Apple’s iOS 26 update brings a bold new ‘Liquid Glass’ design, adding depth and movement across the interface along with enhanced ‘Visual Intelligence,’ Messages, Maps, and Apple Music features. Apple’s upcoming iOS 26.1 will add a ‘Tinted’ mode to improve contrast and accessibility.
Apple is releasing a big iPhone software upgrade, including under-the-hood upgrades as well as a new user interface. Introducing a design language called ‘Liquid Glass’ and several functional enhancements, the updated operating system version, iOS 26.
The update’s core is the Liquid Glass aesthetic, a transparent, layered approach used throughout the home screen, control centre, application icons, and system menus. Reflecting and refracting material beneath it, the material is intended to produce depth and movement. For instance, as you browse through apps, toolbars shrink and enlarge, and the lock-screen clock will change its location and size dynamically. Apple portrays this as a huge design step forward, yet early adopters and critics have varied opinions.
Some laud the elegance and finish; others contend that the visibility and icon approaches degrade clarity and visual clarity. Beyond looks, iOS 26 offers a number of functional improvements. Among the devices receiving the iOS 26 update are the newly launched iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max , revealed earlier in September.To provide their wallpapers a more immersive, layered look, users can now employ ‘spatial scenes.’ The upgrade also broadens ‘Visual Intelligence’ features by enabling system-wide search and translation of screenshots as well as new programs and improvements to Messages, Apple Music and Maps.
Many iPhone users and accessibility experts expressed reservations about the Liquid Glass effect
Furthermore, under Settings, Accessibility and then Display & Text Size, consumers may still activate ‘Reduce Transparency’ and ‘Increase Contrast’ for a more usual user interface experience. Apple iOS 26
