Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

This update is one of the rare cases where I really dislike the new version. I’m usually happy with Apple updates, even ones the commentators dislike. This time I’m sorta agreeing with them: I don’t like the new iOS. Same with the Mac and iPad: other than being glitchy, I just don’t like the changes. It feels like my screen real estate isn’t as efficiently used, UI elements feel jumbled and the transparency makes things harder to read. I’m sure I’ll get used to it over time but I’m not enjoying it so far, even after going into the settings to try to adjust things I don’t care for. Not my favorite update cycle from Apple, and I’m usually one of the overly positive folks on whatever Apple ships.

Seems like I'm against the trend here in HN, but I personally like it more the more I use it. (Admittedly I don't have any accessibility issues which may come up for others)

Also, I appreciate the UX improvements (as opposed to the pretty glass effect), such as the much improved menu system and the generally (IMO) improved changes in layout in Calendar, Mail, Safari, etc.

That said I do find it a bit more annoying to access different tabs in Safari but maybe that's why I get for using Safari.

I disagree I love the glass.

The human eye was not designed to look at text or to look at text on top of solid color static backgrounds which don’t exist in nature.

Our eye was designed to look at noise and filter moving noise. It is better to have a background that distinguishes itself based off of texture and movement rather than a sudden contrast of divergent flat colors.

Yes flat design is logically more efficient I understand this but human evolution has evolved our bodies to be narrow and efficient within a niche. If we move outside of that niche things become inefficient even detrimental.

Take for instance: eating. You’re not designed to eat the most calorie dense fatty foods even though high energy reserves seems like a good thing. Your body ended up evolving towards a niche: a narrow band of caloric intake.

It’s the same thing with visual design. You go too extreme and too efficient with flat colors and flat design you are creating patterns your eye was not optimized for. Your eye was optimized for noise inefficiency and to find patterns and glass emulates this quite well.

To be honest I just made up all the shit I said above. I somewhat believe it could be true but the ultimate reality is that it doesn’t matter that much. Your eye can handle flat design or Liquid Glass without any extra stress. It’s not really a big difference. Your eye can handle it and if you can’t you probably shouldn’t be driving and you should see an eye doctor. People are complaining about this because it’s different from what they are used to not because there’s an actual problem.

iOS/macos 26 have me feeling isolated in a way I’ve never experienced in tech.

Aesthetics aside (which I personally don’t like, but I can accept as subjective) I see extreme issues and regressions literally everywhere, from not being able to read the notifications in a half pulled curtain to memory leaks in half the native apps.

Yet no one is raising their voice in the tech world. No bloggers, no YouTubers, nothing that feels proportionate to the screwup I’m seeing. People was far more vocal about the lack of the new Siri.

I made the mistake of upgrading (13 Mini) and it is very clear that the new UI was not tested at all on smaller screens. The rounded buttons take up so much extra margin that actual usable space is greatly diminished.