- Apple will modify Liquid Glass in macOS 27, claims new report
- The changes are intended to address the most pertinent criticisms directed at the design.
- But their scope will be limited and they will not fundamentally alter Liquid Glass.
It’s safe to say that Apple’s Liquid Glass redesign has proven to be controversial, and nowhere is that more the case than in macOS 26. But even as Apple seemingly doubles down on its commitment to the glassy UI, it appears the company is willing to make some concessions to improve the fit and finish of its operating system.
That’s what was reported in Bloomberg journalist Mark Gurman’s latest Power On newsletter. There, Gurman noted that in several aspects of macOS, particularly those that feature sidebars or dense concentrations of text, Liquid Glass textures “reduce text clarity or create interface confusion.” That’s something Apple reportedly intends to address in macOS 27, which will be revealed at the company’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 8.
This “slight redesign” will come with fixes for “shadow and transparency quirks,” Gurman says. This could help address some of the most pressing concerns related to Liquid Glass in macOS 26, where glassy surfaces and textures often make text blurry and difficult to read.
However, Gurman insists that “liquid glass itself is not going away” but is simply being “refined.” “The goal is more of a cleanup and refinement effort aligned with the company’s broader push to polish its software this year,” he said, adding that similar small-scale changes will come to iOS 27 and iPadOS 27 at the same time.
A “not fully prepared” implementation
Interestingly, Gurman includes something of a half-hearted admission from his Apple sources that the company isn’t entirely happy with Liquid Glass. Speaking of the upcoming design changes, Gurman says they are “intended to make Liquid Glass look the way Apple’s design team intended from the beginning. Last year’s operating systems didn’t necessarily suffer from design issues, I’m told, but rather a not-fully-prepared implementation by Apple’s software engineering team.”
It says a lot that even Apple’s internal staff is somewhat dissatisfied with Liquid Glass. The design overhaul has received criticism online, with frequent and strong criticism of its aesthetic sensitivity and its effect on readability. But with no official word from Apple, we’re left to guess how the company feels about its creation.
Still, while Gurman indicates that Apple isn’t entirely happy with Liquid Glass, the fact that the rumored changes are limited in scope suggests that Apple still believes it’s going in the right direction. The move fits well with review goals for Apple’s “27” software releases, which are rumored to focus much more on tweaks and improvements than on wide-ranging changes and new features.
In addition to fixing Liquid Glass and improving overall performance, Apple is also expected to bring long-delayed Siri features to its Apple Intelligence artificial intelligence (AI) system. If it can do that and make Liquid Glass a little more pleasing to the eye, it will have gone some way to addressing two of the biggest software issues that have befallen the company in recent years.
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