- Apple has just launched the update of iOS 26 Developer Beta 3
- This adjusts the liquid glass design to be less transparent
- It is not the first time that Apple has adjusted liquid glass in iOS 26
When Apple released iOS 26 at its WWDC 2025 event in June, the thing on everyone’s lips was the liquid glass redesign. This has brought glass effects to Apple’s operating systems and has divided the opinion in a big way, but the last beta of iOS 26 seems to have marked it significantly, and I am glad to see it.
Compared to the previous betas, iOS 26 Beta 3 has added a little more opacity to interact elements, reducing its transparency in the process. The tool bars and buttons are now a bit more solid, which makes it more difficult to see what is under them.
That addresses one of the key criticisms of liquid glass so far: it is too difficult to read higher level elements when the text or images are visible under them. By adding more opacity, Apple has somehow put that correct.
This is not the first time that Apple has adjusted liquid glass. In iOS 26 Beta 2, the company reduced the translucence of buttons and boxes in the control center, which were especially difficult to read in previous releases. There will certainly be more adjustments before iOS 26 is completely launched in autumn.
A little more readable
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I am a fan of liquid glass, but I prefer it in Macos Tahoe than in iOS 26, simply because the biggest screens you get in a Mac versus an iPhone means that there are fewer overlapping elements, which allow macos to avoid some of the worst readability problems that affect iOS 26.
Although iOS 26 Beta 3 does things a little more legible, not all are fans of change. For example, writing in X, Apple Expert Sam Kohl wrote that “completely beta 3 beta 3 liquid glass,” and added that “it looks much cheaper and feels that Apple is going back in its original vision.”
With a long time until the complete launch of iOS 26, we can expect Apple to make more changes as the year progresses. With luck, that will give you time to obtain the correct liquid glass, or at least it will do it a little more readable.
