Liquid Glass

Liquid Glass

Developer(s)	Apple Inc.
Initial release	June 9, 2025 (2025-06-09)
Operating system	iOS, iPadOS, macOS, tvOS, visionOS, watchOS
Type	Design language
Website	developer.apple.com/documentation/technologyoverviews/liquid-glass

Liquid Glass is a graphical user interface and design language developed by Apple as a unified visual theme across its iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS operating systems. It was first announced on June 9, 2025, at the 7th annual Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Liquid Glass features a more fluid and glass-like interface being introduced in iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe, tvOS 26, and watchOS 26.

Principles

Apple describes Liquid Glass as a dynamic material that combines the "optical properties of glass with a sense of fluidity". According to Apple's updated Human Interface Guidelines, apps made with Liquid Glass should showcase hierarchy between the content and controls, harmony across interface elements and devices, and consistency across various window sizes and displays.

The design features elements that automatically changes around its environment by reflecting and refracting light in a way that would resemble glass. The digital elements are transparent, which contrasts with the outer highlights of the shape it takes. In an interview with TechRadar, Craig Federighi, the then senior vice president of software engineering at Apple, mentioned that during the process of designing the interface language, Apple designers took advantage of its industrial design studios to fabricate glass of different opacities and lensing properties to closely match the properties of the various interfaces to that of real glass.

Implementation

Liquid Glass is being used in older iOS 18 components such as text, sliders, toggles, alerts, panels, sidebars, search fields, buttons, menus, and toolbars, and well as replacing the old frosted glass design.

Liquid Glass can also be found in the default apps, in the home screen, and other third-party apps. The design is said to be influenced by the Aqua interface of macOS, real-time gaussian blurring in iOS 7, the motion in iPhone X and the Dynamic Island in the iPhone 14 Pro, and the glass-like UI of visionOS.

Reception

Reception of the design was mixed, many users applauded the aesthetics of the operating systems designed using the language and the technical engineering required to recreate the refracting and lensing properties of glass as well as Apple's attention to detail in that regard. Critics however, had concerns with the readability of the interface, users noted that some elements were often too transparent making text placed on top of it hard to read especially in low contrast environments like in the direct glow of sunlight, others felt that the visual effects distracted from the app’s content. A designer talking to the Wired also raised concerns that developers of apps with smaller teams would have a hard time meeting the high visual standards set by the new interface. The design marked a shift in Apple's design languages with a move away from flat design cues popularized by Jony Ive that had dominated Apple's software design towards more expressive software design that made use of skeumorphic design elements. Many critics and social media users also noted that the design language had many design elements that were associated with previous design aesthetics such as Frutiger Aero and Windows Aero, including the glass like textures which was popularized by Windows Vista.

See also

• Aqua (user interface)
• Neumorphism
• Windows Aero
• Y2K aesthetic

External links

• "Apple introduces a delightful and elegant new software design". Apple Newsroom. Retrieved June 10, 2025.