Ex-Apple Designer Reveals 'Living Glass' iOS 26 Concepts

Designer Sebastiaan de With has published an awesome preview of what Apple's rumored iOS redesign mightiness look like, implicit with elaborate mockups and a plan doctrine that helium believes could reshape however users interact with their devices.


With WWDC conscionable days away, de With – co-founder of photography app shaper Lux and erstwhile Apple decorator – has created what helium calls "Living Glass" concepts that ideate interfaces matching the worldly properties of Apple's glass-screened devices.

"Philosophically, if I was Apple, I'd picture this arsenic yet having an interface that matches the beauteous worldly properties of its devices," de With writes. "This brings an interface of a matching material, giving the idiosyncratic a feeling of the solid itself coming alive."

The designer's imaginativeness extends acold beyond cosmetic changes, however. Using visionOS arsenic a cue, De With proposes a cardinal displacement toward "physicality" – interfaces that behave similar existent materials done dynamic lighting, reflections, and biology responsiveness.

Tracing iOS Evolution

To supply humanities discourse to his vision, De With traces iOS plan done 3 chiseled eras. He identifies the "Shaded Age," moving from iPhone OS done iOS 6, that relied heavy connected skeuomorphism, utilizing realistic textures and shadows to assistance users modulation from carnal buttons to touchscreens.

Then came the alleged "Flat Age," opening with iOS 7's arguable redesign, which stripped distant ocular effects successful favour of cleanable typography and minimal chrome. It was initially stark, but de With notes that iOS gradually regained extent done blur effects and subtle shadows implicit the years.


Now, de With sees hints of a 3rd epoch emerging done features similar Dynamic Island and the caller Siri animation – elements that behave similar carnal materials alternatively than static graphics.

"We've travel back, successful a sense, to skeuomorphic interfaces – but this clip not with a lacquer resembling a material," helium explains. "Instead, the interface is clear, graphic and behaves similar things we cognize from the existent world."

Glass arsenic Interface Material

The designer's "Living Glass" conception treats each UI elements arsenic dynamic solid surfaces that reflect, refract, and respond to their environment, truthful buttons formed realistic shadows, bespeak agleam content, and grounds properties similar aboveground hostility erstwhile merging together.


As helium sees it, the attack would make a ocular hierarchy done antithetic solid treatments, specified arsenic glossy elements for superior actions, frosted surfaces for secondary controls, and inlaid elements that look embedded successful the surface itself.


De With's mockups amusement tab bars floating supra content, app icons with dynamic reflections, and controls that look from inheritance surfaces erstwhile activated. As envisioned, the strategy would grip these effects automatically, ensuring consistency crossed each apps.


The decorator points to caller changes to iOS to enactment his theory, specified arsenic Apple's enactment connected automatic icon masking successful iOS 18, arsenic evidenced successful Dark Mode and tinted icon effects connected an identical achromatic gradient icon backdrop. De With suggests these could beryllium mentation for much dynamic backdrops.

Beyond Visual Polish

De With argues that existent plan tools similar Figma are incapable to make the dynamic lighting and responsive behaviors that helium envisions, and that could perchance springiness Apple a competitory vantage if it's hard to replicate.

His concepts besides echo Apple's broader plan doctrine of hardware-software integration. For example, conscionable arsenic aboriginal Mac OS X's translucent Aqua interface complemented colorful iMac enclosures, "Living Glass" could marque bundle consciousness autochthonal to glass-screened devices.


De With isn't unsighted to the challenges successful bringing specified complexity to a level utilized by millions of third-party developers, but helium argues determination are parallels to Apple's erstwhile level transitions, which yet raised the barroom for interface plan crossed the industry.

WWDC Expectations

Recent reports from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman picture Apple's coming redesign arsenic featuring "glassy" effects inspired by visionOS. Apple has besides tagged WWDC arsenic its "sleek peek" event.

Whether Apple's existent plans lucifer de With's imaginativeness remains to beryllium seen. But his elaborate reasoning should beryllium capable to marque adjacent the astir cynical Apple instrumentality users excited astir what the institution is acceptable to preview adjacent week for iOS 26 and its different operating systems.

"Only Apple tin propulsion the authorities of the creation to a caller interface that brings the solid of your surface to life," de With concludes. "We'll spot astatine WWDC." For much penetration into the plan doctrine that inspired his concepts, beryllium definite to cheque retired De With's afloat write-up implicit astatine the Lux Camera website.

Apple's caller iOS plan is acceptable to beryllium unveiled astatine the WWDC keynote lawsuit connected Monday, June 9. It starts astatine 10:00 a.m. and portion Apple volition livestream it, if you can't watch, you tin travel on present connected MacRumors.com oregon connected our MacRumorsLive X account.
This article, "Ex-Apple Designer Reveals 'Living Glass' iOS 26 Concepts" archetypal appeared connected MacRumors.com

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