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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

#331

Post by seemaze »

shantara wrote: post #267
seemaze wrote: post #235

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I upgraded iOS after I discovered that the AirPods Pro 3 lose native integration with iOS 18 and macOS 15. Hated it so much, I sent the AirPods Pro 3 back for discounted AirPods Pro 2 and am considering trading my upgraded iPhone in for the latest model I can get on iOS 18. I'm going to ride iOS 18 and macOS 15 into the sunset and then leave the Apple ecosystem.

Thanks, that’s very good to know. I was actually eyeing the new AirPods, and it didn’t even occur to me that their functionality is tied to the iOS version. Now they’ve become just another thing to skip.

They still work as generic Bluetooth earphones, including ANC and transparency, but they don’t show up in FindMy and you can’t control case charging sounds or notification volume.

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

#332

Post by seabombs »

ebbi wrote: post #269
nielsbot wrote: post #33

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…

Just in case you aren't aware, you can swipe up from an existing tabs address bar and it'll show all open tabs UI

Thank you!

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

#333

Post by wpm »

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…

I just booted up my G4 Cube running 10.2 and lemme tell you that aquagel looks 10x better, especially on at 1600x1200 on a Trinitron. Gorgeous, fun, clear delineation of content, with just maybe a bit too much transparency in a few spots.

It went too far (I think the subdued Aqua of 10.9 was peak), but no where near as bad as Glarse.

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

#335

Post by MBCook »

shinycode wrote: post #275
MBCook wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think there are a few nice changes in 26, but they’re small things. They are certainly overwhelmed by the problems caused by the terrible visual design, which does not accomplish its stated goals and usually is a very large setback compared to what we had previously.

Yeah it grew on me over the beta phase, now when I hold an iPhone not updated it feels old and I really don’t like previous versions. Regardless of places where it’s not ideal implementations yet, I can’t see myself coming back to the previous style. Liquid Glass will get better and I really like it. I got wow moments sometimes when it shines on some occasions

I think the idea of a new design of some sort was a good one. We’ve been in the same world since iOS 7, 12 years ago.

The glass effects are fancy, but in a HUGE percentage of places the transparency makes things worse.

A lot of the animation/liviness, the “liquid” part of “Liquid Glass”, is very nice and welcome.

My problems are almost all from:

1. difficulty reading/using things since the background shows through unnecessarily and makes things hard to read

2. iOS fighting to change the color of things to keep up with the background during scrolling, all for the stupid effect I just complained about

3. far more wasted space by pulling away from the edges of the screen leaving less useful area

I’ve seen people theorize it will all be great and make sense when some future iPhone with a true edge to edge screen launches.

Great. My new phone was made manifestly worse to help the experience of a phone that I can’t even buy yet. If it exists at all. And that’s why this design is the way it is.

I don’t know how they saved this. Other than just getting rid of some of the fundamental concepts. But they’re gonna have to tone a lot of stuff WAY down in the next few years to try and get this back to usable.

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

#336

Post by kevinsync »

eschaton wrote: post #211
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.

I grew up with stuff like Kai's Power Goo [0] so it doesn't bother me at all when developers step out of the box and bring a wacky UI!

[0] https://youtu.be/xt06OSIQ0PE?t=266

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

#337

Post by disqard »

Naru41 wrote: post #324

This style of simulating faux-realistic materials (such as glass or aluminum) on the screen looks dated and cheesy now -- (Windows engineering team 2012) https://web.archive.org/web/20120614042824/http://blogs.msdn... -- "Cheesy and dated" -- it keeps hitting me through the years.

Nice find! Thanks for sharing.

There's always "old wine in new bottle", but this latest take by Apple seems a bit too gratuitous.

Time will tell whether it's a flop -- I'm inclined to believe this is evidence that they're on par with MS now, and their solidly creative streak is over.

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

#338

Post by bicx »

eschaton wrote: post #312
bigyabai wrote: post #279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you're starting from the perspective of a native app developer, you're absolutely correct. However, most startups are going to be websites/Electron/CEF apps. It's much easier and cheaper to write-once-ship-everywhere with an ugly React UI than it is to jump through the hoops of writing special-snowflake versions for every OS under the sun. It's basically negligent to insist on native apps, if profitability is your…

It depends who your application is for. You obviously think building an application is about maximizing your profit, and your users are just a means to achieve that. If you were approaching your application from a “what’s best for my users” angle you might make different choices.

If you are running a business with limited funding (which is most businesses), then your primary need is to seek profit in a world where profit is often never achieved at all. Otherwise, your business ceases to exist, along with your app. Sometimes that does mean emphasis on strong design, which I’d argue means delivering a great experience to your users rather than a native or non-native design choice. Other times, you’re serving a demographic that doesn’t care so much about that, and your focus is on functionality above all.

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

#339

Post by lynndotpy »

layer8 wrote: post #164
frereubu wrote: post #136

I don't have accessibility issues, but even so I've been a fan of these settings for a few iOS versions now: Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Reduce Transparency Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Increase Contrast Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Differentiate Without Colour Settings > Accessibility > Motion > Reduce Motion Settings > Accessibility > Motion > Prefer Cros…

The trouble with Reduce Transparency on iOS 26 is that it also reduces contrast (irrespective of Increase Contrast).

Further, "Increase Contrast" turns some CarPlay buttons to have white text on light-cyan backgrounds.

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

#340

Post by lynndotpy »

epistasis wrote: post #103
dangus wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It has horrible battery life, even on a relatively new device. Don’t upgrade.

This is the worst part of it. I actually feel a warm computer now, something that I have never experienced in five years of having this M1 MacBook. This takes amazing hardware and degrades it to Windows laptop slop. In the Jobs days, at least one VP head would roll for this, and Apple would be far better off for it. I don't think Tim Cook is strong enough for that though.

I run these commands when I boot my M1 Pro Macbook. It greatly improved general usability:

#!/bin/bash launchctl setenv CHROME_HEADLESS 1 defaults write -g NSAutoFillHeuristicControllerEnabled -bool false

This removes drop shadows on Chromium / Electron, and removes an autofill overlay that people reported heavy battery use on. I took this from somewhere on the internet.

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