iOS 26 Liquid Glass UI for iPhones is no longer ‘liquid' nor ‘glass' after beta 3 update

Hindustan Times

09-07-2025

Liquid Glass did not age well for Apple. Last month in June, Apple introduced the Liquid Glass UI with iOS 26 for iPhones. It introduced a brand new design language for Apple's platforms, majorly focusing on transparency, refraction, and a lot of glass-like elements spread across the operating system, like the Control Centre and various buttons. iOS 26 brings a major visual overhaul, deeper AI integration via Apple Intelligence, and significant improvements.(Apple)
After its reveal, many started comparing it to Windows Vista. Some pointed out that this was going to be a readability nightmare because the contrast level was simply not there, and it was hard to make out the text.
So, with the second beta, Apple dialled things back a bit and made elements a little more blurry to improve readability, especially with the control centre.
But now with the third beta of iOS 26, Apple has gone one step further and has almost made the Liquid Glass effect frosted-like. In fact, buttons and control centre all appear quite different to what they were in the original first beta.
This is what users are saying on socials
Many were quick to point this out on social media after experiencing the third beta for themselves. @Tech_Marcell, a user on X claims that this looks like a downgrade, and that you can actually see the difference.
Many were able to come up with theories as to why Apple is doing this. @iamnanyi on X said that Apple may have realised that Liquid Glass performs poorly on older devices, and issues like overheating and lag may have convinced them that reducing the visual effects could be the way to go for older devices as they are gradually phased out.
Another user pointed out that Apple should just add a settings section for the appearance, like light, dark, accent colour, motion blur settings, reflectivity, etc. so that customers can fine-tune their experience.
Couple of months to go before the iOS 26 release
It's only July so far, and Apple is expected to release the full version of its operating systems with Liquid Glass later this year, with iOS 26 expected in September. It is going to be a while before the final, official version drops. Between now and then, there could be changes to how the UI looks.
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