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Apple Improves Liquid Glass in iOS 26 Beta 4, Reversing Some Beta 3 Changes

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.

Liquid Glass Realistic
In response to criticism about too little Liquid Glass in beta 3, Apple has upped the translucency in several areas.

ios 26 beta 4 photosBeta 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.

ios 26 beta 4 app storeBeta 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.

ios 26 b4 musicBeta 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.

ios 26 b4 lock screenBeta 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.

Related Roundups: iOS 26, iPadOS 26
Related Forum: iOS 26

Top Rated Comments

TheDailyApple Avatar
9 months ago
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.
Score: 91 Votes (Like | Disagree)
cbjxiii Avatar
9 months ago
'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.
Score: 46 Votes (Like | Disagree)
9 months ago
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.
Score: 39 Votes (Like | Disagree)
9 months ago
"Improve", for some weird meaning of "improve".
Score: 38 Votes (Like | Disagree)
iPay Avatar
9 months ago
Please don't improve Liquid Glass, just flush it down the drain!
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
gleepskip Avatar
9 months ago
You might want to flip the screenshots in that last image or flip the other three. 4-3, 4-3, 4-3, (suddenly) 3-4.
Score: 37 Votes (Like | Disagree)
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