What gets me about it is that it is just a lot of random vandalism of the UI without really looking like anything. The clock on my phone looks like it had anti-anti aliasing applied to it. Most of the contrast got drained out of the settings button but only the settings button. It doesn’t look like they had a vision for what it should look like but instead they just let some random check some random stuff into their source control.
Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26
61–70 of 538 posts
Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26
#62You can almost hear the meeting that spawned this. "We want the interface to get out of the user's way!" macOS 26 is even worse. Suddenly not feeling so smug when I see the Windows complaints.
Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26
#63Seems 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…
If you head into Safari's settings you can reinstate the old bottom bar (or the even older top and bottom bars)
Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26
#64I've read so much criticism and listened to so many Apple podcast that I expected the worst. Then updated on day one and...it's fine? I know that people just hate any change but this was massively blown out of proportion.
It looks worse in screenshots than it does to use. I saw a few images on reddit that looked quite bad, but then when I actually used it I saw those screenshots were taken in the middle of animations or transitions that last only a handful of frames.
Indeed, it's telling that the first screenshot they are using to illustrate the problem is a iMessage screenshot, with a high contrast background image, only one message and images in a similar color theme as the background image.
If you want high contrast in your messages app...don't use a high contrast background image?
Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26
#65I already switched it off a few days ago. Turning on "Reduce Transparency" and "Increase Contrast" under Accessibility > Display makes the phone a pleasure to use.
I did the same on Tahoe and now the formerly glass buttons are grey with a weird blue shadow in the upper left. One example: the sound slider on the menu bar. With all the GFX turned on, it is a transparent blob, with the reduced settings, it's just a weird gray with a nonsensical shadow.
I'd really, really love to read internal presentations leading up to this downgrade of a once proud UI (let's hear it for System 7) to what is now effectively a collection childish digital baubles.
Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26
#66Some of it (like hiding the Safari tab button in a menu) feels like Windows-11-stupid. Luckily, Apple is ok at supporting older phones, so I just have to be careful to not accidentally upgrade my SE to iOS 26. Makes me nostalgic for Apple's interface guidelines, which were very well thought through, based on evidence, and with clear principles. https://vintageapple.org/inside_r/pdf/Human_Interface_Guidel...
You can actually swipe up from the search field at the bottom and that will show all tabs. (If anyone is reading this from apple, that animation should be sped up).
However, this doesn't work if you've scrolled down already and the bar is minimized. It literally flashes as if to acknowledge your swipe and does nothing.
Also if you miss by moving your thumb just slightly lower, you'll close the app haha.
They thought about it a bit, but definitely not enough.
Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26
#67This 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 thi…
It’s terrible from a UX standpoint. By definition, translucent elements present more potential information to a user. It makes it harder to parse certain screens. It’s a nightmare if you have subtle vision issues (where it’s not bad enough you’d need to enable accessibility options). You’re not going to “get used to it” — you’re really just adapting to a crippled interface.
I think it all stems from trying to unify the UX/UI across devices, and to also pull the Vision VR device into that iphone-iPad-MacBook-watch grouping. Handoff and other cross-device interactions suffer when you have significantly different UI elements or interactions.
Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26
#68“in the Music app, the current song title ticks along like a stock-market ticker”
This is how it worked on OG iTunes. (Did it also scroll on the iPod?)
Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26
#69Some of the Safari screenshots are making me wonder if fake browser chrome attacks will become more prominent in iOS. The chrome/content boundary has slipped away to almost nothing, and it should be possible now to emulate the floating buttons on Safari.
Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
Only for a very limited time after the release. And you can’t strictly “downgrade“ it, you have to restore it from factory with the older OS and then reload your back up.
Then you would be forced to upgrade after factory reset (basically digital sisyphus)?
Apple is pretty good in not forcing upgrades as far as I remember. You can stay on an older OS until you personally run into app compatibility issues