Some customers and designers are already panning Apple’s new person interface dubbed Liquid Glass, though it’s a bit early. There are causes to suppose it’d enhance — but in addition legitimate critiques.
While arguably the working system design overhaul appears to be like unfinished in lots of elements — notifications are too exhausting to learn, after which there’s that monstrosity of the Control Center overlay — what Apple has shipped to date is the primary developer beta, not a ultimate launch. There’s nonetheless time for most of the design methods’ present issues to be refined and corrected by the point Apple launches iOS 26 and its different OS updates to the general public later this fall.
The dramatic refresh to the iPhone’s feel and look was introduced at this yr’s Worldwide Developers Conference and described by Apple as its “broadest design replace ever.” Liquid Glass, the corporate defined, would span throughout Apple’s platforms, unifying the expertise of utilizing Apple units.
Inspired by Apple’s Vision Pro VR headset, Liquid Glass is so named as a result of it leverages the optical high quality of glass in its components — it refracts mild and options translucent supplies. The replace additionally modernizes the working system’s interface in a approach that appears clearly poised to later prolong to different units, like AR glasses.
However, there are elements of the interface the place numerous components are just too exhausting to learn — and never just for low-vision customers (or the middle-aged). Even Apple’s press launch features a photograph of the Apple Music person interface, the place it’s tough to make out the artist’s title in its mild grey font on a translucent bar. That’s regarding as a result of it is a photograph Apple accepted, which seemingly would point out that this a part of the OS replace, not less than, is completed.
Other customers are sharing comparable considerations in regards to the legibility of studying by means of their notifications on the iPhone’s Lock Screen, the place, relying on the colours of your background wallpaper, the textual content turns into both simpler or tougher to learn as you scroll.
This situation may even be noticed within the footage of Apple’s WWDC keynote tackle, the place glassy notifications appear to require a little bit of squinting to parse.
As builders and different curious tech fanatics started testing the preliminary beta, they realized the issue with studying notifications was even worse when the iPhone’s wallpaper was brighter, with lighter colours. Here, the white textual content practically fades away into the background in elements. Maybe Apple helps us wean ourselves off our display time addictions?
The iOS 26 Control Center can also be nearly unusable within the first developer beta, as there’s little background blur to cover the Home Screen’s icons and widgets behind the Center’s numerous controls, buttons, and sliders. Surely Apple designers don’t suppose that is the ultimate product? Why didn’t they not less than enhance the background blur earlier than transport?
This is unfinished work that wants greater than a slight adjustment.
There’s room to criticize different selections, too, like Home Screen animations that miss the mark — however these are doubtless unfinished. Or so we’d hope.
Despite its preliminary flaws, there are indicators that the up to date design system will obtain extra consideration to element over time, even when that’s not as apparent on this first launch resulting from its extra evident points.
For starters, Apple’s icons look lovely of their new glassy model (not designed by a advertising committee this time), and a few of the results involving morphing buttons are spectacular. Moving Liquid Glass overlays over the Home Screen blurs and stretches icons within the background as if an precise piece of glass had been being pulled over high.
There are different refined touches that make the design’s components really feel like glass, like the way in which the “Customize” button displays the colours of the completely different wallpapers above it as you scroll by means of them whereas personalizing your Home Screen. The characteristic should still must be refined, however it’s an instance that demonstrates Liquid Glass was not some kind of rush job on Apple’s half.
Even Apple’s opponents have taken discover.
“Liquid Glass … I kinda adore it?” posted Nothing CEO Carl Pei on X, who just lately theorized that the way forward for smartphones will contain interacting with AI by means of the working system itself, not essentially by means of working apps.
Liquid Glass appears higher positioned for such a world, the place the interfaces of the apps turn out to be the main focus as their icons fade away into the background — even, optionally, turning into clear glass.
Of course, there are considerations that Apple gained’t be capable to stability the iPhone’s battery utilization that its new eye-candy calls for — particularly on older units — however we gained’t know if that’s true till the corporate ships a ultimate model of iOS.
Apple, nonetheless, tried to appease customers’ anxiousness on this entrance by explaining throughout its WWDC keynote tackle that the advances it made in its {hardware}, silicon, and graphics applied sciences have paved the way in which for such a person interface.
Plus, Apple already presents a strategy to toggle off a few of its extra power-hungry results and motions to avoid wasting on battery life, and that may doubtless be true for Liquid Glass as properly.
It’s additionally price remembering that Apple’s final main overhaul of its cell working system, iOS 7, was equally unrefined upon its first launch. The preliminary beta featured unreadable UI components and skinny traces and fonts that led to some criticism about usability and kind over perform. Over time, that design was improved, and now it’s regarded as simply how the iPhone’s software program appears to be like — if it’s considered in any respect.
The similar will doubtless maintain true for Liquid Glass … finally.
