I might be crazy, but I like how songs on Music are blended without a gap. I also think the music sounds better using my phone’s speakers. The rest of ios26 is too “fabulous” for me.
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I absolutely loathe iOS 26
- Thread starter profmjh
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I've done that, and tbh, it looks like I'll be doing that this year as well. I largely avoided most of the beta discussions, and thought liquid [gl]ass (sorry couldn't resist) was more of return of the Aqua UI, but its monochrome, everything is largely see through.
I'm also seeing complaints about battery life, and hotter iphones, because the processor is needing to work harder at rendering.
This is the first time that I'm seeing wholesale articles, and YTs about turning off features when you install iOS 26 - so many of them, that just tells me, its not an upgrade I really want to embrace.
IT FIXED SAFARI!! HAHAHA. Why would they do that???? It seems like they have added like two extra steps to do anything. If you wanna block an email or SMS you have to tap extra buttons. THANK FOR THE TIP
For a different viewpoint ... I upgraded my iPhone 11 when the third dev beta came out and am now very used to it. I recommend people to upgrade, as some of the new design makes things easier to use despite the few UI glitches. I've not tried any of the accessibility options so am using iOS 26 in its default settings.
I find the Photos and Camera apps easier to use, for example.
(I rarely use dark mode and don't use the clear or tinted icon settings.)
However, there is nothing wrong with iOS 18, so if you want to, just stay on it.
Oh also, the way the the phone app is set up. Reverting to classic is cleaner
Yep, once you reduce transparency, revert to classic view in the phone app, and change the tab bar in Safari to bottom, you have almost fixed the mess Apple made of their OS. Everything is still far more fiddly than necessary and just seems unintuitive.
I'm not talking about glitches
For the love of tim cook, how did apple ever think that monochrome transparent icons is an improvement over colored ones. The one on the left is virtually unusable.
I agree!! I like how your favorites look in the new phone app, but the way they mashed voicemail, missed calls and recents all together is dumb. you can't get rid of the voicemail red dot.
I do love the music smart mix, that's a nice touch. Other than that,............... ios 26 is basically 18 again............
I like it. I was worried before it came out and wasn't convinced on an early verison on my old iPad. But having now put the release on my iPhone I'm pleasantly surprised, and any slight awkwardness I felt to begin with has mostly subsided the more I've used it.
I was wondering if I'd be turning on reduced transparency and other stuff, but once a tiny bit of muscle memory has kicked in to overcome the quite transparent nature of it, I think it's quite pretty, or just straight up don't notice it. It's like the Macbook notch: everyone talked about it when it was in pictures or brand new, but I don't think the vast majority of people even notice as soon as you're used to it.
I was wondering if I'd be turning on reduced transparency and other stuff, but once a tiny bit of muscle memory has kicked in to overcome the quite transparent nature of it, I think it's quite pretty, or just straight up don't notice it. It's like the Macbook notch: everyone talked about it when it was in pictures or brand new, but I don't think the vast majority of people even notice as soon as you're used to it.
You have 2 Accessibility options to help: "Reduce Transparency" and "Increase Contrast".
My issue is, why bother upgrading if the major feature that they touted has to be turned off to make the phone usable?
Yes, I know, but you're missing the point. Apple introduced a new UI that is largely unusable and we now have to turn it off.
You don't have to turn it off as it's not enabled by default.
I reckon it's only perceived as a major feature because youtube videos kept showing it. I've never turned on the transparent-icon feature and I don't (personally) know anyone who has.
I would use monochrome translucent icons on a dark background (to help with legibility)… not the way it’s presented from your example. And the beauty of it… the user doesn’t have to enable it, plenty of options to choose from.
You would have a point if we were forced to use it.
I think its considered a major feature because Apple is marketing it as a major feature. Its the first thing they lead off with on their website. Wasn't it the first thing that announced with iOS26?
I completely agree - which is why I did not expect the liquid glass UI to feel so snappy, as I was expecting older hardware to feel slower/offer a degraded experience (I still remember what iOS 7 did to my old iPhone 4!).
But yeah, sadly something's gotta give - hardware is slowed down by fancier UI, or the battery is drained faster from having to work harder to look good.
It's that not so subtle hint that I need to get a newer model (I'm keeping my 14 for now tho).
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It could have been - I didn't see any of the official videos/stories.
For the first time in years, I didn't upgrade immediately to the first dev beta because all the posts here made it look awful. Luckily, it was improved somewhat over the first three betas before I eventually got FOMO and YOLO together and upgraded.
Maybe I've just gotten used to all the bugs. I am surprised Apple have ignored so many Feedbacks (including mine, especially on Tahoe) and went public with it anyway.
I think the biggest shock will be for those still on iOS 18 (which was very good!) who buy a new iPhone 17 over the next few days that comes with iOS 26 pre-loaded.
It’s objectively garbage. You must see the world in black and white, because there’s no reason to remove the color from icons. I know, why not change the icons from squares to just a 1-dimensional line with dots and dashes. You’ll get used to it once you give it some time.
Because they are all black and white and no color. Our eyes see brightness with better definition than they do color.
The worst design in Apple’s history. It feels like Apple has forgotten what makes the iPhone an iPhone: certainty, elegance, simplicity, perfection.
Instead, we now have an operating system that is increasingly confusing, cartoonish, and overloaded with settings.
With inconsistent elements. For example, in Mail, there are round buttons, capsule-shaped buttons, and rounded squares—all on the same line. Three different shapes just to flag an email, delete it, or mark it as read.
It’s adding noise, mental fatigue, and distraction to a system that used to work well.
Did users ask for changes? I don’t think any user was asking for changes. What people ask from Apple is what it once knew how to do: think more deeply than anyone else to solve problems—like Apple Pay, Face ID, etc.
Guys, Liquid Glass was just one of many internal Apple projects that usually end up being discarded. The real reason why such garbage got approved is because, after the failure of Apple Intelligence and Siri, there was nothing new for iOS 26.
The failure of AI has been covered up with a new look.
Instead, we now have an operating system that is increasingly confusing, cartoonish, and overloaded with settings.
With inconsistent elements. For example, in Mail, there are round buttons, capsule-shaped buttons, and rounded squares—all on the same line. Three different shapes just to flag an email, delete it, or mark it as read.
It’s adding noise, mental fatigue, and distraction to a system that used to work well.
Did users ask for changes? I don’t think any user was asking for changes. What people ask from Apple is what it once knew how to do: think more deeply than anyone else to solve problems—like Apple Pay, Face ID, etc.
Guys, Liquid Glass was just one of many internal Apple projects that usually end up being discarded. The real reason why such garbage got approved is because, after the failure of Apple Intelligence and Siri, there was nothing new for iOS 26.
The failure of AI has been covered up with a new look.
Are you using the first (default) clock font? That's the only one that stretches.
Where have you been? Just do a search on this website or any other Mac site and there have been lots of discussions, how the iPhone is boring, iOS is boring etc. As the saying goes, be careful what you ask for, because you just might get it and it may not be what you wanted.
Now you're onto something!