iOS 26 is billed as the biggest overhaul of Apple’s smartphone operating system in a long while. It’s also part of an effort to create a unified UI across all Apple platforms. What do you think about it?
The new UI, called Liquid Glass, was inspired by visionOS (for Apple’s XR headset) and it has already been applied to Apple’s first-party apps (Google can be a bit slow in adopting the latest Android UI design language).
We’ve seen people praise the new look as well as people that hate it and so we wanted to get your opinion. People who like it, say that the fluidity is great and that the new UI uses space better (e.g. the smaller tab bar in Safari). Those that don’t point to things like legibility issues caused by everything being translucent. And plenty of people are making “iOS Vista” jokes.
Liquid Glass is the unifying UI design language for all Apple platforms, not just iOS
There’s more to iOS 26 than just Liquid Glass. For example, it adds the Games app, has Arcade, Play Together and Library tabs to help you discover new titles and play with friends.
The new Games app in iOS 26
The Wallet app got a new boarding pass UI with maps for airports. Speaking of, Maps can learn your preferred routes. Visual Intelligence got more tools. A spam-fighting Call Screening feature was included, plus Hold Assist for when you get put on hold. CarPlay is also adopting the Liquid Glass design language, by the way.
iOS 26 isn’t widely available just yet – it launched as a developer beta, an open beta is coming next month. The final update should be ready in the fall, just in time for the iPhone 17 series launch.
Are you excited to try Liquid Glass and iOS 26? Or do you think Apple made things worse?