The updated Liquid Glass design looks great, but isn't as dramatic as you think. That's a good thing. Here's how iOS 26 compares to iOS 18.

Indeed, Liquid Glass does bring somewhat of a major change to iOS 26, or what we would have called iOS 18 (Apple is switching iOS numbers to years, and iOS 26 will release in the fall). I've been using the developer beta of iOS 26 for some weeks now,

iOS 26 looks new and modern. And for once, how Apple describes it — liquid glass — makes sense: it’s a lot of layers of transparent elements overlapping and, in places, the animations are quite… liquidy. Menus and buttons will respond to your touch, with some of them coalescing around your finger and sometimes separating out into new menus.

Certainly one of the main highlights of iOS 26, which was announced earlier this month at WWDC 2025, is the new Liquid Glass interface. But as we’ve reported here, the update also comes with a lot of other new features – such as many new APIs that open up a lot of possibilities for app developers.

Here's how to make the Liquid Glass design in iOS 26 more legible. And don't forget, iOS 26 is still in beta. That means the update might be buggy for you, and your device's battery life may be affected, so it's best to keep those troubles off your primary device. If you want to try the beta out, I recommend downloading it on a secondary device.

With the fourth beta of iOS 26, Apple has again made changes to the Liquid Glass design that's available across the operating system,

I actually like the Liquid Glass overhaul that Apple has brought to iOS 26, but I'm having a terrible time learning my way around.

If you're curious how iOS 26's Liquid Glass will affect the look and feel of third-party apps, here's a sneak peek at one popular app's redesign.

The new Liquid Glass design in iOS 26 looks unlikely to change much before the public launch, showing Apple’s belief in its original vision.