- Apple has toned down the transparent Liquid Glass effect in the iOS 26 Developer Beta 3.
- The latest beta replaces the transparency effect with a blurry, frosted look, which is easier to read.
- This change appears to be a response to the public backlash and concerns raised after Liquid Glass was introduced in the first beta.
It seems like Apple has finally addressed the criticism following the launch of the Liquid Glass design language. The latest iOS 26 beta backtracks on the Liquid Glass design, as menu items, control center, and search bar in several apps ditch the overly-transparent effect for a blurry frosted look.
Apple just rolled out iOS 26 Developer Beta 3 for supported iPhones, and those who updated to the latest version were met with a shocking surprise. Several “glassy” elements, especially the transparency effects, have been toned down in the latest beta.
The once transparent interface, which allowed users to see background page elements in a glass-like effect, appears more opaque now. While this does make it easy to read text and labels in said menus, and should be less resource-intensive now, it’s, however, a departure from the initial Liquid Glass design Apple showcased during the developer conference.
Canadian tech influencer @RjeyTech mentioned, “Looks like Apple just gave up on Liquid Glass in iOS 26 beta 3. Probably because of public lash-out and it being too resource intensive.” Sam Kohl from AppleTrack criticized the move and said, “It looks so much cheaper now and feels like Apple is backtracking on their original vision.”
iOS 26 beta 3 completely nerfs Liquid Glass.
It looks so much cheaper now and feels like Apple is backtracking on their original vision. pic.twitter.com/WNG8O2qjeg— Sam Kohl (@iupdate) July 7, 2025
Whether it’s a change for better or worse depends on who you ask. Apple received a lot of backlash on X over the Liquid Glass design language when the first beta came out. So this could be a response to that. While I personally loved the Liquid Design UI, I can understand why Apple decided to reverse course on its vision. But again, this is a Developer beta, and nothing is set in stone till the stable release rolls out.
