What is Liquid Glass? Internet reacts to Apple's new software design
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Apple's Liquid Glass made a splashy debut this week, but it might not be for everyone.
Some social media users have been quick to criticize or poke fun at the "beautiful, new" software design for iOS 26, which was unveiled at the 2025 Worldwide Developers Conference, an annual information technology conference hosted by the tech juggernaut.
The design, dubbed Liquid Glass, was crafted with a "translucent material [that] reflects and refracts its surroundings, while dynamically transforming to help bring greater focus to content," Apple said in a news release.
Alan Dye, Apple's vice president of Human Interface Design, called the iOS 26 rollout the company's "broadest software design update ever."
'It combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve, as it transforms depending on your content or context," said Dye in a statement.
Here's what to know about Liquid Glass, and what people are saying about it.
Liquid Glass is a new software design, or aesthetic, described by Apple CEO Tim Cook as "Expressive. Delightful. But still instantly familiar."
Expressive. Delightful. But still instantly familiar.Introducing our new software design with Liquid Glass. pic.twitter.com/8hA0q2aCTf
— Tim Cook (@tim_cook) June 9, 2025
According to Apple, the "look" makes apps and system experiences more expressive and delightful while being instantly familiar. It is translucent and behaves like glass in the real world and its color is informed by surrounding content and intelligently adapts between light and dark environments.
The new design, unlike previous iterations, will extend across platforms, including iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, tvOS 26 and watchOS 26.
Many people like the idea of Apple's "Liquid Glass," but the execution, not as much. Some of the most prominent concerns include the readability of notifications and the distortion to the image behind the squiggly, bubble-shaped app outline.
"The new liquid glass looks abysmal and is a perfect example of focusing on form/prettiness/design over of functionality/readability/practicality like, what are we doing here," an X user wrote in a June 9 post.
Some have also speculated the new design would not have passed the sniff test of the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
"Steve Jobs had very famously said that design was how it works, not how it looks...his thoughts on liquid glass would have been interesting," one user wrote, referencing a famous quote from the founder.
Others, still, felt that Apple completely missed the mark by offering the "liquid glass display" instead of revisiting the AI upgrades unveiled at last year's WWDC.
Memes, critiques and threads have surfaced on social in the wake of Apple's announcement. See a compilation of posts made about "Liquid Glass" below:
So Apple's next big thing, aka Liquid Glass, is random icon packs from the Android world.🤣😂🤣😅 #WWDC25 #iOS26 #Apple #Android pic.twitter.com/ZqzKEgB0WM
— Sadeeq (@Bunis_Malli) June 9, 2025
Market: "we want AI"Apple: best we can do is liquid glass display$AAPL #WWDC25 pic.twitter.com/5OxSs8SeCn
— Javelin Capital (@Jimmy_Javelin) June 9, 2025
My 85% battery health iPhone 13 trying to run Liquid Glass on iOS 26 pic.twitter.com/zbupWb1X17
— GSX (@GigaSyntax) June 9, 2025
Let's ignore those readability concerns for a second.Look at these satisfying Liquid Glass animations & visual effects on iOS 26. pic.twitter.com/XsVKzxqWqE
— Alvin (@sondesix) June 9, 2025
Liquid Glass definitely looks totally fine and normal pic.twitter.com/2dZ7Lc8SRv
— Rich Woods (@TheRichWoods) June 9, 2025
The thing is, Liquid Glass looks great at the component level, like the ones in this video. But once you put everything together and fill the screen, it turns into noise and makes things feel way too crowded.pic.twitter.com/MIMsEZUfkD
— Shayan (@ImSh4yy) June 9, 2025
Apple's Liquid Glass rollout is actually genius: the design ensures that you can't read the comically-wrong Apple Intelligence notification summaries. pic.twitter.com/b2KBBYRmc1
— Trung Phan (@TrungTPhan) June 10, 2025
Liquid glass…. 'this new material'. Ffs it's a graphic. pic.twitter.com/AMv646yKLT
— Asoz Rashid (@AsozRashid) June 9, 2025
I like the idea of liquid glass but the readability is not good at all…#WWDC25 pic.twitter.com/y9WpsTNE6E
— Bradley (@VerdeSelvans) June 10, 2025
I don't think the reaction to Apple's liquid glass is a 'who moved my cheese' moment. This is just objectively bad design: pic.twitter.com/UizKXg7pKT
— Bryan Jones (@bdkjones) June 10, 2025
Liquid Glassに対する既視感 pic.twitter.com/09xJXDTu9f
— あるごす (@argos_M1111) June 9, 2025
the Liquid Glass effect is so satisfying on menus pic.twitter.com/OxUGJsqcEZ
— † lucia scarlet 🩸 (@luciascarlet) June 10, 2025
liquid glass looks sick pic.twitter.com/LLv1zASJmf
— Dan Toomey (@dhtoomey) June 9, 2025
steve jobs in heaven watching apple introduce the liquid glass design. pic.twitter.com/bRQLzMlp3M
— Sahil (@sahilypatel) June 9, 2025
Apple trying to convince us they've done something groundbreaking by adjusting the opacity of the control center and calling it 'liquid glass' should be a crime. pic.twitter.com/xgQjQZS6Q8
— no chaser, neat. (@Pvleng) June 10, 2025
Contributing: James Powel and Mike Snider, USA TODAY
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What is Liquid Glass? New Apple iPhone aesthetic sparks discussion
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