Apple’s new design language is Liquid Glass

Apple is introducing a new Liquid Glass design across its software platforms. It’s all about adding transparency and glass shine effects to Apple’s in-app interfaces across its renamed iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26 operating systems.

“[It’s] our broadest design update, ever,” says Alan Dye, Apple’s VP of human interface design. “For the first time we’re introducing a universal design across our platforms.” The new design adds glass-like elements throughout iOS, including to the dock and the lockscreen, and it’s designed to mimic the optical qualities of glass.

Liquid Glass is inspired by Apple’s visionOS software and can adapt to light and dark environments. When you swipe up on the iOS 26 lockscreen there’s a glass edge, and elements throughout the OS have glass edges to them. Even the camera app has the glass feel, with menus that are transparent and features that are overlaid on top of the camera feed.

Liquid Glass uses real-time rendering and will dynamically react to movement. Apple is using it on buttons, switches, sliders, text, media controls, and even larger surfaces like tab bars and sidebars. Apple has redesigned its controls, toolbars, and navigation within apps to fit this new Liquid Glass design.

Apps like Camera, Photos, Safari, FaceTime, Apple Music, Apple News, and Apple Podcasts have all been updated for Liquid Glass. Apple is publishing an updated set of APIs to allow developers to start updating their apps ahead of this new design update, which is launching later this year.

Apple is also using Liquid Glass in macOS Tahoe 26, with the dock, sidebars, and toolbars all getting a touch of the glass design. The menu bar is also now completely transparent in macOS Tahoe 26, a change that’s designed to make display feels bigger.

Apple’s shift away from skeuomorphism in iOS 7 in 2013 has left its mobile OS looking very similar for more than 10 years, with the iOS 7 design style still influencing the most recent versions of iOS. Liquid Glass looks a lot different, and it’s going to force app developers to really adjust their apps in the coming months.

Apple has also used glass themes in the past, most notably with the introduction of Aqua, which first appeared in iMovie 2 in 2000 before rolling out more broadly in Mac OS X 10.0 in 2001. macOS 11 Big Sur also introduced a big redesign to the macOS UI, with more rounded corners, greater use of transparent and translucent layers, and a slew of new icons.

Microsoft has also been using transparency effects in its Windows operating system since it launched Windows Vista in 2007, complete with its own Aero Glass theme. The current version of Windows 11 now uses Microsoft’s Fluent Design language, which increasingly has more of a focus on 3D, colorful, and playful elements.

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