Apple has introduced a major visual update with its new “Liquid Glass” design, bringing a refined and immersive experience to iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS.
What Is Liquid Glass?
Liquid Glass is Apple’s latest design material, inspired by real glass. It uses advanced visual effects like light refraction, highlights, and adaptive color to give apps and system elements a translucent, layered appearance. This new look creates a sense of depth and context by allowing elements to shift based on movement, scrolling, and ambient lighting.
For instance, the Lock Screen clock adjusts behind your chosen photo, and the macOS menu bar becomes more transparent to open up screen space. Toolbars, buttons, and sidebars now float elegantly with shimmer and motion.
Key Changes in Core Apps
This redesign touches nearly every part of Apple’s ecosystem:
- Lock Screen & Home Screen: Features include glass-like fonts, animated Apple Music widgets, 3D wallpapers, and clocks that adjust their position based on content.
- Safari: The browser now displays web pages edge-to-edge with a floating translucent tab bar.
- Camera & Photos: Simplified interfaces with see-through overlays to keep your focus on content.
- FaceTime, Music, News, and Podcasts: Tab bars dynamically resize based on usage, enhancing user interaction.
- System-Wide Enhancements: Control Center, settings, alerts, and menus now reflect the new design with clear, dynamic layers.
Developer Tools and Early Reactions
To support this transition, Apple has updated its development tools—SwiftUI, UIKit, and AppKit—enabling third-party apps to adopt Liquid Glass seamlessly. This marks Apple’s most significant UI update since iOS 7, following in the footsteps of the iconic Aqua design from early macOS days.
Initial feedback is mixed. Jay Peters of The Verge described the design as “a lot shinier” and initially overwhelming, though he admitted it started to grow on him. Meanwhile, some Reddit users raised concerns about readability, especially with spacing and icon clarity.
Launch Timeline and Looking Ahead
Apple announced the redesign at WWDC 2025 on June 9. The public release of Liquid Glass is expected in fall 2025. The new version naming—based on calendar years—brings consistency across all Apple platforms.
Liquid Glass represents a bold step away from flat design, reintroducing motion, translucency, and depth in a unified aesthetic. As Apple continues refining the interface during beta testing, users can expect better clarity and usability before the full rollout.
