Some customers and designers are already panning Apple’s new consumer interface dubbed Liquid Glass, though it’s a bit early. There are causes to assume it’d enhance — but in addition legitimate critiques.
Whereas arguably the working system design overhaul seems to be unfinished in lots of components — notifications are too arduous to learn, after which there’s that monstrosity of the Management Heart overlay — what Apple has shipped to date is the primary developer beta, not a remaining launch. There’s nonetheless time for most of the design programs’ 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 appear and feel was introduced at this 12 months’s Worldwide Builders Convention 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 gadgets.
Impressed by Apple’s Imaginative and prescient Professional VR headset, Liquid Glass is so named as a result of it leverages the optical high quality of glass in its parts — it refracts mild and options translucent supplies. The replace additionally modernizes the working system’s interface in a method that appears clearly poised to later prolong to different gadgets, like AR glasses.
Nonetheless, there are components of the interface the place numerous parts are just too arduous to learn — and never just for low-vision customers (or the middle-aged). Even Apple’s press launch features a picture of the Apple Music consumer interface, the place it’s troublesome to make out the artist’s title in its mild grey font on a translucent bar. That’s regarding as a result of this can be a picture Apple authorized, which seemingly would point out that this a part of the OS replace, no less than, is completed.
Different customers are sharing comparable issues in regards to the legibility of studying via their notifications on the iPhone’s Lock Display, 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 concern 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 fans 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. Right here, the white textual content practically fades away into the background in components. Perhaps Apple helps us wean ourselves off our display screen time addictions?
The iOS 26 Management Heart can be virtually unusable within the first developer beta, as there’s little background blur to cover the Dwelling Display’s icons and widgets behind the Heart’s numerous controls, buttons, and sliders. Absolutely Apple designers don’t assume that is the ultimate product? Why didn’t they no less than improve the background blur earlier than transport?
That is unfinished work that wants greater than a slight adjustment.
There’s room to criticize different decisions, too, like Dwelling Display animations that miss the mark — however these are possible unfinished. Or so we’d hope.
Regardless of 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 on account of its extra obtrusive points.
For starters, Apple’s icons look lovely of their new glassy fashion (not designed by a advertising committee this time), and a few of the results involving morphing buttons are spectacular. Transferring Liquid Glass overlays over the Dwelling Display blurs and stretches icons within the background as if an precise piece of glass had been being pulled over prime.
There are different refined touches that make the design’s parts really feel like glass, like the best way the “Customise” button displays the colours of the totally different wallpapers above it as you scroll via them whereas personalizing your Dwelling Display. The function should have to be refined, but it surely’s an instance that demonstrates Liquid Glass was not some kind of rush job on Apple’s half.
Even Apple’s rivals have taken discover.
“Liquid Glass … I kinda adore it?” posted Nothing CEO Carl Pei on X, who lately theorized that the way forward for smartphones will contain interacting with AI via the working system itself, not essentially via operating apps.
Liquid Glass appears higher positioned for such a world, the place the interfaces of the apps grow to be the main target as their icons fade away into the background — even, optionally, changing into clear glass.
In fact, there are issues that Apple gained’t be capable to steadiness the iPhone’s battery utilization that its new eye-candy calls for — particularly on older gadgets — however we gained’t know if that’s true till the corporate ships a remaining model of iOS.
Apple, nevertheless, 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 best way for such a consumer interface.
Plus, Apple already gives a solution to toggle off a few of its extra power-hungry results and motions to avoid wasting on battery life, and that can possible be true for Liquid Glass as properly.
It’s additionally price remembering that Apple’s final main overhaul of its cellular working system, iOS 7, was equally unrefined upon its first launch. The preliminary beta featured unreadable UI parts and skinny strains and fonts that led to some criticism about usability and type over operate. Over time, that design was improved, and now it’s regarded as simply how the iPhone’s software program seems to be — if it’s considered in any respect.
The identical will possible maintain true for Liquid Glass … finally.
