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Apple need to tweak the Liquid Glass Design badly
- Thread starter Aoligei
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Sorry that’s weak sauce. This isn’t a bug (though I wish it was). I hope beta testers are providing lots of feedback.
It’s not a sauce. It’s a fact.
Major redesign gets tweaked a lot during the initial betas and more subtly as we progress into point releases and they collect feedback. While there are some design elements that shouldn’t have made it into beta 1 as well, it’s not too out of the norm. Stop being a professional critic and file a feedback.
I know iOS 7 was really controversial and things did get dialed back but I don’t remember text being difficult to read or making me feel kind of queasy. Maybe the parallax effect for some?
I had no issues whatsoever with iOS 7 back in the days. I don't judge the UX based on how it looks, I judge it based on actual accessibility / legibility first and foremost (due to my background in software engineering, having done loads of usability studies for work projects). The current liquid glass implementation is a poster child of horrible UX, no matter how cool it may look to some. They'll instantly alienate a huge audience of theirs come september (if it ships like that, I know for certain that it's not legible for my eyes, it's 100% certain not acceptable for the vast majority of my family).
Apple has to tweak this one way or another.
Early beta but yes this has to be the worst design I've seen so far. Transparency is absolutely not what we need. I can see the idea of using glass like edges on controls on a solid background but the transparent background is absolutely dire.
There are enough usability issues already with the low contrast and ambiguous titles / controls already. My mother has serious issues using current iOS for example because there isn't enough distinction between functional things in it and some paradigms such as how and when to scroll are not obvious.
They spent too much time on what it looks like and managed to forgot to make it usable.
There are enough usability issues already with the low contrast and ambiguous titles / controls already. My mother has serious issues using current iOS for example because there isn't enough distinction between functional things in it and some paradigms such as how and when to scroll are not obvious.
They spent too much time on what it looks like and managed to forgot to make it usable.
I will be shocked if this ships in September. But I’m shocked it shipped in the first beta, to be honest.
I hope there will be a switch in accessibility to turn this off. If not, I'm staying on iOS 18 as long as they support it with security updates.
I have my exit plan lined up already. I occasionally use a Pixel 7A with GrapheneOS on it when travelling somewhere risky as a burner phone. Even that POS makes me feel warmer than this thing.
Colors and contrast are good things, actually. Apple has truly lost their way. How did this even get off the drawing board?
Going to reduce battery life, too, make your device run hotter. Transparency like this has a cost.
Going to reduce battery life, too, make your device run hotter. Transparency like this has a cost.
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Saw this on Threads. Perhaps the next beta will have some of this refined.
www.threads.com
Hasan (@hasanahmad) on Threads
The finalized UX of Liquid Glass shown in the developer session on Day 2 of WWDC looks like a step above the iOS 26 Dev Beta 1 Missing in Dev Beta 1 -lower refraction of text - button legibility on variable backgrounds - No Color Bleeding in final design - Button label changes color based on...
www.threads.com
They really emphasize the importance of legibility at multiple points in the video explaining the design principles of liquid glass, as well as where and when it should and shouldn't be used. It seems like the glass in beta 1 is an incomplete and unfinished version that doesn't adhere to the design guidelines. https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2025/219
I did like Windows Vista. XD
I don't like that this glass look is desaturated or something. :/
100% agree. The effects are mostly fine, and you expect plenty of rough edges in Beta 1 ( such as the weirdly low res icons on lots of apps ), but the Control Centre when swiped down over a load of app icons is beyond awful. It's illegible.
Still, it's not a fundamental flaw and should be solvable with some tweaking - otherwise, no great shakes but overall fine.
I saw a tweet from someone I assume was an Apple designer who worked on this design. Unfortunately it was on the For You tab and now I can’t find it. I remember it was a picture of notifications on the Lock Screen that are difficult to read. The designer made comments that indicated things will change.
I’m seeing so many posts on social media trashing this new design and most of it is legitimate criticism based on what’s in beta 1. I’ve never worked in software development so I’m not sure how betas work but if Apple knows what’s in beta one is going to change would they say that or put it in release notes?
Yeah I can't really understand this take. It looks so much better with the glass redesign, and it's nice to be able to "see" the background through the glass. You can always turn it off if you want it to just look boring, but I'm glad the default is actually nice.
Mac OS 10.0 Aqua - Year 2000
before super processors and OLED screens
enough said…
before super processors and OLED screens
enough said…
That's more readable than Liquid Glass. Transparency diminishes readability. While Apple offers color tinting to help compensate, why make it transparent at all?
Reminds me of sci-fi movies where books and tablets are transparent, just because it looks cool. There's no utility.
I feel like Notification Center and Control Center would look so much better if Apple made the Home Screen app icons disappear and just had the wallpaper behind NC and CC.
It’s good they keep legibility in mind, but honestly, what they are mentioning in that video are merely mitigations for a visual design concept that inherently reduces legibility and clarity of the user interface.
It’s obvious that flashiness is the primary goal behind this redesign, not usability improvements. They are deliberately trading off usability for visual showmanship.
I’m getting a headache just from the screen shots. It’s nauseating with all the blur and weird effects.
It’s a really bad design and I hope we get options to reduce glass effects.
At least the icons looks better in dark mode.
It’s a really bad design and I hope we get options to reduce glass effects.
At least the icons looks better in dark mode.