With the fourth beta of iOS 26, Apple has again made changes to the Liquid Glass design that's available across the operating system, tweaking how the menus and buttons appear in apps.
In response to criticism about too little Liquid Glass in beta 3, Apple has upped the translucency in several areas.
Beta 4 on left, beta 3 on right
Navigation bars in apps like Photos, Music, the App Store, Podcasts, are slightly clearer, allowing more of the background color to show through.
Beta 4 on left, beta 3 on right
Apple cut down on the frosted glass look, but the changes are small enough that text remains readable, so it appears to be more of a balance between beta 2 and beta 3.
Beta 4 on left, beta 3 on right
Control Center, the Lock Screen, and the Home Screen look largely the same, so most of the transparency changes are focused on app navigation bars and buttons. On the Lock Screen, though, the background darkens as you scroll through notifications.
Beta 4 on right, beta 3 on left
Apple will likely continue to make small changes to Liquid Glass based on user feedback, and we won't see the finalized version of the design until iOS 26 is released in the fall.
iOS 26.5 has been in beta since late March, with a third beta released this week. The update is relatively minor so far, which is not too surprising given that Apple is starting to shift its focus towards iOS 27. Apple will unveil iOS 27 during its WWDC 2026 keynote on June 8, and the update should be released in September.
iOS 26.5 lays the groundwork for two changes, including end-to-end...
Apple today seeded the second betas of upcoming iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5 updates to developers for testing purposes, with the software coming two weeks after Apple released updated first betas.
Registered developers can download the betas from the Settings app on the iPhone or iPad by going to the General section and selecting Software Update.
iOS 26.5 and iPadOS 26.5 do not include new...
Apple's software engineers are testing iOS 26.4.1, according to the MacRumors visitor logs, which have been a reliable indicator of upcoming iOS versions.
iOS 26.4.1 should be a minor update that fixes bugs and/or security vulnerabilities, and it will likely be released either this week or next week.
Last month, Apple launched the Studio Display XDR, and it promised to release a Medical...
Please for love of sanity MacRumors, be consistent with which image you put on the right versus left. I generally try not to be overly critical, but this is egregious. Also, while you're at it, choose (before=left) and (after=right). This is generally standard as people usually look left to right to match the way they read.
'Liquid Glass' is such an unnecessary and unwanted update. It's simply change for the sake of change because the functional improvements from each iteration of iOS are minimal, at best.
This is worse than beta 3. What the hell is going on at Apple with these UI designers?! Readability is difficult with this nonsense "Liquid Glass" crap. I rather have frosted glass since it's more legible. And forget about the old people because they sure as hell will be having a difficult time reading stuff when iOS26 final comes out this fall. I already have everyone in the "elder" age group telling me it's difficult to see stuff now. Whoever's in charge of the design and UI department needs to be fired.
Beta 4 on left, beta 3 on right
Beta 4 on left, beta 3 on right
Beta 4 on left, beta 3 on right
Beta 4 on right, beta 3 on left
