iOS 26: Everything You Need to Know About the Liquid Glass Redesign

The astir notable alteration to iOS 26 is the Liquid Glass plan overhaul, which is the archetypal large iOS plan update since Apple rolled retired iOS 7 backmost successful 2013. There are caller features successful ‌iOS 26‌, of course, but added functionality has decidedly been sidelined successful favour of the plan refresh.


We've compiled a walkthrough of Liquid Glass, truthful you cognize what to expect erstwhile you instal ‌iOS 26‌. A batch of what's present is besides applicable to iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe too.

Keep successful caput that Apple is inactive refining Liquid Glass and immoderate of the plan could spot further changes, but we'll update this usher with each revision.

Overview

Liquid Glass is translucent, and it's meant to behave likewise to existent glass. It allows airy and colour to filter through, truthful you'll spot bits of the inheritance down buttons, menus, and different interface elements.


Light is subtly reflected disconnected of Liquid Glass buttons, which is noticeable erstwhile you determination your iPhone. Apple says that Liquid Glass is designed to usage real-time rendering to dynamically respond to question with reflective highlights.

App Icons

App icons are meant to look similar layered glass, giving them a subtle depth. Apps similar Messages, Weather, Photos, and Maps person a apical furniture icon plan implicit a bottommost color, for example, truthful you tin spot a hint of a 3D look.


Apple designed icons to person the aforesaid wide colors arsenic iOS 18, but determination is an enactment to crook connected an all-glass icon look by choosing the "Clear" enactment successful the Home Screen customization interface.

Lock Screen

Liquid Glass is unmistakable from the infinitesimal you prime up an ‌iPhone‌ moving ‌iOS 26‌. The Lock Screen features Liquid Glass Control buttons (which are customizable similar before), an enactment for a Liquid Glass plan for the clock, and translucent notifications that usage a much frosted variant of Liquid Glass.

• iOS 26: New Lock Screen Features

The Clock is peculiarly interesting, due to the fact that Apple designed it to merge much seamlessly with your wallpaper. If you usage a photograph wallpaper, the clip readout volition alteration successful size to acceptable wrong the bare abstraction connected the display.


Widgets that are connected the Lock Screen besides person a Liquid Glass design, with widgets, the Control Center buttons and the clip reflecting the airy with the question of your ‌iPhone‌.

Home Screen

App icons person the aforementioned layered look with the enactment for wholly wide icons, and widgets person the aforesaid design. When you crook connected the wide icon option, widgets besides follow a overmuch much translucent Liquid Glass design.


The dock is transparent and blends into the inheritance down it, and the aforesaid is existent of the hunt interface. App folders person a soft, frosted Liquid Glass plan that changes tint based connected your wallpaper. The App Library has a akin look.


As you tilt and determination your ‌iPhone‌, you tin spot subtle glints of airy reflecting disconnected of the app icons, dock, folders, and hunt bar.

iOS 26: What's Changed With the iPhone's Home Screen

Control Center

When Apple released the archetypal beta of ‌iOS 26‌, Control Center was truthful translucent it was astir unreadable. Apple made the Control Center buttons darker and much opaque, improving readability.


Control Center buttons present person a frosted solid look, but you tin inactive spot hints of what's successful the inheritance down them.

Apps

In apps, Liquid Glass is noticeable successful paper bars, navigation bars, and buttons. Most of Apple's apps person received a Liquid Glass update, and you'll spot Liquid Glass astir anyplace there's a button, bar, oregon menu. Apple wanted navigation bars and menus to look to beryllium floating implicit the contented successful the app, and determination is simply a distinctive layered look to navigation elements.


Navigation bars successful apps are translucent and you tin spot immoderate of the app's inheritance down them, particularly erstwhile scrolling. Interface elements thin to slice much into the inheritance to enactment the absorption connected content. Liquid Glass is accompanied by plan changes successful the signifier of popular retired menus, rounded fastener designs, and disappearing navigation bars successful prime apps, with immoderate of the much notable changes listed below.

• Safari - Safari's Tab Bar uses Liquid Glass, and there's besides a caller Compact option. When you scroll, the Tab Bar collapses down, and you'll lone spot the website address. Scrolling backmost up brings it back. The interface for swapping betwixt tab groups has changed, and each buttons besides usage Liquid Glass.


• Photos - ‌Photos‌ nary longer has a unified design, and determination are abstracted Library and Collection tabs, on with a dedicated hunt button. Navigation bars vanish arsenic you browse done your images, and each buttons person a rounded look.


• Camera - The Camera app features 1 of the astir notable plan updates. Navigation has been distilled down into conscionable a Video and a Photo button, though you tin swipe to get to different modes. Tapping connected a fastener displays popular retired paper with a Liquid Glass design.


• Messages - Messages looks mostly the same, but buttons person a frosted solid look and the keyboard's edges are rounded. Buttons and bars person the aforesaid rounded look arsenic the remainder of ‌iOS 26‌.


• Maps - Maps besides looks akin to the ‌iOS 18‌ mentation of the app, but with much rounded interface elements and somewhat much translucency.


• App Store - The App Store app has a slimmed down navigation barroom astatine the bottommost with a frosted solid look. It tin beryllium astir translucent connected immoderate darker backgrounds.


• Apple Music - Apple Music has the aforesaid translucent navigation barroom arsenic the ‌App Store‌, with a plan that shows the inheritance done the bar.


• Phone - The Phone app has an opt-in unified presumption with Liquid Glass-style buttons.


• Weather - There's nary much bottommost barroom successful the Weather app, and instead, determination are Liquid Glass buttons for changing locations and accessing settings.

Mail, Notes, Reminders, Health, News, and different Apple apps each person akin changes, chiefly successful the signifier of buttons that are slimmed down, rounder, and somewhat much translucent.


Functionally, it's lone the Camera app, the ‌Photos‌ app, and the Phone app (if utilizing the unified view) that person important navigation changes. For the astir part, app buttons are successful the aforesaid spot and enactment successful the aforesaid way, adjacent though they person a antithetic look.

How Liquid Glass Has Evolved

In the archetypal developer beta, Liquid Glass had a dense accent connected translucency. So overmuch truthful that substance successful areas similar the Notification Center and the Control Center could beryllium hard to read.



Almost each of the interface was transparent, with colour showing done down everything. With achromatic substance and Apple having small to nary power implicit the inheritance colors of wallpapers and content, usability was a problem.

In the second developer beta that came retired connected June 23, Apple addressed the translucency of the Control Center, which was 1 of the areas that received dense archetypal criticism. Apple accrued the opacity of the buttons successful the Control Center, and further blurred the background. Translucency for interface elements connected the Lock Screen and the ‌Home Screen‌ besides saw insignificant tweaks.

Apple made further changes successful the third developer beta, rolling backmost immoderate of the Liquid Glass translucency successful app paper bars and buttons.





In the 4th beta, immoderate of the translucency was reintroduced, and present we person a plan that's not rather arsenic transparent arsenic the Liquid Glass that was demonstrated astatine WWDC, but that isn't arsenic opaque arsenic what we had successful the 3rd beta.





With each beta update, determination person been complaints from radical who deliberation there's excessively overmuch transparency, and those who privation much transparency. Apple is inactive moving to find a balance, and we could spot further changes successful the future.

Criticism

People person beardown opinions astir Liquid Glass. Some emotion the novelty of a caller look, and others deliberation that it's a usability nightmare that's astir unreadable successful immoderate situations.

Apple truthful acold hasn't managed to onslaught capable of a equilibrium to fulfill everyone, and truthful far, it doesn't look similar the institution plans to compromise with a slider for customizability.

Do you similar the Liquid Glass design, oregon bash you privation to spot Apple scrap it? Let america cognize successful the comments.

iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe

The Liquid Glass plan extends to ‌iPadOS 26‌, macOS Tahoe, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26, with each of the updates adopting akin translucency for assorted interface elements. ‌iPadOS 26‌ is the closest to ‌iOS 26‌, featuring the aforesaid wide plan crossed the operating strategy and successful Apple apps.


Apple wanted to amended plan cohesiveness for its bundle crossed antithetic devices, truthful you'll spot Liquid Glass connected each of your Apple products erstwhile you update to the latest operating systems successful the fall.

Read More

For much connected the features that are included successful ‌iOS 26‌, check retired our iOS 26 roundup.
This article, "iOS 26: Everything You Need to Know About the Liquid Glass Redesign" archetypal appeared connected MacRumors.com

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