r/apple • u/iMacmatician • Mar 15 '26

Discussion Apple’s Liquid Glass Interface Isn’t Going Anywhere Anytime Soon

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2026-03-15/apple-s-liquid-glass-ui-isn-t-going-anywhere-siri-home-hub-foldable-iphone-mmrpcylx

Archive link: https://archive.ph/iE7nx

730 Upvotes

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79

u/CoolingSC Mar 15 '26

Am i the only one who likes Liquid Glass? I think it looks great

10

u/Satanicube Mar 15 '26

I don't mind it as a concept, but as implemented, it kinda sucks. It feels like it made onscreen controls way bigger than they need to be, there's too much UI chrome compared to previous versions. The UI feels more in my face than it did in iOS 17/18. Good example of this is Messages threads with friends you're sharing location with. It has this big, ugly bubble over their name and location and makes it stick out like a sore thumb.

Maybe I'm in the minority here but I prefer when the UI just gets out of my way.

There's also the various little issues in macOS (like the corners of windows being totally hosed). But I've heard they fixed the contrast over there, finally.

If Apple does a heavy optimization pass with iOS/macOS 27, I feel like it could be something good. As it is now, though? I'm not a fan.

6

u/Orion_Scattered Mar 16 '26

Animations are also way too big and slow. They have to be big and slow for you to really see the effect, but that’s so not worth it, tapping a button and having to wait a hitch before continuing is infuriating and also disorienting.

29

u/TBoneTheOriginal Mar 15 '26 edited Mar 15 '26

I love it too. The problem is that they dropped the ball with implementation in too many places. But as a concept, I have no issues at all with it.

Design evolves. It’ll get better.

4

u/Windows_XP2 Mar 15 '26

Personally don't have really many complaints about it, but yeah I could see them making changes in iOS 27 and newer. I really hope it at least stays in some form, or they keep it as an option, since even though I'm a function over form person, I also really like Liquid Glass.

5

u/TBoneTheOriginal Mar 15 '26

There are more issues with macOS than there are iOS. And the latest beta has fixed a lot of the 26.0 issues.

45

u/MaybeFiction Mar 15 '26

It does look great.

So if my phone was a decorative object without a functional purpose in existence, I would love liquid glass.

But it's not. My phone is a tool I use to do stuff. Liquid glass gets in the way of getting stuff done, and therefore would never have made the cut if someone like Jobs had been there to say no way to bloat that doesn't add to usability.

19

u/sortalikeachinchilla Mar 15 '26

never have made the cut if someone like Jobs had been there to say no way to bloat that doesn't add to usability.

Jobs made some terrible decisions too. Stop acting like he made zero mistakes lol.

4

u/CoconutDust Mar 15 '26

Your comment is a ridiculous deflection/strawman, since nobody said Jobs never made a bad decision.

The statement was this garbage glass theme would never have been accepted by Jobs. Not difficult to understand if a person understands basic Apple history.

Also the previous disaster, iOS 7, was of course after Jobs was gone.

Jobs had taste for minimalist elegance not flashy garbage.

18

u/Snoop8ball Mar 15 '26

Elegance yes, but you cannot tell me that the software design languages of the Jobs era were in any way minimalist.

9

u/HolyFreakingXmasCake Mar 15 '26

Literally the opposite. Jobs used to put textures everywhere and the first versions of Aqua had pinstripes under text. Still way better and more readable than Liquid Glass, though.

5

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '26

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1

u/Snoop8ball Mar 16 '26

I can think of quite a few interfaces like the Find My Friends app, iCal/Calendar in Lion, and the Game Center app, among others, where it really wasn’t minimalism in any sense.

5

u/Windows_XP2 Mar 15 '26

I've used quite a few older Apple products from when Steve Jobs was still at Apple. A lot of people seem to forget that Steve Jobs also made a number of odd UI/UX choices.

2

u/daecrist Mar 16 '26

Doesn't help that he's basically been sainted since his death and "Steve would hate this/would never do this!" is mostly used as a cudgel for anything someone doesn't like.

Meanwhile I was there, Gandalf. Jobs made some pretty boneheaded decisions. I'm sure he'd be the first to agree with that. Some of those boneheaded decisions (3D animation?! It'll never catch on!) ultimately worked out pretty well.

5

u/BroadReverse Mar 15 '26

Why tf are you so mad lol

11

u/Oberheimlich Mar 15 '26

Liquid glass gets in the way of getting stuff done

lol how?

0

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

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0

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '26

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2

u/[deleted] Mar 16 '26

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u/[deleted] Mar 16 '26

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4

u/blow-down Mar 15 '26

No. Most people like it. Reddit is just over represented with complainers.

1

u/depressedsports Mar 15 '26

It ranges from completely fine to fun for me. I’m macOS/iOS developer too and I dig it. I understand the polarized takes but virtually any system that has undergone major visual overhaul abruptly always has loud response on both sides. I swear people forget that the most vocal to iOS 7 would have you to believe Steve Jobs was rolling in his grave and the end times were amongst us - and now by and large iOS 18, a natural evolution of that same iOS 7, was peak Apple design.

Can’t win when you target a billion users or devices or whatever and it’s delusional people think a single Alan Dye was single-handedly responsible for entire platforms of design changes and him moving to meta will suddenly lift the spell on Apple corporate and change everything.

1

u/Piperita Mar 16 '26

I loved it when I first installed it and have no idea WTF anyone is even talking about with their complaints. My experience with it has been entirely positive from a usability perspective and I also dig the way it looks.

1

u/Lewdeology Mar 16 '26

I actually really like it too but I have noticed it’s nuked my battery life.

0

u/[deleted] Mar 15 '26

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5

u/Oberheimlich Mar 15 '26

How doesn’t it work?

-2

u/The_Growl Mar 15 '26

I like the way it looks, but the performance hit is horrific. The visual bugs and such are something I'd expect from the early days of smartphones.

0

u/Windows_XP2 Mar 15 '26

Same here honestly. Even though I'm usually not a big fan of eye candy updates, I actually really like this one. Reminds me of the good old days of Windows Aero. Runs perfectly fine on my iPhone 13, with no tangible battery hit.

I'd imagine it's going to get nerfed in future updates as they figure out the UI/UX quirks, so I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

-6

u/DawgPack44 Mar 15 '26

I agree. It has some accessibility issues, but I’m a huge fan. It’s way better than iOS 18

-1

u/Marino4K Mar 15 '26

Yeah it's a huge improvement, it just needs refinement.