my favorite so far. I go all the way back to the first iPad, and iPhone 3. I had a couple iPod Touches before my first iPhone so I'm very familiar with iOS from the beginning.

Tinted slightly green to go with background.

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One this I wish about the clear setting is that the emojis would also change to clear. I have a couple of folder names by just using emojis and it looks weird when those are colored and nothing else is.

 

[Clowndip]

I think it's pretty stupid, and not even all that pretty or fun to use. What was the point of this? Can anyone tell us?

I wish instead Apple would address their schizophrenic habit of changing basic functionality for no reason whatsoever even between dot releases, making formerly useful and easy things stupidly more complicated; this is a mobile device, and it has different utility, and again - this is stupid. Not sorry to see Dye go - the software team seems to be riding the coattails of the hardware team, who are doing awesome things, with nothing useful to offer whatsoever.

Really, Apple: your modern software team is absolute garbage, and I hope Dye leaving fixes this, at least on the mobile side. It's on you guys, now: show us you can do better, but suffice it to say, the Mac OS is also becoming a joke where formerly it lead the way. Why did Apple decide to start following instead of leading?

 

[bondr006]

I think it's pretty stupid, and not even all that pretty or fun to use. What was the point of this? Can anyone tell us?

I wish instead Apple would address their schizophrenic habit of changing basic functionality for no reason whatsoever even between dot releases, making formerly useful and easy things stupidly more complicated; this is a mobile device, and it has different utility, and again - this is stupid. Not sorry to see Dye go - the software team seems to be riding the coattails of the hardware team, who are doing awesome things, with nothing useful to offer whatsoever.

Really, Apple: your modern software team is absolute garbage, and I hope Dye leaving fixes this, at least on the mobile side. It's on you guys, now: show us you can do better, but suffice it to say, the Mac OS is also becoming a joke where formerly it lead the way. Why did Apple decide to start following instead of leading?

Works well for me. I actually love what they've done to 26 and can honestly say that it's my favorite version of iOS and iPad OS so far. Maybe it's time to move on to something else if Apple agitates you so much. Honestly a lot more important things in this world going on that should raise your BP. Wish they were all as easy as switching up the phone I use.😉

 

[flybub]

Not a fan of it. For starters, I think it looks hideous. There is nothing beneficial about going to Liquid Glass from a functional standpoint. The OS is still locked down as it always has been, but they've decided to copy a theme from the 2009 HTC Sense.

I would rather Apple fix the disaster that is the Keyboard, allow more functionality/freedom in the File Manager, and for god sakes do something with the notifications.

 

[Sital]

Maybe I'm in the minority on this site, but I like LG. I don't spend time looking for flaws, it looks and works fine for me.

I do agree with @flybub though...the Keyboard is a disaster, at least from a functional POV and has been for years.

 

[r_atkins]

Yeah this may sound a little off and weird, but for the touch screen world id probably move towards a more NextStep bordered rectangle method with some sort of universal menu

 

[superarijit]

It looks with his departure to Meta, Liquid Glass is likely to Dye away.

 

[scrane]

I can take it or leave it. I can't seem to get emotional about it.

 

[HouseLannister]

I don't spend time looking for flaws, it looks and works fine for me.

Unfortunately the slow animation speed on iOS means you spend too much time looking at the flaws. Would much prefer the snappy animation tuning that Android developer options unlock so I don't need to spend so much time looking at my OS trying to be pretty. Material 3 Expressive looks better because it is less flashy and in your face, but you also don't need to look at it as much because it gets out of your face and lets you actually use the phone instead of admire it while waiting to get to menus and such. It makes a much less performant Pixel phone feel so much faster than an iPhone. I think if Apple cut their animation speed in half, the phone would feel dramatically more responsive, you would spend less time looking at the liquid glass effects, and a lot of complaints would just stop. If they can make the animations more practical and less cute, that would also help. Take for example the waveform animation in the dynamic island. Does anybody find that useful and not just a distraction while you are trying to do other stuff on the device? And the slow FaceID animation just to show a checkmark... I know it worked when you let me log in, so this is just pointless. So many animation examples of an aesthetic that favors being cool to look at instead of easy to use.

 

[jonnyb098]

I quite like it. Something different that works for me. I actually like 26. I am on 26.2 for my iPhone and both iPads, and it is probably my favorite so far. I go all the way back to the first iPad, and iPhone 3. I had a couple iPod Touches before my first iPhone so I'm very familiar with iOS from the beginning.

Tinted slightly green to go with background.

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The slight tinting is an amazing little hack to make it look even better!

 

[JayKay514]

I'm going to weigh in as someone who works in UX, usability and accessibility for enterprise web and mobile apps.

We use the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) standards to inform new designs, and to assess older ones that need updating. WCAG is important for organizations to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA); they can be sued or fined for non-compliance. While it's primarily about web content, WCAG applies to native UIs as well.

Liquid Glass breaks a lot of things for people with low vision, and even for people with "regular" visual deficits such as nearsightedness or astigmatism. The main criticism is that Glass elements significantly lower the contrast ratio between content, UI elements, and the background. Notably, elements in a Glass object over the top of a scrolling background become very hard to discern.

Even in the "flat" parts of the UI, there's a lot of low-contrast interface elements that are harder to read, or that appear to be disabled. This is a big shift from iOS 18.

Other changes have been noted, such as search bars moving from top to bottom, the keyboard being harder to type on or dismiss, and other control bars being inserted near the keyboard, which makes things harder to use for people with fine motor control issues. Many controls that have ambiguous purpose do not have text labels, so there's more chance for errors.

I am surprised there hasn't been a class-action lawsuit regarding its non-compliance with ADA standards and/or WCAG criteria, though in the US the climate seems anti-ADA at the moment; I fully expect the EU to issue some sort of ruling about this.

Personally, I think a little Glass goes a long way. I'm definitely not a fan of how it was applied to macOS Tahoe, because things have become highly inconsistent and contrast is measurably worse.

Material Expressive 3 is a much more accessible way to implement dynamic animated controls, it retains the flatness and "layered paper" roots of Material, and has much better UI contrast.

Anecdotally, I know at least a few colleagues who were first-time iPhone users (having acquired them to do testing with VoiceOver, for instance) but dislike iOS 26 so much they're quite literally returning them to get Android phones. They're not as invested in the Apple ecosystem, so it's easier to do so.

 

[Sital]

Unfortunately the slow animation speed on iOS means you spend too much time looking at the flaws. Would much prefer the snappy animation tuning that Android developer options unlock so I don't need to spend so much time looking at my OS trying to be pretty. Material 3 Expressive looks better because it is less flashy and in your face, but you also don't need to look at it as much because it gets out of your face and lets you actually use the phone instead of admire it while waiting to get to menus and such. It makes a much less performant Pixel phone feel so much faster than an iPhone. I think if Apple cut their animation speed in half, the phone would feel dramatically more responsive, you would spend less time looking at the liquid glass effects, and a lot of complaints would just stop. If they can make the animations more practical and less cute, that would also help. Take for example the waveform animation in the dynamic island. Does anybody find that useful and not just a distraction while you are trying to do other stuff on the device? And the slow FaceID animation just to show a checkmark... I know it worked when you let me log in, so this is just pointless. So many animation examples of an aesthetic that favors being cool to look at instead of easy to use.

I like the animations. I can see how if the animation speeds bother you then you consider that a flaw. The animations do not bother me at all so I don't consider that a flaw. I also pretty much just use my phone for calls, texts, reading emails, maps, and some internet. All my heavy lifting is done on my Mac (where I also don't mind LG).

 

[Populus]

At first, I didn’t quite like it, especially when I concluded that it was more resource intensive than the flat iOS 18 design.

However, I guess it’s growing on me. I don’t dislike it… but honestly I think it could be done better. It’s too retro-futuristic. It’s like Scott Forstall redesigned iOS 6 to make it more modern but from the iOS 6 / OS X Jaguar design language.

I guess I’ll get used to it. I also think that, while iOS/macOS 27 will be focused on performance and bug fixes, they will tweak the UI to make it lighter for iOS/macOS 28, if not before. Especially now that the lead designer has been replaced.

I would kill for Material 3 Expressive on an iPhone. Best looking OS I have used in a decade.

Agree. Despite the fact that Material 3 is a bit too flat, I actually like it more than liquid glass. Maybe a mix of both, a neumorphic approach, would have been optimal for iOS.

 

[Populus]

You know what? Liquid Glass is slowly growing on me. Actually, by now, I much prefer the look of the iOS 26 keyboard compared to the old one. I like the curvature of it, and especially, the transparency of it. Actually, I would make it a tad more transparent on light mode (on dark mode is perfect).

But I realized something shocking! After installing a few apps, third party apps are already adapted to iOS 26 look, while Apple’s own Pages is still locked on iOS 18 look. It hasn’t been adapted to Liquid Glass, how’s that possible???

When you start typing on Pages, you are welcomed with iOS 18 old keyboard, and some other parts of the interface are still on iOS 18 style.

 

[I7guy]

[…]

I am surprised there hasn't been a class-action lawsuit regarding its non-compliance with ADA standards and/or WCAG criteria, though in the US the climate seems anti-ADA at the moment; I fully expect the EU to issue some sort of ruling about this.

Weighing in as a MR observer most of the negative criticism I have witnessed comes from posts. I have not heard anyone IRL complaining about iOS 26 similar to here. Probably going to be very hard to sue Apple for a new interface as there are a plethora accessibility controls.

[…]

Anecdotally, I know at least a few colleagues who were first-time iPhone users (having acquired them to do testing with VoiceOver, for instance) but dislike iOS 26 so much they're quite literally returning them to get Android phones. They're not as invested in the Apple ecosystem, so it's easier to do so.

Anecdotally most of the complains are in MR forums. Probably because complaining is easier than complementing. iPhone 17 is performing well. You would think that any negative publicity on iOS 26 would kill the enthusiasm for the iPhone 17.