Liquid Glass: Has Apple turned the glass too quickly?

Rowls Apple back when it comes to Liquid Glass? The new design language, which Apple will introduce with iOS 26, MacOS 26 and Co in autumn, will be implemented a good bit of reserved, at least in the third developer beta of the operating systems. Background representations are less transparent (and with it, critics would argue, more readable), elements change less wildly their colors, and the effect is generally reduced, even though Apple is so aggressively In his advertising materials (“impressive and elegant”). The well-known Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman criticizes Apple for it Now in his newsletter and thinks it is “worrying that the company gives up a central visual idea so quickly”.

U -turn after design change

Apple apparently chose “X as a new Apple user interface design team”-a swipe on the fact that Apple boss Tim Cook will soon be the top decision-makers in terms of Apple design due to personnel changes. After three years of work on this new design, Apple has withdrawn it within a few weeks due to the first reactions from the Internet.

In fact, there was a lot of criticism of Liquid Glass – especially because of poor usability. The control center in the first beta was partly unique, notifications went into the background and icons were difficult to distinguish – at least without reading glasses. However, the most blatant design changes – completely transparent icons for iPad and Mac – were by no means standard, but optional. It was also possible from the start to adapt the design in terms of transparency, albeit slightly hidden via the operating aids.

Many configuration options

However, it is not new that Apple reacts to user feedback in beta phases, for example in the case of redesign in the browser Safari under iOS 15. This is not least one of the purposes of beta tests. However, Gurman notes just implemented a switch here instead of changing the entire interface. In fact, Apple with iOS 26, iPados 26 and MacOS 26 offers so many adaptation options as long as it has not: In addition to four (!) Different icon species, users can also change the folder design, for example.

Perhaps Apple is afraid of your own courage at Liquid Glass? Gurman writes that the new design system was “a fresh approach in the area of software design”. “For a company that has not received many design risks in recent years, this was a daring redesign.” It is unclear how Apple continues. The new operating systems are still in active development, change from beta to beta. What the design ultimately looks like is decided until September.