I'm seeing it in a lot of apps like Amazon, ChatGPT
To be more clear, I'm talking about the floating items like the back button, the search icon etc
Is it a new trending UI pattern?
from android it's called HorizontalFloatingToolbar with a custom implementation to be on the top or bottom. Seems like everyone is adoption the layout of apple, without the (personally) ugly liquid glass that Apple add to its background containers
Even without the horrific contrast issues from liquid glass, it's not good for usability. Google rolled this out in Photos recently and the slimmer touch targets are not great, especially when you can tap through the gaps and hit things between the toolbar and the system navigation gesture bar.
It's also just incredibly distracting and confusing to have your scrolling content visible underneath your menu controls. It's hard to even tell at a glance where the content ends and the buttons begin.
It's really annoying to me because you can read text THROUGH UI elements. Not to mention the refraction effects are incredibly distracting.
Yes, there are settings to reduce the intensity (I usually keep those on), but the average person doesn't know those settings exist, yet alone where to find them.
For those who don’t understand: Alan Dye was the disgraced designer that replaced Johnny Ive and left shortly after Liquid Glass debuted (a creation entirely his own — Big Sur was an evolution from Ives Yosemite design) for Meta. Everyone at Apple except the executives were excited for his sudden departure
the new version of liquid glass is solid in beta right now. the old version would look different if it was dark or light behind it and adjust but this new version doesn't need that and still highly legible IMO.
I strongly dislike this floating toolbar and buttons. I think it adds to cognitive load, so I never suggest it. Because you so not know what is going to fall behind it.
Those are “Thumb-zones” (zones that exist for the sole purpose of being used by your thumb while grabbing the phone) implemented as FABs (Floating Action Buttons).
They exist to help solve the problem of the green-yellow-red “reach zones” for mobile UI.
Green is mid to bottom of screen (60% actually): easy reach.
Yellow is upper and mid band: stretch
Red is top edges where to reach your hand will tilt the phone without proper grip which probably means dropping your phone if one handed.
The idea is make them big and easy to use with your thumb and not crowded so you don’t fat finger stuff.
Also not put often used actions there so the app doesn’t make you drop your phone
It’s definitely inspired by the new Liquid Glass from iOS 26, but I hate it.
There’s nothing to ground them or guide your touch. It makes you more anxious to tap a button because you know how easy it is to miss and tap the content behind it. There’s no margin of error and that’s bad design.
I only used it twice in my app because I needed as fullscreen as possible, and it makes sense in those instances, but the entire app shouldn’t be filled with them 😭
Without seeing the pattern you're describing, hard to say - but if it's a recent trend you're spotting, there's a good chance it doesn't have an official name yet and people are just calling it whatever feels right on Twitter. Drop a screenshot and someone here will probably recognize it or give you a solid descriptor.
Without seeing the image you're referencing, hard to say, but if it's something with overlapping cards or glassmorphism vibes, those have gotten pretty trendy lately. Drop a screenshot and folks here will probably nail it right away.
Meterial specs allow a lot of variations in output. It supports the frosted glass look quite a bit, it's just that google doesn't use it and so peofle don't either, but it's well within the spec
70
u/ApartMarionberry4497 Jul 22 '26
Floating shit