For the alleged Roman invention, see Flexible glass.
Liquid Glass
ScreenshotFile:IOS 26 Homescreen.png
DeveloperApple
ReleasedJune 9, 2025 (age 1)
Operating systemiOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, watchOS
GenreDesign language

Liquid Glass is a design language developed by Apple as a unified visual theme for the graphical user interfaces for its suite of operating systems. It was announced on June 9, 2025, at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Liquid Glass features a fluid, dynamic glass-like interface that reflects and refracts the background. It was introduced in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, tvOS 26, visionOS 26, and watchOS 26.[1]

Principles

Apple sought a new design language to unify the look and feel of interface elements across its devices, with their various window sizes and displays.[2][3] The company decided to move away from the flat design cues popularized by Jony Ive in iOS 7 (2013) toward more expressive, skeuomorphic elements.[4][5] It also decided to introduce a dynamic "material", a visual effect that provides a sense of depth and hierarchy between elements.

The "material" of Liquid Glass combines the "optical properties of glass with a sense of fluidity".[6] It has translucent elements that adapt to their environment, refracting and reflecting elements placed behind them. Lighting and shaders are used to suggest clear or frosted glass; elements adapt to a light or dark appearance to make text and icons on top of the material legible.[7][8][9][10] On iOS and iPadOS, elements react to the device's movement with animations that suggest the movement of a drop of liquid.[11]

Apple's updated human interface guidelines say that apps made with Liquid Glass should show hierarchy between content and controls.[12]

Implementation

Liquid Glass overhauls existing iOS interface components such as text, sliders, toggles, alerts, panels, and sidebars. The material is integrated into various apps and system features such as the Dock, notifications, and Control Center; it can also be used by third-party apps.[10][13]

App icons have been redesigned to use a layered system akin to the one used on visionOS and tvOS, applying translucency and a glass-like shimmer effect, which also reacts to device movement, while applying greater use of gradients. App icons can adopt a clear appearance that make them look transparent.[14] Toolbars and other elements on-screen are no longer pinned to the device's bezels, but are separated into bubbles that appear and disappear based on the context. For example, the Music app's tab bar shrinks when scrolling. The new design also allows the material to change its shape and size, such as the text selection tooltip expanding to show all options in a vertical list.[15]

Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said designers used the company's industrial design studios to fabricate glass of various opacities and lensing properties, so they could closely match the interface properties to those of real glass.[8] He also said Apple silicon provides the extra computational power required to run Liquid Glass.[16][17]

In a video detailing the design change, Apple said the language was influenced by the Aqua design language of macOS, real-time Gaussian blurring in iOS 7, the motion in iPhone X, the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro and later, and the glass-like UI of visionOS.[7][8] Liquid Glass has strong influences from "glassmorphism", a design style that became popular in 2021 in part by Microsoft's Windows 11 and its use of Fluent Design as well as Apple's macOS Big Sur.[18][19] Many critics and social media users noted similarities to Aqua and Windows Aero, including glass-like textures popularized by Windows Vista.[20][21][22] TechRadar's Jamie Richards also wrote that Liquid Glass was likely influenced by Frutiger Aero.[23]

Reception

Liquid Glass has received a generally mixed response. Some reviewers praised its ability to emulate the refractive and lensing qualities of real glass, highlighting the visual sophistication of the design.[24][4][20] At the same time, critics described the interface as distracting and, in some cases, less usable. Designers interviewed by Wired noted that the visual effects could draw attention away from app content, while also raising concerns that smaller development teams might struggle to meet the increased design complexity.[4] Some commentators argued that Liquid Glass departs from established user interface conventions in ways that may make macOS more difficult to navigate.[25][26] Legibility has been a recurring concern. Some designers reported that the level of transparency in certain elements made text harder to read,[4] particularly in low-contrast conditions such as direct sunlight.[24][27] Following feedback from the first developer beta, Apple made several adjustments to improve readability. These included increasing opacity in navigation bars and interface chrome, refining system overlays and modal backgrounds, and introducing additional user controls for transparency in later builds.[28][29][30]

See also

References

  1. ^
  2. ^ "Apple's new Liquid Glass design is its biggest visual update in years". Engadget. 2025-06-09. Archived June 12, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-06-12.
  3. ^ "iOS 26 vs iOS 18: Is Apple's 'Liquid Glass' a true redesign?". AppleInsider. 2025-06-10. Archived June 11, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-06-12.
  4. ^ Rogers, Reece. "'Beautiful' and 'Hard to Read': Designers React to Apple's Liquid Glass Update". Wired. ISSN 1059-1028. Archived June 10, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  5. ^ Wong, Raymond (2025-06-09). "Apple Ushers in New Glassy Design With iOS 26 and 'Liquid Glass' Interface". Gizmodo. Archived June 10, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-06-11.
  6. ^ "Liquid Glass". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  7. ^ "Meet Liquid Glass - WWDC25 - Videos". Apple Developer. Archived June 10, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-06-10.
  8. ^ Ulanoff, Lance (2025-06-10). "For Liquid Glass, 'the most obvious inspiration was visionOS', says Apple's Senior VP of Software Engineering". TechRadar. Archived June 11, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-06-11.
  9. ^ "Human Interface Guidelines". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  10. ^ "Adopting Liquid Glass". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  11. ^ "Apple introduces a delightful and elegant new software design". Apple Newsroom. Archived June 10, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-08-09.
  12. ^ "Materials". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved 2025-06-12.
  13. ^ Peters, Jay (June 10, 2025). "Apple's Liquid Glass was a wild change to my iPhone". The Verge. Archived June 10, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  14. ^ "App icons". Apple Developer Documentation. Retrieved 2025-07-06.
  15. ^ WWDC25 - Apple TV. Archived July 11, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-07-06. – via tv.apple.com.
  16. ^ The Wall Street Journal (2025-06-13). "Apple Execs on AI Setbacks, What Went Wrong with Siri and More (Full Interview) | WSJ". YouTube. Archived July 19, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-06-14. – via YouTube.
  17. ^ Weckler, Adrian (2025-06-14). "Adrian Weckler: Should you worry if your iPhone is too old for the latest upgrade?" (in en-IE). Irish Independent. Retrieved 2025-06-15.
  18. ^ Pero, James (2025-06-09). "iOS 26 Might Be Apple's Riskiest Redesign Yet". Gizmodo. Archived September 15, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  19. ^ "Glassmorphism in 2025: How Apple's Liquid Glass is reshaping interface design". everyday ux. 2025-08-12. Archived November 3, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-11-05.
  20. ^ Pierce, David (June 9, 2025). "Apple's Liquid Glass redesign doesn't look like much". The Verge. Archived June 10, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 10, 2025.
  21. ^ "iOS 26 liquid glass: Here's why Windows Vista jokes are trending". Hindustan Times. June 10, 2025. Archived June 10, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved June 11, 2025.
  22. ^ Saini, Rajat (2025-07-22). "No, Apple Did Not Copy Windows Vista with macOS Liquid Glass". TheMacObserver. Archived July 25, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-09-12.
  23. ^ Richards, Jamie (2025-06-11). "Apple's new Liquid Glass design brings back a much-loved iOS trend from years past – and I'm all for it". TechRadar. Archived 2025-09-16 at the Wayback Machine.
  24. ^ Perez, Sarah (2025-06-10). "Love it or hate it? Apple's new 'Liquid Glass' design is getting mixed reviews". TechCrunch. Archived September 19, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-06-11.
  25. ^ Loyola, Roman (January 7, 2026). "macOS Tahoe's icons are a mess, but not the ones you think". Macworld. Archived January 12, 2026 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2026-01-13.
  26. ^ Engst, Adam (2026-01-06). "How Tahoe’s Menu Icons Undermine Usability". TidBITS. Archived January 8, 2026 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2026-01-13.
  27. ^ Encinas, Amaris. "What is Liquid Glass? Internet reacts to Apple's new software design". USA Today. Archived June 11, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-06-11.
  28. ^ Roth, Emma (2025-07-07). "Apple just added more frost to its Liquid Glass design". The Verge. Archived July 8, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-07-08.
  29. ^ Clover, Juli (2025-07-22). "Apple Improves Liquid Glass in iOS 26 Beta 4, Reversing Some Beta 3 Changes". MacRumors. Archived August 1, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-08-04.
  30. ^ Clover, Juli (2025-10-20). "iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle". MacRumors. Archived December 21, 2025 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2026-01-12.