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Liquid Glass in iOS 26 replaces flat UI from iOS 18 with dynamic, transparent layers and fluid motion.
Apple enhances iPhone aesthetics and usability through real-time color adaptation and responsive design.
iOS 26 balances beauty and clarity, refining Liquid Glass based on user feedback during beta testing.
iOS 18 has followed Apple’s minimal and flat design philosophy, which started with iOS 7. The interface used plain colors, sharp edges, and simple icons. While it was clean and easy to use, many users felt it lacked depth and creativity. With iOS 26, Apple introduced a new visual style called Liquid Glass. This design brings more life, movement, and texture to the iPhone’s user interface, making it feel more modern and responsive.
Liquid Glass is not just a visual upgrade. It changes how users interact with their devices. It adds layers, depth, and dynamic visuals that react in real-time to movement, light, and the content on the screen.
The design style in iOS 18 was flat. Buttons, toolbars, and backgrounds looked static and simple. Apple chose this design to focus on clarity and performance. But over time, this style started to look outdated as competitors like Samsung and Google added more depth and animation to their systems.
In iOS 26, Apple introduces Liquid Glass, a fluid design language that makes apps look like they are floating in layers of transparent, glass-like surfaces. This brings a sense of motion and depth, making the interface feel alive.
Liquid Glass adds transparent layers to the user interface. Elements like buttons, toolbars, and menus are no longer just blocks of color. Instead, they appear as floating panels made of soft, frosted glass. These panels slightly blur the background and reflect light, just like real glass.
When a user scrolls or swipes, the interface moves smoothly, and the layers shift naturally. It creates a sense of realism that was missing in older iOS versions.
One of the standout features of Liquid Glass is how the system automatically changes colors based on the background. For example, if a user’s wallpaper has a red tone, the system elements take on a red hue. If the background changes, the interface adapts in real-time.
This keeps everything looking consistent and improves visibility by making sure buttons and text always stand out against their background.
In iOS 26, scroll bars, search fields, and menus shrink or expand smoothly as the user scrolls. In iOS 18, these elements were fixed or only slightly responsive. Now, every part of the interface responds to touch, movement, and even how the device is tilted.
This gives users a more engaging experience, making them feel like they’re interacting with physical objects instead of a digital screen.
The Lock Screen now changes dynamically. The clock adjusts its position and size according to the wallpaper or notifications. The Home Screen uses transparent icons and widgets that appear to float above the wallpaper. The Dock at the bottom of the screen now resembles a slab of clear glass, with shadows and lighting effects.
These changes make the iPhone look more modern and sophisticated.
Apple provided new tools for app developers to use the Liquid Glass design in their apps. This means third-party apps can also use transparent panels, responsive buttons, and dynamic coloring, giving users a more consistent look and feel across all their apps.
The Liquid Glass design isn't limited to iPhones. It is now used across Apple’s entire ecosystem, including iPadOS, macOS, and even Apple Watch. This creates a seamless visual experience for users who use multiple Apple devices.
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Liquid Glass design is more demanding on hardware. It requires high graphics performance to create real-time effects like reflections, motion blur, and color adaptation. That’s why the full Liquid Glass experience is available only on newer devices that use Apple’s latest processors.
On older devices, the system may use a simpler version of the design to ensure smooth performance.
After the announcement of the iOS 26 release date at Apple’s developer event in June 2025, many users and developers praised Liquid Glass. They said it made the iPhone feel fresh, futuristic, and more personalized. Many called it the biggest design upgrade since iOS 7.
The floating effect, soft edges, and responsive animations made using the phone feel more immersive and enjoyable.
Despite the praise, some users raised concerns during the beta testing period. The first beta versions of iOS 26 had excessive transparency in areas such as Control Center and Notification Center. This made the text hard to read and caused eye strain for some users.
Others felt the new design, while beautiful, made the system feel a bit “too soft,” and not suitable for users who preferred sharp lines and strong contrasts.
Apple listened to feedback and made changes in Beta 2 and Beta 3 of iOS 26. They reduced transparency in key areas and improved contrast. For example:
Navigation bars in apps like Safari and Apple Music became less transparent.
Buttons now have solid backgrounds instead of full glass.
The Notification Center uses more opacity to make text easier to read.
Control Center keeps a glass effect but now has clearer icons and better separation.
These changes show that Apple is trying to balance beauty and usability.
Several built-in apps saw major design changes with Liquid Glass:
Safari: The address bar now floats as a frosted glass block. The bottom toolbar becomes smaller when scrolling and reappears when needed.
Music App: The Now Playing screen uses a floating design. The album art appears behind a glass player with soft shadows.
Calendar: Events are listed on floating panels that scroll smoothly, giving a 3D look.
Maps: The turn-by-turn navigation banner uses a semi-transparent panel that adapts its color based on the map underneath.
Liquid Glass works together with new AI features added in iOS 26. These include on-device call screening, smart reply suggestions, live voicemail summaries, and visual recognition for shopping and translation.
The new design makes space for these features by offering cleaner, more flexible UI components. For example, when an AI-powered suggestion appears, it shows up as a floating panel that blends into the rest of the interface.
iOS 26 is currently in beta testing. Apple has announced that the iOS 26 release date will be sometime around September 2025. This will be accompanied by the launch of the new iPhone 17 models. Most of the visual bugs and design issues are expected to be resolved by then.
Developers and early testers are already using the beta versions to update their apps and take advantage of the new design tools.
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Liquid Glass marks a major step forward in Apple’s design evolution. It moves away from the flat, static style of iOS 18 and brings in a dynamic, fluid, and immersive experience. Transparent layers, adaptive colors, and responsive motion make the interface feel alive.
While there are challenges in maintaining readability and performance, Apple is fine-tuning the system based on feedback. Once released, iOS 26 with Liquid Glass will offer users a more modern, elegant, and intelligent interface, one that reflects not just light, but also the future of mobile interaction.
