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iOS 26 Liquid Glass is awful in many ways

news.ycombinator.com

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iOS 26 Liquid Glass is awful in many ways

#1

Post by apavlinovic »

I was not sure whether to post here or not, but after a full day with the Liquid Glass UI, I had to express myself somewhere.

It is incredible how much worse my experience with the phone has become. I am 34, and I am struggling to read the text in the notifications, my eyes are constantly trying too hard to make out what it says.

The buttons look cheap, not interactive, and just plain strange. I don’t see anything better here than we had before, absolutely nothing is better in terms of UX.

And it’s ugly, I cannot be the only one, but it feels like someone forced me to look at those glass bricks that were popular in the 80s.

The performance feels worse, the battery life is in shambles, no idea why. iPhone 13 Pro user.

Not frustrated enough to switch to Android yet, but seriously considering that as an option. This is not the UI I want to use.

Re: iOS 26 Liquid Glass is awful in many ways

#2

Post by allears »

I have the same model, and similar complaints. I reduced the transparency (Settings-Accessibility) and that helped, but the needless animations and other cutesy touches are annoying and distracting. I turned off the call screening, because it was condescending. Maybe if I was a busy CEO it would be useful, but I'd rather see who's calling myself without another layer in between.

All of this BS about "fresh" and "exciting" is just BS. Apple is trying hard to create a trend, but I think it's overreaching.

Re: iOS 26 Liquid Glass is awful in many ways

#5

Post by al_borland »

This sentiment is common with every major UI change. Give yourself some time to adjust, and Apple time to work out some of the bugs, before doing anything drastic. iOS 7 was very rough around the edges and got a lot of hate (rightfully so), but it evolved and got better.

I was bothered by how many taps I had to use to do things in Safari, but then I figured out I can swipe up on the ellipsis to select something from the menu, so it’s one action. Bringing up the tabs is a quick double tap, I don’t actually need to wait. Things like that, which I’m figuring out through use, are helpful. I had issues with not being able to see some widgets with certain wallpapers, so I changed my wallpaper for now until they work that out.

Re: iOS 26 Liquid Glass is awful in many ways

#6

Post by kapellmeister »

I've gotten used to it mostly, i still think it's a significant downgrade from the almost perfect Interface they had in iOS 18. But what i just can't get used to and what i hate with a passion is the HDR effects on touch down. Who in their right mind thought that it was a good idea to increase the brightness of the screen beyond what it is set to in partial areas of it?? It's incredibly distracting and serves in my opinion no purpose.

All in all it feels to me like a hacked together Gen Z "Aesthetic" toy interface and not at all like a professional piece of software.

Re: iOS 26 Liquid Glass is awful in many ways

#8

Post by richardatlarge »

I updated on an iphone 13 pro and had to go back to my old iphone with an older OS. I write on my phone (substack), and it cannot be done with this OS. Together the two have become inoperable. And to think I updated because of how bad the experience was on the old OS. Buying a new "nothing phone" later today

Re: iOS 26 Liquid Glass is awful in many ways

#9

Post by k310 »

Two factors in play, IMO.

1. The hubris of big companies deciding that they know what you want better than you do. I used to chide Microsoft, not that they were listening, that their motto was "We will optimize you (if you change your life to do things our way)", like the ubiquitous "Excel as a database." Only a visionary can anticipate your needs, and Steve Jobs is gone.

2. Change for the sake of change. Compare with the crazy expensive yearly cosmetic (if not comedic) changes in auto styling.

3 (of two). Well, you know that they're greasing the skids for some secret unified watch, computer, phone, AR, OS to run the world. But can't tell you because your future is a secret that we can't share with you, and most assuredly won't ask you about.

4 (of two) The only sane future is Free and Open Source, where people outside the castle have nonzero say.

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