TL;DR
- Apple has introduced its Liquid Glass visual design for all of its devices.
- The new design is inspired by glass and features transparency, refraction, and colors influenced by the environment.
- The new visual look will apply to iPhones, iPads, Macs, the Apple Watch, and more.
Google recently announced its Material 3 Expressive design language for Android 16 and Wear OS. We previously heard rumors that Apple was working on a redesigned visual style for its software as well. Now, the company has indeed announced the so-called Liquid Glass design for all of its devices.
As the name implies, Apple is taking cues from glass as well as its visionOS platform. The Liquid Glass design features transparency and refraction for buttons, switches, app icons, widgets, media controls, and other controls. It also extends to side bars, tabs, Control Center, notifications, the home screen, and the lock screen.
Apple adds that the Liquid Glass material features colors influenced by the surrounding environment and “intelligently” adapts to light and dark environments. Interestingly, the material also reacts to movement with specular highlights. The company notes that this design also applies to apps like the camera, Safari, Photos, Facetime, and more.
The Liquid Glass design will be available in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, MacOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26. Either way, this wouldn’t be the first time we’ve seen a user interface inspired by glass. Microsoft’s Windows Vista used so-called Aero transparency effects back in 2007, although these effects resulted in higher system requirements. So we’re keen to see how Apple devices cope with this approach to visuals.
