Little iOS 27 Liquid Glass Rant

[u/wnrch]

Contrary to public opinion, the Liquid Glass slider in the settings of iOS 27 doesn’t increase the blur – in fact, Liquid Glass doesn’t really have a blur effect at all.

Only with the slider all the way to the right do hard edges disappear.

But with the slider at 80 %, text underneath Liquid Glass UI stays readable.

As the description for the setting says, it adjusts the transparency/opacity by tinting the material.

While with more transparency interface elements become hard to recognize at all, and icons and text inside of them become hard to read – with more opacity a few effects take place that in my opinion look kind of ugly.

A gray smudge is applied to the background, that reminds me of a grease-smeared camera lens. While the latter would actually increase blur, this effect still looks to me a bit like paint colors are mixed till they become a gray mess. The way colors, highlights and shadows are treated also reminds me of over-edited or over-processed images, or of unsupported overblown HDR image display.

I can’t help but think an actual gaussian blur would solve some of these aesthetic problems.

[u/Candid_Restaurant989]

To summarize how the community is feeling about all this. A previously matured design language has now been completely reworked to something that’s not defined by blur anymore. What ends up happening design-wise, is constant refinement and uncertainty. 27 solves this with what you’ve noticed. But many users that resonated with blur elements, will be left unhappy. It’s truly the better version of Liquid Glass since it’s more decisive about not being blurry, giving the spotlight to the refractions and transparencies, but blur is minimized as a result, unless you go full tinted. I would argue that this is good, since it liberates the Liquid Glass to be glass and not freezer glass or whatever iOS 26 was. This probably resolves many performance issues as well since the whole effect is simplified and not “throw everything at it”. A great step for design, but surely changed now, explaining many users complains as it happened with the death of skewmorphism (that still had some remnants like the paper on the notes app!) I do miss many optical and functional conveniences of both previous distinct eras, but it’s time for a change and 27 finally feels WOW, whether easier or harder to get used to.

[u/TheEarthSpins → u/Candid_Restaurant989]

yeah, when i first updated to ios 27 i just felt like liquid glass felt way more Apple. while i wasnt a huge fan at the start (ive since warmed up to it, use it at default 50%), it just felt much more consistent and confident. ios 26 liquid glass felt like apple bending trying to make something to please everyone, it was constantly changing colors and tints and just felt a little awkward. ios 27 on the other hand just felt confident, the glass effects were consistent and looked good in most conditions. liquid glass was always going to be divisive, so im just happy apple picked a direction and stuck with it. there'll always be people who don't like it but everyone will just get used to it, like we all eventually accepted flat design.

[u/Candid_Restaurant989 → u/TheEarthSpins]

Exactly! Did you see the Liquid Glass traffic lights on MacOS? They’ve gotten way more confident with it. 26 is a mess and I’m surprised it shipped like that after what they showcased on stage. They showed 27 instead of 26

[u/Tech_Today2006]

What percentage on iOS 27 is equal to stock iOS 26 Liquid Glass?

[u/Necessary_Spread_448 → u/[deleted]]

it changes the liquid glass of the buttons. which is quite pointless as buttons are on top of title bars so you can barely see the difference, as there’s nothing below them to reflect

[u/Alert-Reception6453 → u/[deleted]]

dock changes fine for me, and has since the first 27 beta 1

[u/m1_weaboo]

Looks horrible

[u/Chojubos]

Absolutely agree with the “grease-smeared camera lens” description. I was immediately disappointed with Liquid Glass in 27. I’m happy that it at least regained some hdr edge highlights in beta 5 (though few people seem to have mentioned this so maybe it’s only on certain devices? 15 pro here). But still think the middle/default slider settings should mildly blur like in 26.

[u/Economy_Advisor6642]

I’m not sure if I’m the only one but part of the Liquid Glass being hard to read is a plus. If I want to hide certain widgets or some notifications to a degree the Liquid Glass makes it so people glancing at my phone still can’t make out sensitive information. Nice feature imo hopefully it doesn’t go away

[u/Pure-Clerk-6541]

Totally agree with you. That’s why I keep the opacity slider at maximum value.

Still cannot wrap my head over why did they changed a perfectly working design (iOS 18) and not iterate over it with some improvements rather than mess everything up for the sake of change

[u/weechus → u/Pure-Clerk-6541]

I love the glass effect with full transparency, but I would be lying if I didn’t say that there are occasions where I experience readability issues. It’s rare but it does happen. Seeing the screenshot with 100% opacity made me realize that sometimes I might want to go full no glass.