Including an interactable suggestion which parameters of the liquid glass could improve visibility, readability and user freedom. Jump there
Heuristics:
Visibility of System Status - Match between System & real World - User Control & Freedom - Consistency and Standards - Error Prevention - Recognition rather than Recall - Flexibility and Efficiency - Aesthetic and Minimalist Design - Help User recognise, diagnose and recover from Errors - Help and Documentation
Introduction
Product: iOS 26.0 Liquid Glass and its digital experience
Platform: Apple’s mobile operating system (iPhone 17 Pro Max)
Task: General user interaction and environmental responsiveness across the basic usage of the OS (lock screen, control center, widgets).
Rating: 1-5 (5 is best)
All my assumptions and suggestions are based of the 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design by Jakob Nielsen (Nielsen, 2024) and the helpful article of Allison Johnson on The Verge (Johnson, 2025). Sections of this text were rephrased for clarity using generative AI (ChatGPT, OpenAI). If not disclaimed different, all ideas, research, structure, and arguments are my own!
After purchasing the iPhone 17 Pro Max with iOS 26.0 on October 8, 2025, I began observing and evaluating both the positive and negative aspects of the bold visual transformation from iOS 18.4 to iOS 26.0. To further substantiate my impressions, I researched user feedback on popular forums such as Reddit and Macworld, aiming to either support, reinforce, or challenge my own critiques and suggestions. It is important to emphasize that these visual changes are both bold and controversial. Nevertheless, in a fast-paced and technologically advancing world, daring and disruptive design decisions are crucial and often set long-lasting trends. With this in mind, I strongly support Apple’s vision and approach to create something distinctive and trend-defining. Since this update, other operating systems have begun to appear comparatively plain and static.
1
Visibility of the System Status
iOS is generally very effective at keeping users informed about the system’s current status. The best example of this is the Dynamic Island, first introduced with the iPhone 14 Pro models. Apple elevated the concept of system visibility to a new level through this feature. Whether it’s playing music, live tracking a courier delivering your food, showing the lock state, indicating when Face ID is attempting to identify you, or displaying the active audio output — all this information is presented subtly around the front camera and seamlessly integrated into the operating system.
2
Match between System & real World
The new Liquid Glass design effectively simulates real-world behavior, as the movement and reactions of interface elements align with what users would naturally expect based on their physical experiences and perceptions. Both the Control Center and Lock Screen feel clean, responsive, and feature perfectly integrated rubber-like bending effects that enhance realism. The interactions behave exactly as one would anticipate in the real world, further reinforced by realistic haptic feedback that leverages the refined precision of Apple’s Taptic Engine.
3
User Control & Freedom
iOS 26 finally introduces meaningful home-screen customisation, allowing users to restyle app icons, widgets, lockscreen and themes. This gives a sense of control that was long missing in Apple’s ecosystem. However, the new Liquid Glass design language marks a bold visual approach that some users find overwhelming and a lack of readability. Apple partially addressed this by improving contrast but the freedom of choice remains limited. The only “escape” is avoiding the update entirely, which undermines the principle of user autonomy.
SUGGESTION
To strengthen control and freedom, Apple should add a setting where the user can customise some parameters of the liquid glass effect. This could increase visibility and readability as well. Following parameters could be editable. Feel free to play around!
Refraction
Frost
Tint
Lighting
4
With the introduction of Liquid Glass, iOS 26 brings a visually rich and dynamic design language. However, translucency, blur depth and parallax intensity often behave inconsistently across apps and widgets. Some third-party widgets adapt smoothly, while others appear flat or overly bright, leading to a fragmented user experience. This inconsistency disrupts user expectations and weakens Apple’s reputation for cohesive design standards. The cause lies partly in developers’ delayed adaptation to new APIs and unclear system guidelines.
SUGGESTION
Apple should therefore provide strict developer guidance and dynamic preview tools within Xcode that visualise the intended Liquid Glass behaviour. A uniform implementation would help maintain Apple’s polished aesthetic and ensure a predictable, seamless experience across the ecosystem.
5
Error Prevention
Espacially in unstable and early-stage system states, consitent and reliable error prevention is crutial. With the new liquid glass UI apple added a pretty good feature displaying user missinputs. The overlay is telling the user, that there was an input recognized but the button was missed. On iOS 18.4 the element was flat and didn’t react to clicks or inputs at all:
Beside the the good features iOS 26 is delivering, Apple is struggeling with the integration of liquid glass rendering for third-party widgets.
However, Apple struggles with the integration of the new Liquid Glass rendering for third-party widgets. Based on user and developer feedback, the issue appears to stem partly from how iOS and WidgetKit handle final rendering and theming (Reddit, 2025 5a). While apps like Spotify display correctly, others, such as GoogleNews, fail to adapt, resulting in blank or white fields. Regardless of the cause, a fallback mechanism, e.g., rendering the standard widget theme, should prevent visual errors. Apple could further assist developers by flagging such issues directly within the Xcode environment. A Reddit User found a potential solution with setting a variable in the code of the widget development (Reddit, 2025 5a).
SUGGESTION
6
Recognition rather than Recall
In iOS 26, Safari’s redesigned interface has caused confusion among users due to changes in the placement of the UI elements. Many users report that familiar gestures and buttons, such as opening new tabs or accessing the tab overview, have been reordered or hidden, forcing them to recall interaction patterns rather than recognise them visually (Reddit, 2025 6a; Reddit, 2025 6b). This shift increases cognitive load and violates the heuristic of recognition over recall, as users must re-learn previously automated actions. Several threads highlight frustration with having to revert to older layouts via system settings (Reddit, 2025 6c), which is not promoted by Apple at all.
SUGGESTION
To mitigate this, Apple could include a short onboarding prompts or temporary visual cues that highlight changed controls after major interface updates.
7
Flexibility and Efficiency
The redesigned Control Center in iOS 26 enhances aesthetic flexibility through dynamic tiles and adaptive layouts but reduces efficiency for experienced users. Previously common actions such as toggling Wi-Fi or Focus Mode now require additional taps or scrolling, slowing down frequent interactions. This redesign benefits new users through visual clarity but misses the expert shortcuts and rapid gestures that once made iOS efficient. The result is a trade-off between visual appeal and operational speed, contradicting Nielsen’s heuristic on flexibility and efficiency of use.
SUGGESTION
To restore balance, Apple could introduce an “advanced mode” or gesture-based quick toggles that preserve speed for experienced users while keeping the simplified interface for newcomers. An optional legacy style control center could be considered as well (Reddit, 2025 7).
8
Aesthetic and Minimalist Design
The new Liquid Glass aesthetic in iOS 26 delivers an elegant, futuristic interface defined by transparency, motion, and fluid reflections. It represents a major design milestone, but sometimes at the cost of visual clarity. Especially on bright or dynamic wallpapers, legibility of widgets and text decreases, creating unnecessary cognitive load. According to user feedback and media reviews, the design occasionally prioritises style over function — contradicting Nielsen’s Aesthetic and Minimalist Design heuristic, which stresses focus on essential content.
SUGGESTION
A better balance could be achieved through adaptive contrast and optional visual-intensity controls. These would allow users to enjoy the sleek, modern design language while ensuring readability and reducing sensory overload across different lighting conditions.
9
In iOS 26, the volume and variety of reported bugs is extraordinary — from connectivity failures and app crashes to devices unexpectedly rebooting (The Mac Observer, 2025). I experienced this myself: my iPhone 17 Pro Max will show a loading circle then turns black for 3-5 sconds with no explanation given. This issue ocured almost daily, sometimes multible times a day. The system offers no feedback, diagnosis, or recovery suggestions, leaving me uncertain whether it’s an app fault, OS issue or hardware problem. This lack of clarity stands in contrast to the heuristic of helping users recognise, diagnose and recover from errors.
SUGGESTION
Beside the fact, that those problems shouldn’t affect 1000$+ devices, Apple should provide post-reboot notifications (e.g., “Your device restarted due to a system fault — tap for details”) and offer guided recovery options like safe-mode reboot or log upload.
1
0
Help and Documentation
Apple has an insanely good documentation of their OS. For users and developers, almost any concern or question is discribed in a document or Q&A Post. The introduction to iOS 26 after updating is straight forward and is holding the essential information in a appropriate length. In settings menus, settings and toggles are explained clearly with a short discription.
Materials, Paper & References