Liquid Glass Design: What It Is and Why It Matters
Liquid Glass is Apple’s newly introduced visual design language for iOS 26, featuring soft transparency, light reflection, and layered depth that adapts in real-time. It behaves like dynamic frosted glass, adjusting to the background, lighting, and user movement. You’ll see it in places like Control Center, lock screen, app switcher, widgets, and navigation bars. This update isn’t just a visual refresh. Apple is pushing Liquid Glass as a core interaction material, much like how flat design dominated post-iOS 7.
The effect responds to light and context, making the UI feel alive, but also presents new challenges in terms of clarity and performance. For some users, it’s visually refreshing. For others, it’s distracting.
Apple Design System: A Major Update After a Decade
This is Apple’s first major design shift in more than a decade. Since iOS 7 dropped skeuomorphism for flat design in 2013, the interface has mostly stayed the same, subtle tweaks, but no big leaps. With iOS 26, Apple is finally shaking things up with Liquid Glass.
Liquid Glass is part of a system-wide design push across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS. This isn’t just about iPhones. It’s about making every Apple screen feel like part of one connected visual ecosystem that follows the Apple design system.
Apple Design Evolution: From Aqua to Liquid Glass
- 2001 (Aqua): Introduced glassy buttons and shiny interfaces on macOS.
- 2007 (iPhone debut): Rounded icons, skeuomorphic textures, heavy shadows.
- 2013 (iOS 7): Flat design and blurred translucency.
- 2025 (iOS 26): Liquid Glass—more physical, more responsive, more layered.
Over the years, Apple’s design language has moved from realism to flat minimalism to this new, interactive softness. Liquid Glass tries to balance emotion and function, without looking like a UI stunt. It adds a new layer to the Apple design guidelines.
Understanding the Impact in Apple App UI Design
Benefits in terms of User Experience
The visual hierarchy is clearer when used correctly. Navigation bars subtly separate from content. Buttons pop without looking bulky. And because the interface reacts to the background, every screen feels slightly different—almost alive.
For designers, this opens up interesting ways to create depth and movement. Apple has already updated its Human Interface Guidelines to include Liquid Glass behaviour. We’ve started referencing these same principles in our recent UI/UX design projects at Line and Dot Studio, especially when working on Apple app UI design.
Drawbacks in Accessibility
Initial beta testers pointed out problems with legibility. Sometimes the transparency overcomplicates things, text blends into the background, and controls get lost. Apple has responded by tweaking opacity and adding subtle tints in later iOS 26 betas.
It also raises accessibility concerns. Not everyone enjoys, or can comfortably use, user interfaces that constantly shift with lighting or content. If you design for clarity first, too much glass just gets in the way. That’s where adhering to proper Apple design guidelines becomes critical.
Social Media Reactions to this Design Update
Critics argue that Liquid Glass is all show and no substance. Posts on Reddit, Twitter, and even tech blogs have compared it to Windows Vista’s Aero Glass, pretty, but unnecessary.
Others argue it’s a natural evolution of Apple’s long-standing love for material and motion. A designer on UX Collective wrote, “Liquid Glass isn’t a gimmick. It’s Apple’s most tactile digital future yet.”
In practice, how much this helps or hinders really depends on how app designers and developers use it. If done carelessly, it’ll be a distraction. Done well, it could lead to new Apple app UI design patterns that feel fresh but usable.
Apple Design Guidelines and Developer Tools for Liquid Glass
With the iOS 26 SDK, Apple has introduced new APIs for rendering and controlling Liquid Glass. These are built into UIKit and SwiftUI, making it easier for developers to bring consistency across apps.
Apple's design guidelines stress clarity, depth, and adaptability. If you’re working on Apple app UI design, this is the time to revisit your layout decisions. If you need help rethinking your interface for iOS 26, our team at Line and Dot Studio can help you align with the Apple design system while keeping usability intact.
Curious how the Apple design system influences consistency? Read how we build adaptable design systems for brands that scale.
How Liquid Glass Design Affects User Behavior
UI design isn’t just about looks—it changes how people use their devices. Early user testing shows that:
- People linger longer on dynamic widgets and glassy navigation areas.
- Real-time lighting shifts cause distraction when brightness is high.
- Too much translucency makes interfaces feel heavy.
By reducing opacity and adding depth-aware shadows, Apple seems to be finding the right balance in design. Expect this to keep evolving in future betas.
Tips for Using Liquid Glass in Figma and Apple App UI Design
- Don’t overuse transparency. Use it to suggest layering, not to show off.
- Pair Liquid Glass with clear icons and strong contrast.
- Follow Apple's updated Apple design guidelines, but test with real users.
If you’re using Figma, the latest Figma iOS UI kits include updated components with Liquid Glass behaviours. These are great for designing Apple app UI interfaces that follow current trends.
Thoughts on Liquid Glass and Apple Design
Liquid Glass is a bold move, but it’s not without flaws. It makes the interface feel more dynamic and cohesive, but also brings risks of visual clutter and distraction. Whether it becomes the new standard or fades into design history depends on how well developers and designers adapt it into usable experiences. This may be the beginning to train users to use and adapt to holographic interfaces in the future.
If you’re rethinking your interface or planning to launch a new iOS app, now’s the time to get ahead. Contact Line and Dot Design Studio to build your app the Apple way.
