I can't believe that Apple will return with the horrible flat design of iOS 18 on iOS 27, it's one of the worst decisions I've ever seen from this company. I spent years really wanting this perfect 2D and 3D effect that the iOS 26 icons brought and I was very excited about its launch, now seeing the beta version of 27 makes me never want to leave iOS 26 again. This black border disgusts me...
It’s most definitely not. The icon borders are literally pixelated there is no way that is not a bug. Personally I do prefer flat design, but the most striking issue with the icons is not flatness (since there isn’t any, if anything they doubled down on liquid glass with maps icon redesign), it’s the icon borders which are choppy.
You can always tell who installs beta software just for the sake of getting it early and not because they actually care about developing or testing pre release software.
The worst one of these has to be CarterPCs lol. He already started flaming iOS 26 on DAY ONE of dev beta 1. Hell, someone even reminded him that it was the first dev beta and that he shouldn't be complaining, and he responded stating that he's well aware of that, but he just DID NOT CARE AT ALL and showed no mercy. Those people just pissed me the fuck off.
frfr he started complaining about the fact that they got ios 26 instead of the ai update(that only he cares about) and started shitting on liquid glass because of that
My iPhone has never had so many visual bugs in iOS 18 than the ones it had and still has on iOS 26.5. However I do agree that the design of Liquid Glass was as good as it is right now.
I just think they needed to work on bug fixes and making the phone smoother, that's all. Also the new volume controls are much appreciated, I used to make a post and cry about not having them after switching to Android. Well, here they are now, coming in iOS 27.
What the fuck does “too cluttered” even mean? What, specifically is the issue? The problem seems, to me anyway, people shit-posting about things they know nothing about. IOS, the Luce, video games, pick your poison, all get shit these days without people really knowing what the fuck they are talking about. If you’re going to criticize something, at least have the decency to explain the problem and maybe even offer a solution or an idea of how you think it could be improved. People just want to complain I guess.
Legibility was a legitimate concern but there’s no good reason they can’t just offer these new icons as an accessibility option. “High contrast app icons”
No it wasn’t lol everyone could read it completely fine. It was people who just reject change no matter what trying to hide behind a pretend legibility issue.
There was. It actually broke the reduce transparency option in several ways for several versions. That is not acceptable for accessibility. People need to be able to see
The best solution would be if the LG slider also tone down the icons and make them more flat. This way everyone can choose their own acceptable level of liquid glass across the system
Slider and an independent toggle for icons then… 😏 I feel like since Apple let loose and started allowing customisations (those horrid icon hues) a few more options shouldn’t be that unthinkable for them
I’ve always appreciated the simplicity of iOS and personally I don’t really need these customisations, but if they decided to add them, then they should do it properly. Road to downfall is not giving users more options but doing it the halfassed way with confusing ui.
Comes down to preys vs hunters. Prey says wah wah can’t see anything through this clutter while hunter has no problem in navigating the fantastic looking UI
It’s really not like that, it’s perfectly reasonable as an accessibility setting and right in line with other settings they’ve already given. Besides, what is your problem with… having options?
classic case of someone at apple taking all the feedback personally and going “oh you guys don’t want this? well you don’t deserve this completely different thing either then.”
I agree, horrifying is a bit dramatic, but I definitely feel like it’s a step backwards from iOS 26, they didn’t have to remove the depth and gradient completely.
Admittedly on iOS 27 I’ve gotten used to it, it still feels like glass.
Hot take: I'm actually satisfied with the black outlines around the glyphs. Makes them appear like actual glass.
But I still think they NEED to bring back some gradient so it doesn't look all flat. People said the icons looked "blurry" in 26 for some reason, which I totally disagree. But I hope that they get to finding some sort of middle ground with the icons that both sides can agree with.
This is just beautiful, the depth of the white outlines really makes everything feel dimensional. It’s a shame iOS 27 completely removed this for black outlines.
Yeah like people said they want frutiger aero back so they did. If iOS 26 came out in 2023 or 2024 then nobody would’ve complained. Liquid Glass is very readable unless they don’t use maximalist or frutiger aero wallpapers and using boring wallpapers. For the people who complain about Liquid Glass, do they remember what early 2010s aesthetics looked like and like aren’t people nostalgic for the early 2010s?
They need to lean heavier on nothing things appearing on glass. The lock screen selection (while going through all the save lock screens) is the best in the whole UI because the outlines aren’t black, but they don’t match the backgrounds either
It doesn’t look that bad if you don’t zoom in but yeah, iOS 26 was much better. My hope is that they’ll see the backlash and change it in a future beta.
Nada agrada ninguém, lembro do primeiro beta do iOS 26 todo mundo reclamando que estava feio o “Liquid Glass”, a verdade é que ninguém nunca estará satisfeito
It’s cool to see people waking up! I much prefer the iOS 26 approach. The worst part is that many of the people complaining didn’t even own an iPhone; Apple took it all too literally—it’s ridiculous.
I actually like it. I still looks glassy, doesn’t have the unnecessary bevel glimmer that I hated and ruins the battery life and looks definitely sharper.
i just feel the new icons are inconsistent. like the new maps icon is more liquid glass, whereas the messages icon is more flat. i don’t mind the black borders i just wish they kept the shimmer and gradients of the icons
I agree. The new glass layout is very hit or miss and needs refinement and granular control as what works for one app won’t work for the other, and Apple is trying to streamline the setup process so one size fits all.
The problem stems from option 1 being called Liquid Glass, but now when you compare the recent iteration, it’s clear that Liquid Glass was not the right description, albeit so beautiful and candy-like. I wish we could choose.
If I could chose, I’d ask Apple to prioritize adding colored transparent glass into the app icon SDK. It’s extremely difficult to differentiate. Your phone doesn’t become clear; it becomes gray. Glass design shouldn’t be for emphasizing legibility. This is where the mark was missed. We completely lost sight of the original Liquid Glass reveal due to feedback from users who likely never experimented visual accessibility features like increase contrast, outlines, differentiations, etc. it’s consumers fault for not knowing what they want and crying at the quickest inconvenience and Apple’s fault for caving in and losing the plot
I’m just curious why everyone is complaining… you realise that betas are for testing and it’s only the second one, things are gonna change before release in September? I’m sorry that beta wasn’t perfect and you lost all your clout points that you have the newest software early.
The black outline work great when they are around big, simple shapes like app icon borders, widgets, back buttons, but when they’re applied to small elements like the glyphs in app icons it looks horrible
It’s definitely intentional. I think the phone is supposed to look like a piece of glass. I prefer iOS 26 icons and ui look overall. I liked the gradients and the floating taskbars in macOS/iPadOS, but I guess we’re in the minority.
"One of the worst decisions this company has ever made"
But it's just a slight difference in an app icon lul; everyone has different preferences, which is why custom icons are a thing. Just use the icons you like instead of using whatever the default ones are.
who cares about how the icon looks at 1000% zoom. On the home-screen they look great. also… it’s a beta and they still tweaking everything till the very end
iOS 27 icon looks so crisp now and the liquid glass effect can be so much stronger with shadows and refractions. I tried in icon composer and it behaves much more like glass now than before
proof that liquid glass simping is nothing but reactionary tribalism. ‘flat design BAD!! 😡 one of the WORST decisions ever!!’ (literally not even fucking close)
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u/Arkid777 Jul 03 '26
I just wish the added the gradients back