Now that the iPhone 17, the iPhone 17 Pro and the iPhone Air have been announced, iOS 26 should soon strike the old iPhone devices. The latest version of the operating system provides several new features to iPhones, as well as Apple’s updated design language, Liquid Glass.
Liquid Glass adds a combination of translucidity and shiny and glass accents throughout the user interface, giving the operating system a new look more in a way. And despite all the differences between this and what is on current iPhones at the moment, iOS 18, Liquid Glass is not as dramatic as the first glance. This is a good thing, because there is no real learning curve, so whoever knows iOS will feel at home.
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If you want an overview of how the liquid glass changes the appearance of your iPhone compared to iOS 18, I highlighted some of the changes below. And if you are looking to get one of the new iPhones, do not miss the best pre -order offers from the iPhone 17 and iPhone.
Home screen
Apple kept the new minimum liquid glass on the home screen (left), with only minor modifications of the default appearance of the Home screen against iOS 18.
Looking at the reception screens, the main difference you will see is that in iOS 26, the background of the quay and the search option which is between the quay and the icons of the home screen are more transparent and have a radiance on the edges, while in iOS 18, these are slightly darker.
Other smaller changes are that the icons on iOS 26 seem slightly larger, and certain application icons seem to have been more influenced by the overhaul than others, in particular (from screenshots), the camera and the mail.
So that the liquid glass really shines on the home screen, you will want to opt for the “All Clear” mode, which will create the most dramatic change of your icons and widgets. Monitoring this path could potentially introduce certain vision problems, but “reduction in transparency” very well defines remedies.
Control center
Things here are largely unchanged. Apart from the new glassy look in iOS 26 (left), commands 1×2 and 2×1 are more rounded than those of iOS 18.
Things here are largely unchanged. Apart from the new glassy look in iOS 26, commands 1×2 and 2×1 are more rounded than those of iOS 18.
Locking screen
It is easy to see the differences that Liquid Glass brings to the iPhone locking screen. The digital clock in iOS 26 dynamically resized according to the wallpaper and the number of notifications that you have at some point, which is quite cool. The clock itself on iOS 18 can be changed, but it will not change in response to the content displayed on the locking screen.
The background on the notifications is clearly different between the two versions of the operating system, iOS 18 offering more opacity and black text compared to the almost transparent background of iOS 26 on the white text. The controls below in iOS 26 also look more like physical buttons with depth and more than one transparent background.
The new unlocking effect in iOS 26 is that the unlocking movement of your iPhone will appear as if you lift a glass sheet, highlighted by a shiny edge to give it a shape when you start to slide your finger upwards.
Dynamic menus and tab bars
The new dynamic tab of iOS 26 (top) offers you a cleaner look and more space to display your content.
A new addition to iOS 26 is the introduction of dynamic tab bars into applications that will change depending on whether you scroll or try to perform a specific action. Apple says it will create a more intuitive experience while freeing up space for your content. If you were to replace the glass effect with highly saturated colors, no one would blame you to have confused this new tab bar with what Google does in Android 16 in some of its applications – they are very similar. But compared to iOS 18, this new dynamic tab bar should not only reduce sieving through several menus, but it looks pretty good in the process.
iOS 26 will dynamically adapt to clear and dark backgrounds
In iOS 26, the color of the menu icons and the text of the icon will adapt according to the background.
Although it is more difficult to compare the liquid glass to iOS 18 here, a functionality to come is that the buttons and the menus will adapt according to the background color of the content. For example, when you scroll through an application with a light background, the floating menu options will appear with black text for easier visualization and automatically change in white when scrolling to a dark background.
In iOS 18 (above), certain aspects of the user interface would seem darker depending on the color of the background. Take a look at the examples at the top and in the middle to see how it compares to the liquid glass at the bottom.
IOS has already revealed this type of functionality in a less dramatic way, as you can see from the screenshots of the photo application above. By comparing these to what is on the horizon, it is difficult not to be enthusiastic by the small liquid glass in store also.
These are just some of our initial results, and we will probably add more once we surf them. If you want more on iOS 26, consult three upcoming features which are a greater business than liquid glass.
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