David Bridges
iOS 26 and Liquid Glass bring a new design language and feature set to iPhones.
Credit: Apple / Mashable Photo Composite
Highlights
- Design Language: iOS 26 introduces a vibrant Liquid Glass design that enhances user interface elements.
- Lock Screen: The lock screen features translucent effects and spatial scenes for an immersive experience.
- Consistency: Liquid Glass integrates across the entire Apple ecosystem, including macOS and iPadOS.
- Feedback: While praised overall, some features, like Messages, are criticized for being incomplete.
With iOS 26, Apple is betting big on its new Liquid Glass design language. According to Mashable’s Christian de Looper, it’s essentially a system-wide facelift: software elements layer and shimmer like real glass, giving apps and widgets a sleeker, more natural look. In his view, it’s not just cosmetic either — controls in apps like Safari and Camera feel more streamlined, putting the essentials front and center without unnecessary clutter.
De Looper notes that the lock screen is where Liquid Glass really shines. Notifications, widgets, and the clock all adopt translucent and colored glass effects, while new spatial scenes add a subtle 3D parallax effect. Combined with a full-screen music mode that puts album art front and center, he argues the lock screen feels fresher and more immersive than it has in years.
Across the wider Apple ecosystem, he says Liquid Glass ties together iOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and iPadOS 26 more consistently than ever. That said, not everything hits — De Looper singles out Messages as “sloppy,” with floating controls that feel unfinished.
Still, after months in beta, his verdict is that Liquid Glass largely delivers on Apple’s promise of making its software prettier and more cohesive. During the Apple Event 2025 tomorrow, we expect to learn the official iOS 26 release date.
Daniel Mercer
