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Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

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Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#211

Post by eschaton »

bicx wrote: post #79

2025 feels like a cardinal year for top-down decisions we all just have to endure for the present. The best we can do is bitch loudly and often, and hope the people at the top still feel threatened by consumers/constituents. This Liquid Glass decision is particularly challenging for my tiny startup. We have multiple platforms including iOS and Android. I was hoping to share much of our design language across iOS and…

You were wrong to even attempt to share design language across platforms. You should make your applications good native citizens if you have any respect for your users, because yours isn’t the only software they use.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#212

Post by MBCook »

flykespice wrote: post #19
MBCook wrote: post #10

Earlier 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)?

No, you can go back for a while. They’ll certainly ask you, but you can say no.

At a certain part they stop signing the OS. At that point because it doesn’t have the cryptographic signature you can’t install it at all and your only choice is something newer.

With point releases or security updates that tends to be pretty fast because they don’t want people downgrading to something vulnerable. When going from iOS X to iOS X + 1 grace period is usually longer before they stop that.

And, of course, if you try and install an iOS 26 backup on the phone that you just moved back to 18… you’re just gonna be on 26 again. So you better make sure you have the right back up.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#213

Post by MBCook »

whycome wrote: post #70
flykespice wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

They’re getting bolder about pushing you to upgrade with badges on settings and push notifications and defaulting people into automatic updates.

But you can turn that stuff off. They may try to trick you so you have to remain somewhat vigilant. But I don’t think they ever absolutely force you to upgrade.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#214

Post by fiddlerwoaroof »

archagon wrote: post #137
porcoda wrote: post #31

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 thi…

It looks pretty (sometimes) but I have not found a single usability improvement stemming from the new paradigm.

One thing I’ve noticed is that search fields are now generally at the bottom of the screen which makes them a lot easier to activate. (No more flicking the screen down to search).

I disliked the update for a week or so at first, but I have to say I find the liquid animations fun now.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#215

Post by olyjohn »

donmcronald wrote: post #27
noname120 wrote: post #6

Let’s not forget how Liquid Glass made my Apple Watch Series 10 laggy and battery-hungry due to the expensive fluid simulations. Reducing transparency in accessibility settings didn’t help unfortunately.

I don't like how everything seems to require extra clicks or has extra animation now. For example, the workout selection has a weird feeling like it's fluid and everything just kind of scrolls along. Then when you stop on something long enough, the rest of the UI elements like the start / play button show up. Why do I need to watch a mini video to have UI controls appear? It's incredibly annoying. My Linux install fe…

The really pathetic thing about this... Linux has had the capability to do this for years. About 20 years ago, I was playing with compiz, and turned on every single effect. Window dragging with transparency, bubbly windows that would snap into place, windows that would resize with an elastic-looking snap, switching entire desktops with cube animations. Animations were smooth and fluid, and didn't even drop a frame. That was 20 years ago, running on really low end Intel integrated graphics. There's no excuse for this laggyness. These are basic animations that GPUs should handle just fine. I mean hell, we were rendering full 3d environments with realistic water effects like 10+ years ago on GPUs that can't even begin to compare with what we have today. Your GPU can't even handle a tiny little animated button today? WTF?

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#216

Post by bitpush »

ninetyninenine wrote: post #35

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 efficien…

> 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.

You could have used the time to type up that comment on the basics of visual design, and saved us all some sanity.

For hundreds of years, humans have been studying light, color, and shadows. All the way from the cave painters to great maters (da vinci) to modern UI/UX pioneers. There are absolutely things that do not work well (example: visual vibration -https://accessibility.psu.edu/color/brightcolors/) and there are combinations that work well.

So no, it isnt your eye. And you dont need to see an eye doctor. The person/team/company that designed it fell short of the mark.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#217

Post by eschaton »

travisgriggs wrote: post #186

As I read through the complaints, I'll note that two of my (younger) colleagues love it (mostly). I haven't updated yet, but when I made some observations about what I was seeing, it was defended as "making all the products the same". It made me wonder if the whining is less about the particulars of liquid glass (I mean, remember the aquagel days of early mac os x), and more of lamenting the unification of design. I…

Do they actually like it or do they like that it’s new?

So many people treat things that just work and are stable as “stale” and “unexciting” and demand change for change’s sake, rather than actual measurable improvement.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#218

Post by luxuryballs »

fkyoureadthedoc wrote: post #94

I've been using it since the public beta dropped. I don't get what all the fuss is about, it's fine. Some improvements, some annoyances, but overall fine. I like the newer windowing stuff on iPad.

Yeah interesting, I had the same experience, seems fine on iOS for me using since early beta, have not updated my desktop to Tahoe yet.

Re: Liquid Glass Is Cracked, and Usability Suffers in iOS 26

#219

Post by bitpush »

thewebguyd wrote: post #106
andrewmcwatters wrote: post #21

As someone who pretty strictly adheres to Apple Human Interface Guidelines, it's really off-putting to see them slip so badly backwards on their own published work. There are now portions of iOS that use either iOS 18's UIKit, or iOS 26's Liquid Glass UI in apps. It feels like Apple is having a Windows moment with their operating systems for the jarring combination of old and new UI designs sitting next to each other…

Yeah it's so un-Apple like it's really jarring. It feels like they pulled this out of their ass last minute after the AI siri failures, they had to have something to put out for 2025. I actually don't mind it on iPhone outside of the bugs and inconsitencies, but it's attrocious on macOS and the new iPad windowing was obviously made with zero consideration for touch-first users and was only made to cater to the whiner…

> It feels like Apple is having a Windows moment with their operating systems

.. or by definition, Apple is having an Apple moment :)

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