Ugh! Now my iOS 18 is starting to look glassy. Several app developers have sprinkled glassy icons in their recent updates and the mismatch looks awful.
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I absolutely loathe iOS 26
- Thread starter profmjh
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As a fellow 13 user, I am staying on 18 until 26 gets RCS 3.0 and the new Siri improvements. Likely 6+ months from now. Maybe around 26.4.
They need to fix several things in the UI:
- Opening a new safari tab should not be buried in a sub-menu! Wtf Apple, that’s gonna confuse the f**k out of my boomer in-laws
- The mini player in Music needs an integrated skip button— when you’re not at the top it disappears
- The Liquid Glass video player/media player controls need to be vastly improved somehow, they look cartoonish
- The way certain elements of LG are layered need a lot of improvement, especially how they interact in Messages
Yeah I noticed that too after I downgraded my 15Pro back to 18 this morning ... *sigh*
My 13 professional doesn’t do that. The only problem I experienced so far, is that ANC doesn’t work anymore, if I only wear 1 AirPod (AirPods 2 professional), had problems with it before so I think it’s fixable.
Apple should add the option to go back to the classic pre iOS 26 look...
Admittedly, I have complained more than once about the iPadOS 26 betas on my iPad Pro and the issues I have experienced & reported. I still won't update my PM15 or AWU1 quite yet, but in fairness I will go ahead & load up the full 26 release on my iPad to give it a proper test drive. I played with the betas and wanted to roll back because of my frustrations with the functional problems, but going back is such a hassle so I might as well see what the RC is like and if the issues I saw are fixed yet. Now that this version is out I was thinking perhaps developers have updated their apps and maybe many of the issues have disappeared. Others on these forums seem to like it and are some are not seeing many problems.
That being said, I will say that I am pretty non-committal one way or another on the looks of it (and my complaints were not about that anyhoo)...it is because I really don't care what it looks like as long as it is not too hideous. I really don't mind the new look but I am one who feels that it really didn't need changed for the sake of change.
I guess that I (and perhaps others?) have generalized the update out of frustration (I have called it "Liquid Ass") as one issue, when there are really several parts to it - looks, functionality, unnecessary fluff (stickers, memojis and such) that I wish were downloads, and other things as well.
I don't "dress my phone up" with over-the-top customizations because that stuff just isn't important to me - it's a phone and a tool to organize, record & manage things in my life. My case is a boring clear one from Speck that I got on clearance (but that Natural Titanium looks damn good through it!). If you look at my phone it looks fairly "out of the box" except for a few wallpapers, a custom page for travel apps that I turn on when I hit the road (and off when I am not) and a few widgets; otherwise I have left it alone. Function over form.
Shapes of app icons, new ringtones, Liquid Glass and such really don't matter to me; I just want stuff to work, work well and work as expected. We have seen some really cool and amazing OS updates to Notes, Calendar, Messages and Camera the last few years, and it is so good to see Apple finally do something more than the bare minimum with their native apps instead of forcing us to go elsewhere. To me those things are what is important for my phone. I really think that iPadOS 26 does breathe amazing new life into the iPad and is a real game-changer for it that is long overdue. I think it is one of the best OS changes in a long time for any Apple device.
Like it or not, Apple will probably be keeping this OS as-is so complaining about it in hopes they will change won't do any good - that is not going to happen after all the time and money put into R&D and updating the OS. I get it though...we all need to vent sometimes, but venting about it and complaining thinking it will change their minds are two different things. Maybe there will be smaller adjustments they will make, but my guess is the majority of things like Split Screen and the "old look" are done for. We just have to adapt and make it work for our needs...as long as it works well.
That being said, I will say that I am pretty non-committal one way or another on the looks of it (and my complaints were not about that anyhoo)...it is because I really don't care what it looks like as long as it is not too hideous. I really don't mind the new look but I am one who feels that it really didn't need changed for the sake of change.
I guess that I (and perhaps others?) have generalized the update out of frustration (I have called it "Liquid Ass") as one issue, when there are really several parts to it - looks, functionality, unnecessary fluff (stickers, memojis and such) that I wish were downloads, and other things as well.
I don't "dress my phone up" with over-the-top customizations because that stuff just isn't important to me - it's a phone and a tool to organize, record & manage things in my life. My case is a boring clear one from Speck that I got on clearance (but that Natural Titanium looks damn good through it!). If you look at my phone it looks fairly "out of the box" except for a few wallpapers, a custom page for travel apps that I turn on when I hit the road (and off when I am not) and a few widgets; otherwise I have left it alone. Function over form.
Shapes of app icons, new ringtones, Liquid Glass and such really don't matter to me; I just want stuff to work, work well and work as expected. We have seen some really cool and amazing OS updates to Notes, Calendar, Messages and Camera the last few years, and it is so good to see Apple finally do something more than the bare minimum with their native apps instead of forcing us to go elsewhere. To me those things are what is important for my phone. I really think that iPadOS 26 does breathe amazing new life into the iPad and is a real game-changer for it that is long overdue. I think it is one of the best OS changes in a long time for any Apple device.
Like it or not, Apple will probably be keeping this OS as-is so complaining about it in hopes they will change won't do any good - that is not going to happen after all the time and money put into R&D and updating the OS. I get it though...we all need to vent sometimes, but venting about it and complaining thinking it will change their minds are two different things. Maybe there will be smaller adjustments they will make, but my guess is the majority of things like Split Screen and the "old look" are done for. We just have to adapt and make it work for our needs...as long as it works well.
I see people everywhere complaining about incremental updates and how Apple doesn’t innovate anymore and about how iOS is boring. Well, they responded with the biggest redesign that they’ve ever done that I can remember and now everyone hates what they did. It’s like they can’t win.
I like the changes that they made. Sure, there are a bunch of bugs in it and in some places it isn’t smooth. But this is just the #.0 version. I look forward to seeing them fixing it up and what they do with it in the future.
I’m sure this has been discussed dozens of times in the forum, but I don’t feel like going through the different threads. If you go to accessibility and toggle off ‘reduce transparency’ you’ll have your iOS 18 look back
Well, the computers are tools made by people, so they cannot really adapt beyond the scope set to them by their creators, in our case iOS 26 design team. 😉 We, the end users, are much more flexible though, to allow any kind of novelty in, or not.
No you don't, if you reduce transparancy, you still have the liquid glass edge around a folder. Also when you open the folder, the background will turn into black.
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Sorry old chaps but it’s pretty clear design went down the drain as soon as the British designer departed. 🇬🇧😛
Completely agree. Feature additions are welcome but the UI/UX is horrible. Even existing icons are blurred. If I were and app developer in charge of branding, I’d be livid. Why does it look like someone smeared all the icons. Eg.
They should be grateful they didn’t get laid off a year ago when they didn’t have any real work to do. Instead they responded with Liquid Glass…
If someone complains about an operating system being boring, then they want to use an operating system for fun, and then I don’t know if any of their advice is particularly good.
Now a couple of days in I like it. It’s beautiful and mostly consistent. Not perfect though. I can notice some glitches here and there both in performance and bugs on my 15PM.
All in all good 😊
All in all good 😊
Looking forward to the day Apple can release something and we can all say… ‘Nailed it’. I guess it’s a company that’s driven by marketing now, and not innovation. The yearly release cycles have really hit the software quality hard and no matter how good the hardware is; it needs reliable software to make he user experience great.
They should get back to announcing things when they are ready. Not when they are half baked. Returning to demoing these things in person, rather than using cgi would probably be a good start.
They should get back to announcing things when they are ready. Not when they are half baked. Returning to demoing these things in person, rather than using cgi would probably be a good start.
iOS 7-iOS 18 is what I meant over time it has improved over a decade, with iOS 26 I don’t see the future in it , the features are very much a distraction from the state apple AI and Siri .
What apple should have done is maybe a slight refresh but what they really should have done is a full wide bug patch updated because this new iOS 26 is only going to add to the problems .
Having to go into a submenu in order to open a new tab was the one thing that annoyed me the most in iOS26.
But if you change the tab setting from compact to below, you are back to how it used to look.
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What I would love to see, frankly, is the original, undiluted, un-gremiumed, un-f*kd-with concept of Apples design team. This feels like something that was a good idea gone through too many compromises, meetings, «neat» additional ideas by executives, last minute hasty edits due to complaints during the beta phase... it is, in itself and between the various platforms, uneven, not as unified as it should be, not as simple and easy as should be Apples «Dieter Rams»-esque approach would be, a weird mix between the simplified design of iOS 7+ und the skeuomorphism before that. I personally feel that an OS should be as invisible and unobtrusive as possible, which the glas interface is not. The shiny rims on the app icons and buttons, the constant Swarovsky magic fairy dust shimmering... I get that Apple maybe had to get out of Jon Ives Braun-era simplicity, at some point you have reached maximum simplicity and can (should) just leave it at that. You do that, your customers call you «boring» and «lazy», so you have to change things up, but you cannot go to more simplification at some point, so you have to bring back visual complexity.
The idea to use water and glas as metaphors for an interface is elegant and simple when you have give up on the reduce-to-the-max-aesthetics. But 26 feels like... well it feels like any design project that started with a good idea and got FUBAR by the client or the decision-makers. So I would love to see, beyond the WWDC-vids, what the actual design idea in its purest form would be like.
In the end, what would be nice is to keep much of the Liquid Glass for interface and smooth transitions/animations, but reduce the icons again, get rid of the glossy rims on everything, make it more realistic and simplified, a shape-shifting smart interface that reacts before you even notice, that feels natural and easy and (as liquid at its best does!) fun.
The idea to use water and glas as metaphors for an interface is elegant and simple when you have give up on the reduce-to-the-max-aesthetics. But 26 feels like... well it feels like any design project that started with a good idea and got FUBAR by the client or the decision-makers. So I would love to see, beyond the WWDC-vids, what the actual design idea in its purest form would be like.
In the end, what would be nice is to keep much of the Liquid Glass for interface and smooth transitions/animations, but reduce the icons again, get rid of the glossy rims on everything, make it more realistic and simplified, a shape-shifting smart interface that reacts before you even notice, that feels natural and easy and (as liquid at its best does!) fun.
I would NEVER go over to Android, (my work phone is Android and has heaps of issues), and at the moment am staying on IOS18, my wife having accidentally updated to IOS26 and thoroughly confused by it.
One of the biggest PLUS for Apple products is that they talk to each other!
We visited my brother in law across the country in Norfolk last week and my wife left her iPods there. BIL posted them first class but the didn't arrive for a week. Thanks to tracking on her iPhone she could see that they were in a RM distribution office in Exeter and not moving so we went down there and a kind supervisor let us roam the massive building. The tracker was strong and eventually we ended up in a small office for mail items with a problem. She pressed the "activate a sound" and sure enough we heard a pinging coming from a bank of pigeon hole. The man took a bundle on letters out and there it was, beeping away!! The original postage sticker had come off for some reason so we had to pay a couple of quid!! Great Apple!!
One of the biggest PLUS for Apple products is that they talk to each other!
We visited my brother in law across the country in Norfolk last week and my wife left her iPods there. BIL posted them first class but the didn't arrive for a week. Thanks to tracking on her iPhone she could see that they were in a RM distribution office in Exeter and not moving so we went down there and a kind supervisor let us roam the massive building. The tracker was strong and eventually we ended up in a small office for mail items with a problem. She pressed the "activate a sound" and sure enough we heard a pinging coming from a bank of pigeon hole. The man took a bundle on letters out and there it was, beeping away!! The original postage sticker had come off for some reason so we had to pay a couple of quid!! Great Apple!!
I just turned off the badge nowits kinda better, maybe ?