Liquid Glass
Design language developed by Apple
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Liquid Glass is a design language developed by Apple as a unified visual theme for the graphical user interfaces for its suite of operating systems. It was announced on June 9, 2025, at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Liquid Glass features a fluid, dynamic glass-like interface that reflects and refracts the background. It was introduced in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, tvOS 26, visionOS 26, and watchOS 26.[1]
- Aqua (macOS)
- Flat design (iOS, iPadOS)
| Liquid Glass | |
|---|---|
| |
| Developer | Apple |
| Initial release | June 9, 2025 |
| Operating system | iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, watchOS |
| Predecessor |
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| Type | Design language |
| Website | developer |
Principles
Apple sought a new design language to unify the look and feel of interface elements across its devices, with their various window sizes and displays.[2][3] The company decided to move away from the flat design cues popularized by Jony Ive in iOS 7 (2013) toward more expressive, skeuomorphic elements.[4][5] It also decided to introduce a dynamic "material"—in Apple parlance, a visual effect that provides a sense of depth and hierarchy between elements.
The "material" of Liquid Glass combines the "optical properties of glass with a sense of fluidity".[6] It has translucent elements that adapt to their environment, refracting and reflecting elements placed behind them. Lighting and shaders are used to suggest clear or frosted glass; elements adapt to a light or dark appearance to make text and icons on top of the material legible.[7][8][9][10] On iOS and iPadOS, elements react to the device's movement with animations that suggest the movement of a drop of liquid.[11]
Apple's updated human interface guidelines say that apps made with Liquid Glass should show hierarchy between content and controls.[12]
Implementation
Liquid Glass overhauls existing iOS interface components such as text, sliders, toggles, alerts, panels, sidebars. The material is integrated into various apps and system features such as the Dock, notifications, and Control Center; it can also be used by third-party apps.[10][13]
App icons have been redesigned to use a layered system akin to the one used on visionOS and tvOS, applying translucency and a glass-like shimmer effect, which also reacts to device movement, while applying greater use of gradients. App icons can adopt a clear appearance that make them look transparent.[14] Toolbars and other elements on-screen are no longer pinned to the device's bezels, but are separated into bubbles that appear and disappear based on the context. For example, the Music app's tab bar shrinks when scrolling. The new design also allows the material to change its shape and size, such as the text selection tooltip expanding to show all options in a vertical list.[15]
Apple's senior vice president of software engineering, Craig Federighi, said designers used the company's industrial design studios to fabricate glass of various opacities and lensing properties, so they could closely match the interface properties to those of real glass.[8] He also said Apple silicon provides the extra computational power required to run Liquid Glass.[16][17]
In a video detailing the design change, Apple said the language was influenced by the Aqua design language of macOS, real-time Gaussian blurring in iOS 7, the motion in iPhone X, the Dynamic Island on the iPhone 14 Pro and later, and the glass-like UI of visionOS.[7][8] Liquid Glass has strong influences from "glassmorphism", a design style that became popular in 2021 in part by Microsoft's Windows 11 and its use of Fluent Design as well as Apple's own macOS Big Sur.[18][19] Many critics and social media users noted similarities to Aqua and Windows Aero, including glass-like textures popularized by Windows Vista.[20][21][22]
Reception
Liquid Glass has drawn a mixed reception. Some reviewers praised the way it recreates glass's refracting and lensing properties.[23][4][20]
Others have criticized it as distracting, less legible, harder to use, and an undue burden on developers. Designers interviewed by Wired felt that the visual effects distracted from app content, and one said developers with smaller teams might struggle to meet the complicated visual standards set by the new interface.[4]
Some have said that Liquid Glass deviates from long-established UI conventions in ways that make Macs more confusing and difficult to use.[24][25]
Others have said it can make text harder to read. A designer interviewed by Wired said that certain elements were too transparent,[4] making text difficult to read in low-contrast environments, such as direct sunlight.[23][26] Complaints about legibility during the first developer beta release led Apple to adjust the transparency of Liquid Glass.[27][28] Developer Beta 3 made navigation bars and interface chrome more opaque, and subsequent betas adjusted system overlays and modal backgrounds. Some later builds introduced more user controls for transparency.[29]