My dad bought a 17 Pro and doesn't even notice Liquid Glass

[Simmias]

My dad went from a 15 Pro running iOS 18 to a 17 Pro running iOS 26 (because AT&T offered him a great trade in deal). I asked what he thought of the new iOS design with Liquid Glass, and he said he didn't notice any difference 😂

To me, this is a hilarious counterpoint to all the online commentators who spent months ranting about the usability and legibility of Liquid Glass and acting like it was the end of the world. Meanwhile in the real world, normies like my dad, who is actually very averse to change and doesn't even like to upgrade his devices, have zero complaints and just go about using their phone as if nothing has changed.

The moral of the story is that most things that make people lose their minds on social media and the forums don't even register with the vast majority of Apple users. They're mainly just controversies drummed up by press & influencers as engagement bait and then amplified by legions of trolls with too much time on their hands and a desperate need for attention.

 

[FeliApple]

I think the average non-tech person just keeps automatic updates enabled and doesn’t really care, but I honestly don’t think that the other perspective is as flawed as you say, or the product of “legions of trolls with a desperate need for attention”. I don’t like design change and the battery life and performance impacts of iOS updates, so I don’t update. I’m neither a troll nor have a need for attention. I haven’t installed iOS 26 anywhere nor will I update anything.

That said, I do agree like I said with your comment: the average non-technology-enthusiast person doesn’t care.

Some people care about things that I don’t care about, and it’s not wrong.

 

[Jackbequickly]

I do not find the “Liquid Glass” feature to be that big of a deal. After a few days, I don’t even notice it anymore. It could be the “non-tech” people are the normal people and the others, abnormal. 🤫

 

[FeliApple]

I do not find the “Liquid Glass” feature to be that big of a deal. After a few days, I don’t even notice it anymore. It could be the “non-tech” people are the normal people and the others, abnormal. 🤫

Yeah, I also think most just get used to the changes after not too long.

Me? I still miss iOS 6.

 

[whitby]

The OP nails this issue. Some people, who read Macrumors, have problems with the Liquid Glass interface. Most people who upgrade never even notice (most in this case is the majority of my friends and acquaintances). They notice things like blue tooth not working or the number 2 voicemail saved cannot be selected (all real observations for iOS 26) but not Liquid Glass. It really is quite funny.

 

[2024]

I totally agree with the OP. My wife updated her SE 2020 to iOS 26, and the only thing she didn't like was that the UI in Safari had changed. I set that back to the old look and she's been completely happy. After a week I asked her if she had any complaints about 26, if her phone seemed slower, or if the battery life was worse. She said no to all three. I'm amazed by all the faux outrage I see online.

 

[FeliApple]

I totally agree with the OP. My wife updated her SE 2020 to iOS 26, and the only thing she didn't like was that the UI in Safari had changed. I set that back to the old look and she's been completely happy. After a week I asked her if she had any complaints about 26, if her phone seemed slower, or if the battery life was worse. She said no to all three. I'm amazed by all the faux outrage I see online.

The battery life aspect is funny. People who don’t pay attention and/or track battery life, especially those with varied usage patterns that aren’t as predictable, need MASSIVE battery life drops to notice.

I’ve seen that with family members. A family member was using the iPhone 6s on iOS 9. (That iPhone was previously mine). Apple forced it out of iOS 9 into iOS 13. Battery life collapsed, seeing a 50-60% drop (!!!) that rendered it unusable to me. I have to plug it in before the end of the day as a music device on airplane mode today.

Their reaction? “Yeah, it’s a little worse, but it more-or-less works”. Now that I have it again, it’s the worst iOS device I have, and in my view, it has been destroyed (about 3 hours of SOT with light to moderate cellular use. It got twice that on iOS 9).

Which is why I have repeatedly stated that those who don’t track it (which is most people including most here) won’t notice a, say, 20% battery life drop induced by iOS updates, especially if it’s enough for them anyway, and especially if they have more than enough battery life anyway. Doesn’t mean iOS updates are “fine”. It just means you don’t notice it.

 

[maverick100]

I am 76 years old, Mac guy since the Motorola days. Liquid glass is a total disaster for me. The problem for me is I just can see things as well as everyone else. I tried iPad 26 on my iPad and tried every change to make it easer to see things. I could never get it to work. I rolled back my iPad less than 2 hours before Apple quit signing iOS 18. For me this will be my last iPhone unless it gets easier to see. I have been playing with Tahoe; Contacts and the Music app are a total mess for me. I am not sure how to describe to problems. The thing with Tahoe is I can test, change, experiment with an external drive and reboot to the internal drive when I need to see things.

 

[I7guy]

The battery life aspect is funny. People who don’t pay attention and/or track battery life, especially those with varied usage patterns that aren’t as predictable, need MASSIVE battery life drops to notice.

Absolutely, micromanaging battery life is a waste of time, imo.

I’ve seen that with family members. A family member was using the iPhone 6s on iOS 9. (That iPhone was previously mine). Apple forced it out of iOS 9 into iOS 13. Battery life collapsed, seeing a 50-60% drop (!!!) that rendered it unusable to me. I have to plug it in before the end of the day as a music device on airplane mode today.

My wife upgraded her 14pm to iOS 26 and not a complaint.

Their reaction? “Yeah, it’s a little worse, but it more-or-less works”. Now that I have it again, it’s the worst iOS device I have, and in my view, it has been destroyed (about 3 hours of SOT with light to moderate cellular use. It got twice that on iOS 9).

Again my anecdotal experience is my spouse who didn’t comment on any aspect.

Which is why I have repeatedly stated that those who don’t track it (which is most people including most here) won’t notice a, say, 20% battery life drop induced by iOS updates, especially if it’s enough for them anyway, and especially if they have more than enough battery life anyway. Doesn’t mean iOS updates are “fine”. It just means you don’t notice it.

I wouldn’t notice a 2% decrease or increase but I clearly would notice a 20%.

 

[AlixSPQR]

I like Liquid Glass. I was sceptical, didn’t update my 13 mini. Now, I have a regular 17. LG doesn’t work well with black background, so now I’m using the default dynamic wallpaper. Looks good to me. App icons sometimes look a bit blurry, though. I’m 60, and have been using Apple products since the early 90’s.

 

[JoeG4]

The graphics are fine, kinda neat even. The changes in layouts are sloppy as hell, especially the music app. I also find I accidentally hit the search bar pretty often.

It's also asinine how the search bar in a lot of apps is now at the bottom by default, but once you go to the search results it's at the top.

IMHO that was stupid. I imagine most people hold their phone by the bottom right or left corner. Yes it makes it easier to open the search thing... but what if you don't want to?

 

[leifp]

Indeed. My father only notices when things aren’t where they were before and rails against the gods for a few minutes. Then again, six months later, when he attempts to perform that action for another time. Then he rails against me for updating his OSes. He’s a biannual volcano. And he is absolutely not to be used as a tech reference. If consumer ignorance is the barometer of success then one of us is definitely on the wrong site.

 

[antiprotest]

I see OP's point and do not disagree if it's applied to some individuals, but to make such a generalization based on one example is futile.

Just wait until another user whose dad and stepdad both notice and detest the new design, will the OP then concede his point completely, since now there is a double "counterpoint" against him?

The truth is there are some people who hate it, some people who love it, and some people who don't care or notice. But we don't know the percentage of each group.

 

[FeliApple]

I wouldn’t notice a 2% decrease or increase but I clearly would notice a 20%.

would you notice 4 hours of SOT to 80% instead of 5? Especially if your usage is varied and you don’t track SOT?

I don’t think I’d notice that difference myself if I didn’t track it.

Maybe I’d say “it’s a little worse”. But I’d consider 20% massively significant. It’d warrant more than that reaction for me.

 

[I7guy]

would you notice 4 hours of SOT to 80% instead of 5? Especially if your usage is varied and you don’t track SOT?

I don’t think I’d notice that difference myself if I didn’t track it.

Maybe I’d say “it’s a little worse”. But I’d consider 20% massively significant. It’d warrant more than that reaction for me.

Would 20% loss over a minute be noticed? Hour? In other words 57 minutes vs 60. 4 hours? 3.2 hours vs 4 hours? 12 hours?

Most people’s usage is varied. Maybe one day they are standing in bright sun and a lousy connection and the next day it’s cloudy with a perfect connection.

That’s why imo many people loook at the bigger picture.

 

[Unami]

Yeah, it's been similar for me. Everytime I want to show liquid glass to someone, I need multiple tries until I find something, that's halfway significant - and then the other person just shrugs - or even likes the changes.

I found some of it slightly irritating in the beginning, but Inliked the looks in general and am only annoyed by glitches and bugs they'll hopefully fix some day. I even regularly get small lags before animations start or see icons redrawing on the homescreen of my brand new M5 ipad - it's a little embarassing for apple, but again, most peoole won't notice or care.

 

[whitby]

Our experiences with UIs varies considerably. I suspect that I am older than most on this forum (I obtained my undergraduate degree in 1971 and PhD in 1974), and I have absolutely no issues with the Liquid Glass interface. Seems perfectly visible and readable. I need only reading glasses, as would be expected at my age, but the ability to read, select and sort through the interface is fine and I quite like the refreshed look of IOS which had become very staid, flat and boring.

Obviously my experience is not reflected by some people posting in this thread, even the obviously much younger members. I would tend to suspect that the issues are with sight (short/long sight, astigmatism etc.) and color sensitivity as well as different aesthetic preferences. But, I do take issue with those that make unequivocal statements about this interface which are patently not true for all. It is personal and so long as Apple give you the ability to tune the interface presentation (not necessarily its structure or style) to your personal needs, be they as a result of sight defects or outright aesthetic preferences, then we all should be reasonably happy.

My biggest issues with iOS 26 is not the Liquid Glass interface, with which I personally have no issue, but the number of outright bugs in this release, which are possibly the worst I have seen in a while and are the subject of a number of other threads and comments. (blue tooth connection reliability, security settings, voice mail storage and retrieval, wifi reliability, safari issue etc.).

 

[ForkHandles]

I am 76 years old, Mac guy since the Motorola days. Liquid glass is a total disaster for me. The problem for me is I just can see things as well as everyone else. I tried iPad 26 on my iPad and tried every change to make it easer to see things. I could never get it to work. I rolled back my iPad less than 2 hours before Apple quit signing iOS 18. For me this will be my last iPhone unless it gets easier to see. I have been playing with Tahoe; Contacts and the Music app are a total mess for me. I am not sure how to describe to problems. The thing with Tahoe is I can test, change, experiment with an external drive and reboot to the internal drive when I need to see things.

The Accessibility section of the setting on iOS has loads of toggles to help stop transparency, give buttons a shape, reduce colour hinting.

It’d be a shame to dinosaur your iPhone just cause you’re eyes need more.

 

[tomtattoo]

After three weeks on iOS26 Dark Mode 15pro I remembered my SE on 18.5.
Unlocked it and only while looking on the first homescreen my eyes relaxed. What a relief!
No disturbing outlines, plain dark icons.
Looks like the homescreen of the luxury model of an iPhone compared to this comic outfit.

 

[dmr727]

My wife barely noticed liquid glass when updating her 14, but she was apparently happy with Apple rolling back many of the recent changes in Photos:

"Hey honey, they un***ked Photos!"

 

[Parowdy]

Meanwhile in the real world, normies like my dad, who is actually very averse to change and doesn't even like to upgrade his devices, have zero complaints and just go about using their phone as if nothing has changed.

Exact same for my mother!

Except, she does notice, and she does mind.

Counter-Counterpoint
Has someone won something?

If your dad doesn’t notice, that is probably because his wallpaper happens to work out and that he doesn’t use his phone too much or apps that adopted LG.
I would be very, very off put if I got a new phone and suddenly my Home Screen icons all look different and the folders look like there is moisture on my screen. Especially when I’m susceptible to change…

I’m glad for your dad. But that doesn’t help anyone with their dad, or mom, or grandparent.

 

[DENZIE]

If people don’t notice major changes like liquid glass then apple shouldn’t change them. Keeps the people who do notice sane.

 

[n-evo]

I always love these N=1 threads.

 

[aevan]

My dad went from a 15 Pro running iOS 18 to a 17 Pro running iOS 26 (because AT&T offered him a great trade in deal). I asked what he thought of the new iOS design with Liquid Glass, and he said he didn't notice any difference 😂

To me, this is a hilarious counterpoint to all the online commentators who spent months ranting about the usability and legibility of Liquid Glass and acting like it was the end of the world. Meanwhile in the real world, normies like my dad, who is actually very averse to change and doesn't even like to upgrade his devices, have zero complaints and just go about using their phone as if nothing has changed.

The moral of the story is that most things that make people lose their minds on social media and the forums don't even register with the vast majority of Apple users. They're mainly just controversies drummed up by press & influencers as engagement bait and then amplified by legions of trolls with too much time on their hands and a desperate need for attention.

My wife also doesn't notice. She is very, very resistant to change when it comes to OS stuff and built in apps. And she went from iPhone 13 Mini to 17 Pro. She didn't even realize it's a new version of the OS.

And yet, go to reddit - every second post is how the latest OS-es are a total disaster and unusable and broken.

 

[aevan]

If people don’t notice major changes like liquid glass then apple shouldn’t change them. Keeps the people who do notice sane.

Except, some people who notice, really like it. Like me. And it was due time for a refresh.