Liquid Glass IS Apple’s Biggest Visual Overhaul Since iOS 7; What Is It

At WWDC 2025, Apple unveiled its most significant user interface redesign in over a decade, introducing a new unified visual language called Liquid Glass. Accompanying this reveal was a surprising shift in Apple’s naming convention for iOS—what was expected to be iOS 19 is now iOS 26, aligning with the year users will predominantly run the software. Liquid Glass now spans all of Apple’s platforms, including iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, visionOS, and tvOS, bringing a consistent design aesthetic across devices.

What Is Liquid Glass?

Liquid Glass marks a dramatic evolution of Apple’s UI, following the flat design revolution introduced with iOS 7. This new visual style incorporates semi-transparent, glass-inspired layers that refract and reflect surrounding content and adjust dynamically for both light and dark modes. The effect mimics real glass, creating a more immersive and responsive experience by blending interface elements with the user’s background and movement.

The design brings a subtle depth and animation to icons, menus, and widgets—enhancing usability without overwhelming the screen. This visual shift not only modernises the look of iOS 26 and macOS 15 (now named macOS Tahoe) but also enhances interactivity with motion-responsive feedback and contextual awareness.

Key Features and Enhancements

Liquid Glass brings consistency and polish across the Apple ecosystem. On the iPhone Lock Screen, elements like the time now dynamically blend with your wallpaper, reflecting its colors and tone. On macOS, the Dock and menu bar can turn completely transparent or adopt a tinted appearance to complement your desktop.

In apps like Safari, Apple Music, and News, tab bars now float on frosted-glass layers that shrink and expand based on scroll direction, keeping content front and center. Toolbars, control centers, and notification panels have also been redesigned with translucent, glass-like finishes and soft shadows.

Widgets adopt a similar style, peeking through from behind gently animated glass layers and maintaining contextual awareness through shadow and depth. Navigation bars on iPhones shrink when scrolling down and re-expand upon scrolling up, while on iPads and Macs, sidebars refract their background, maintaining visual continuity.

For Developers

Apple is also rolling out a set of new APIs that let third-party developers integrate Liquid Glass effects into their apps. These include motion-responsive components, transparent surfaces, and refraction-aware layers—making it easier to build cohesive and elegant interfaces across platforms.

Liquid Glass is not just a design refresh—it’s a foundation for Apple’s future UI evolution, delivering consistency, beauty, and responsiveness across its ecosystem.

Also Read: WWDC 2025: Apple Rolls Out iOS 26 With These Interesting Features