Liquid Glass design language will need to reintroduce some colors at some point.

[iFanaddic]

Sooo, as a Glassmorphism and Liquid Glass enthusiast, I'm glad about the tweaks beta 2 had on the transparency on some elements such as the control center.

One thing I keep noticing with this new design—both on iOS and macOS Tahoe—is the lack of a in-between when it comes to the app icons and widgets

The colorful icons and widgets quickly they draw the eye, and I also appreciate the clean look of the transparent ones. It just feels like there’s room for something in between—something that keeps the visual color cues without being completely opaque, so I'm throwing it to the universe I want more accent colors in a future update, it really make the whole OS feel even more polished and less version 1.0.

Side note; I'm guessing Apple has to have plans to do this at some point as I fully expect some defaults apps to adopt a full translucent design "à la control center" as we get deeper into glassmorphism, it's seems the the logical path and this just can't stay this gray. Please.

Actually found an article about Glassmorphism and that illustrates perfectly where I think Apple going for with iOS and Mac design. Very interesting read!

 

[Sheepish-Lord]

I really want to use the clear mode but it’s just missing something…looks like I turned on the grayscale color filter. Just doesn’t look good right now and I think Apple is slowly going to be rolling back a lot of the transparency, which they’ve done already, and ultimately start at square one again.

 

[nickdalzell1]

Clear mode reminds me of DOS ports of Apple MECC games running in CGA graphics mode for PCs (even if you had VGA support). It made the game very washed out, and in place of unattainable colours in CGA it compensated with greyscales. Oregon Trail was notorious for that.

More reminders of '80s computing I never want to relive again, much like flat UI design itself.

 

[axantas]

Sooo, as a Glassmorphism and Liquid Glass enthusiast, I'm glad about the tweaks beta 2 had on the transparency on some elements such as the control center.

One thing I keep noticing with this new design—both on iOS and macOS Tahoe—is the lack of a in-between when it comes to the app icons and widgets

The colorful icons and widgets quickly they draw the eye, and I also appreciate the clean look of the transparent ones. It just feels like there’s room for something in between—something that keeps the visual color cues without being completely opaque, so I'm throwing it to the universe I want more accent colors in a future update, it really make the whole OS feel even more polished and less version 1.0.

View attachment 2524165View attachment 2524166

Side note; I'm guessing Apple has to have plans to do this at some point as I fully expect some defaults apps to adopt a full translucent design "à la control center" as we get deeper into glassmorphism, it's seems the the logical path and this just can't stay this gray. Please.

Actually found an article about Glassmorphism and that illustrates perfectly where I think Apple going for with iOS and Mac design. Very interesting read!

View attachment 2524163View attachment 2524164

It just feels like there’s room for something in between...

An interesting idea. As you run iOS26, you are a developer. Give Apple that feedback. That's what developer Betas are published for.
...add a color-slider and completely drop the colorless mode just comes to my mind.

 

[one more]

As you run iOS26, you are a developer.

Not necessarily, as nowadays everybody can have a free developer account. I run iOS 26 and I am not a developer. So can you, if you like. 🖐️

 

[Palindrom]

seeing those icons in iOS I consider more and more to stay on iOS 18 as long as possible. They look so 🤢

 

[axantas]

Not necessarily, as nowadays everybody can have a free developer account. I run iOS 26 and I am not a developer. So can you, if you like. 🖐️

And thats it - you have a developer account and can provide feedback on this base. There is a feedback app for this. Just do it. You are assisting develop iOS26

I do exactly this with the VisionPro - not developing any app. And: believe me or not - Apple is reacting and asking additional questions, if they want to have more details.

I sent the feedback and the Idea to add a slider for color intensity.

 

[benwiggy]

I absolutely agree with this. When there is colour -- any kind of colour -- behind the Liquid Glass objects, then you've got some kind of contrast for the lensing to play off. But when the window is white, you've got no room to show any highlights.

I'm not sure I'd want a page of white text on a blurry, variable background, though...

 

[uacd]

I think this is a transitional icon design: it is still way too boring and flat. Devs need to adapt and embrace oldschool icon styles that simulate real objects. Liquid glass kinda needs realistic icons, lazymalism won’t work here.

Imagine if Instagram finally caves in and brings back 2012-esque icon? I literally had a dream recently when I wake up, look at my iPhone and see a beautiful polaroid-inspired Insta icon.

In fact, we will probably see huge evolutional leap of this aesthetic in iOS/macOS/watchOS/tvOS 27

 

[S7anley]

When rumours about the redesign first emerged I honestly thought it would be apps becoming transparent taking on the wallpaper colours and what not. I’m happy with liquid glass and I hope they manage to sort out the accessibility issues without taking away from the design too much. If anything now I want liquid glass everywhere.

 

[klasma]

I absolutely agree with this. When there is colour -- any kind of colour -- behind the Liquid Glass objects, then you've got some kind of contrast for the lensing to play off. But when the window is white, you've got no room to show any highlights.

This is why I think the whole concept of Liquid Glass is misguided. You wouldn’t want your household appliances or other physical devices, including their controls, to be made of transparent colorless glass. Aqua on the Mac was fine because it was still mostly opaque, and controls were consistently accentuated with the blue color.

 

[UliBaer]

I fondly remember Aqua. I liked the design very much and at that time i even had a Windows-Theme from DeviantArt transforming the Windows XP UI to Aqua optics - i was very pleased with that and kept it until XP support ran out! 👍

 

[gaggle]

I enjoy the reflection and refraction in the current design, but I’m not sure Liquid Glass really models depth. Transparent mode looks flat to me. If there were true simulated depth, I feel like the icons would look more dimensional.

There’s that shimmer when you tilt the phone, but imagine if the Camera icon showed stacked lenses, or if the Photos icon felt like a spiral of glass panes..? A subtle parallax effect and proper translucency calculations could give icons a sense of unparalleled layering I think.

Maybe “transparent” could then preserve 10% of colors, to keep the clean glassy aesthetic but add more life and form.

 

[Yimbaz]

Maybe I’m misreading the request, but isn’t that already part of iOS 26 with this tinting feature?

 

[Love-hate 🍏 relationship]

the 3d aspect is growing on me , but i don't like how bland it is

granted, it varies based on background content, but for most of my apps that contain a lot of text, it's just very bland and lifeless

also i think having an option for frosted glass could solve both this and the legibility issue

 

[IJustWannaTalk]

Not necessarily, as nowadays everybody can have a free developer account. I run iOS 26 and I am not a developer. So can you, if you like. 🖐️

Why would you beta test software you have no ability to help shape?

 

[one more]

Why would you beta test software you have no ability to help shape?

I was just commenting on the poster’s statement that “As you run iOS26, you are a developer.”

I personally test it because I like discovering new designs and features and that I can learn it a bit ahead to help others in my household once the public release is out. I do give feedback to Apple, spontaneously.

 

[Populus]

View attachment 2524319 Maybe I’m misreading the request, but isn’t that already part of iOS 26 with this tinting feature?

Yeah, this is an approach, and one I really like. However, what OP is asking, if I understood them correctly, is a slider where you sort of retain the original colors of the icons while making them more translucent. And it may come in the form of a new option on iOS 27 or 28, who knows.