Well, WWDC 2025 is official and Apple just dropped some fairly big news. Beyond a fresh, year-based naming convention for its iPhone operating system (what would’ve been iOS 19 is now iOS 26), they’ve debuted a far-reaching new visual refresh. It’s called Liquid Glass, and it’s already generating quite the buzz. This isn’t simply about dressing things up a bit differently; it’s a wholesale change in Apple Design, introducing a striking, glass-inspired look to nearly every platform Apple produces.
Understanding Liquid Glass: A Transparent Shift
So, what is Liquid Glass design, exactly? Apple themselves are calling it their biggest design update since iOS 7, which famously ditched skeuomorphic elements for that clean, flat appearance. Liquid Glass takes things in a completely new direction. It layers semi-transparent “glass” materials across all of Apple’s operating systems, including iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 15, watchOS 10, tvOS 16, and visionOS 4. This new Liquid Glass translucent UI isn’t merely for show; it’s crafted to subtly refract and reflect whatever’s behind it, cleverly adapting its tint for both light and dark modes. The result is a dynamic visual experience that feels cohesive, a unified design language Apple is pushing right across the board.
Key Innovations within the Liquid Glass Aesthetic
Rumors about Apple’s next big UI overhaul had definitely hinted at something with glass-like translucency, and at WWDC 2025, those whispers became undeniable reality. The unveiling of Liquid Glass showcased consistent depth, translucency, and some genuinely cool motion-responsive effects that span Apple’s entire device lineup.
Let’s dive into some of the specific Liquid Glass features:
Glass Reflections: This fresh, translucent material truly interacts with its surroundings. It refracts light, intelligently tweaks its tint whether you’re in light or dark mode, and even reacts with subtle specular highlights, making screen elements feel remarkably three-dimensional.
App Icons: You’ll notice new ‘squircle’ shaped icons nestled beneath transparent surfaces. These surfaces subtly bend the colors of your wallpaper, and they even animate in a neat, understated way when you tap them. It’s a small touch, but it adds a lot of polish.
Widgets: Your everyday widgets are now presented on Liquid Glass panels. They let your background peek through, cast gentle shadows, and feature these almost imperceptible animations that make them feel genuinely alive on your screen.
Navigation Bars: In iOS 26, those familiar tab bars now gracefully shrink as you scroll down, really bringing your content front and center. Then, they smoothly re-expand when you scroll back up. On iPadOS and macOS, sidebars will now refract whatever’s behind them, helping you maintain context without losing sight of your main content.
Panels and Menus: Core system elements like Control Center, Notification Center, and various sidebars now sport a distinct frosted appearance. Sliders, buttons, and sheets seem to float above your content, adding visual depth and clear separation.
Toolbars: In apps like Safari, toolbars now boast a semi-transparent look and fluidly resize as you scroll, creating a much cleaner and less intrusive Browse experience.
Empowering Developers with Liquid Glass
A really crucial part of this transition is that Apple isn’t keeping Liquid Glass as an exclusive club. They’ve introduced a new set of Liquid Glass materials and components specifically for third-party developers. This means app creators will easily be able to adopt the same translucency and motion-responsive effects we see in Apple’s own apps, which should ensure a consistent and beautiful look across the entire ecosystem.
Platform-Wide Adoption
Apple confirmed that this Liquid Glass Apple Design language is indeed stretching across its entire software family:
iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 15: All system panels (like Control Center and notifications), toolbars, sidebars, windows, app icons, and widgets now fully embrace Liquid Glass materials. This includes those frosted, translucent layers, rounded corners that perfectly echo device bezels, and floating controls that cleverly morph and recede to keep your content front and center.
WatchOS 10: Every single UI element – from notifications to watch-face complications – now utilizes Liquid Glass. This significantly improves legibility and visual harmony, with rounded corners and translucent menus enhancing the overall aesthetic.
TVOS 16: The Apple TV Home Screen and app pages now feature frosted backdrops behind app tiles. Even the top-bar navigation and action overlays adopt the same translucent Liquid Glass styling, creating a truly cohesive visual experience with Apple’s other devices.
VisionOS 4: This update builds on its spatial-computing roots by refining its floating windows and 3D iconography. Everything now aligns perfectly with the new Liquid Glass style, bridging the visual gap between headset and handheld experiences.
Release Schedule: What to Expect Next
Just like in previous years, we can anticipate developer and public betas for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and the rest of the updated operating systems to start rolling out over the summer. The final public releases, often accompanied by new hardware, are typically expected around September 2025. So, you’ll have some time to explore the new Liquid Glass aesthetic firsthand.
