Probably the most notable change to iOS 26 is the Liquid Glass design overhaul, which is the first main iOS design replace since Apple rolled out iOS 7 again in 2013. There are new options in ‌iOS 26‌, in fact, however added performance has positively been sidelined in favor of the design refresh.

We have compiled a walkthrough of Liquid Glass, so you understand what to anticipate if you set up ‌iOS 26‌. A variety of what’s right here can be relevant to iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe too.

Needless to say Apple remains to be refining Liquid Glass and a few of the design may see additional adjustments, however we’ll replace this information with every revision.

Overview

Liquid Glass is translucent, and it is meant to behave equally to actual glass. It permits mild and shade to filter via, so you may see bits of the background behind buttons, menus, and different interface components.

Mild is subtly mirrored off of Liquid Glass buttons, which is noticeable if you transfer your iPhone. Apple says that Liquid Glass is designed to use real-time rendering to dynamically react to motion with reflective highlights.

App Icons

App icons are meant to appear to be layered glass, giving them a refined depth. Apps like Messages, Climate, Images, and Maps have a high layer icon design over a backside shade, for instance, so you possibly can see a touch of a 3D look.

Apple designed icons to have the similar common colours as iOS 18, however there may be an choice to activate an all-glass icon look by selecting the “Clear” choice in the Dwelling Display screen customization interface.

Lock Display screen

Liquid Glass is unmistakable from the second you choose up an ‌iPhone‌ working ‌iOS 26‌. The Lock Display screen options Liquid Glass Management buttons (that are customizable like earlier than), an choice for a Liquid Glass design for the clock, and translucent notifications that use a extra frosted variant of Liquid Glass.

The Clock is especially attention-grabbing, as a result of Apple designed it to merge extra seamlessly along with your wallpaper. If you happen to use a photograph wallpaper, the time readout will change in dimension to match inside the empty area on the show.

Widgets which might be on the Lock Display screen even have a Liquid Glass design, with widgets, the Management Middle buttons and the time reflecting the mild with the motion of your ‌iPhone‌.

Dwelling Display screen

App icons have the aforementioned layered look with the choice for totally clear icons, and widgets have the similar design. While you activate the clear icon choice, widgets additionally undertake a way more translucent Liquid Glass design.

The dock is clear and blends into the background behind it, and the similar is true of the search interface. App folders have a comfortable, frosted Liquid Glass design that adjustments tint primarily based in your wallpaper. The App Library has an analogous look.

As you tilt and transfer your ‌iPhone‌, you possibly can see refined glints of sunshine reflecting off of the app icons, dock, folders, and search bar.

iOS 26: What’s Modified With the iPhone’s Dwelling Display screen

Management Middle

When Apple launched the first beta of ‌iOS 26‌, Management Middle was so translucent it was virtually unreadable. Apple made the Management Middle buttons darker and extra opaque, bettering readability.

Management Middle buttons now have a frosted glass look, however you possibly can nonetheless see hints of what is in the background behind them.

Apps

In apps, Liquid Glass is noticeable in menu bars, navigation bars, and buttons. Most of Apple’s apps have acquired a Liquid Glass replace, and you may see Liquid Glass virtually wherever there is a button, bar, or menu. Apple needed navigation bars and menus to seem to be floating over the content material in the app, and there’s a distinctive layered look to navigation components.

Navigation bars in apps are translucent and you may see a few of the app’s background behind them, particularly when scrolling. Interface components have a tendency to fade extra into the background to put the concentrate on content material. Liquid Glass is accompanied by design adjustments in the type of come out menus, rounded button designs, and disappearing navigation bars in choose apps, with a few of the extra notable adjustments listed under.

• Safari – Safari’s Tab Bar makes use of Liquid Glass, and there is additionally a brand new Compact choice. While you scroll, the Tab Bar collapses down, and you may solely see the web site deal with. Scrolling again up brings it again. The interface for swapping between tab teams has modified, and all buttons additionally use Liquid Glass.
• Images – ‌Images‌ now not has a unified design, and there are separate Library and Assortment tabs, together with a devoted search button. Navigation bars disappear as you flick through your photos, and all buttons have a rounded look.
• Digicam – The Digicam app options certainly one of the most notable design updates. Navigation has been distilled down into only a Video and a Picture button, although you possibly can swipe to get to different modes. Tapping on a button shows come out menu with a Liquid Glass design.
• Messages – Messages seems largely the similar, however buttons have a frosted glass look and the keyboard’s edges are rounded. Buttons and bars have the similar rounded look as the remainder of ‌iOS 26‌.
• Maps – Maps additionally seems related to the ‌iOS 18‌ model of the app, however with extra rounded interface components and barely extra translucency.
• App Retailer – The App Retailer app has a slimmed down navigation bar at the backside with a frosted glass look. It may be virtually translucent on some darker backgrounds.
• Apple Music – Apple Music has the similar translucent navigation bar as the ‌App Retailer‌, with a design that exhibits the background via the bar.
• Telephone – The Telephone app has an opt-in unified view with Liquid Glass-style buttons.
• Climate – There isn’t any extra backside bar in the Climate app, and as an alternative, there are Liquid Glass buttons for altering places and accessing settings.

Mail, Notes, Reminders, Well being, Information, and different Apple apps all have related adjustments, primarily in the type of buttons which might be slimmed down, rounder, and barely extra translucent.

Functionally, it is solely the Digicam app, the ‌Images‌ app, and the Telephone app (if utilizing the unified view) which have important navigation adjustments. For the most half, app buttons are in the similar place and work in the similar method, although they’ve a distinct look.

How Liquid Glass Has Developed

In the first developer beta, Liquid Glass had a heavy emphasis on translucency. A lot in order that textual content in areas like the Notification Middle and the Management Middle may very well be troublesome to learn.

Virtually all of the interface was clear, with shade displaying via behind every thing. With white textual content and Apple having little to no management over the background colours of wallpapers and content material, usability was an issue.

In the second developer beta that got here out on June 23, Apple addressed the translucency of the Management Middle, which was certainly one of the areas that acquired heavy preliminary criticism. Apple elevated the opacity of the buttons in the Management Middle, and additional blurred the background. Translucency for interface components on the Lock Display screen and the ‌Dwelling Display screen‌ additionally noticed minor tweaks.

Apple made additional adjustments in the third developer beta, rolling again a few of the Liquid Glass translucency in app menu bars and buttons.

In the fourth beta, a few of the translucency was reintroduced, and now we now have a design that is not fairly as clear as the Liquid Glass that was demonstrated at WWDC, however that is not as opaque as what we had in the third beta.

With each beta replace, there have been complaints from individuals who assume there’s an excessive amount of transparency, and people who need extra transparency. Apple remains to be working to discover a steadiness, and we may see additional adjustments in the future.

Criticism

Folks have sturdy opinions about Liquid Glass. Some love the novelty of a recent look, and others assume that it is a usability nightmare that is virtually unreadable in some conditions.

Apple to this point hasn’t managed to strike sufficient of a steadiness to fulfill everybody, and to this point, it would not appear to be the firm plans to compromise with a slider for customizability.

Do you want the Liquid Glass design, or would you like to see Apple scrap it? Tell us in the feedback.

iPadOS 26 and macOS Tahoe

The Liquid Glass design extends to ‌iPadOS 26‌, macOS Tahoe, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26, with all of the updates adopting related translucency for varied interface components. ‌iPadOS 26‌ is the closest to ‌iOS 26‌, that includes the similar common design throughout the working system and in Apple apps.

Apple needed to enhance design cohesiveness for its software program throughout totally different gadgets, so you may see Liquid Glass on all your Apple merchandise if you replace to the newest working methods in the fall.

Learn Extra

For extra on the options which might be included in ‌iOS 26‌, take a look at our iOS 26 roundup.