I installed iOS 26 beta 1 the second where it came out after the WWDC 2025, and the experience was great overall. All applications still worked, the operating system was stable and the new liquid glass design was something else. Of course, the battery life has taken a hit, which is always the case for the first beta iOS outings, but iOS 26 beta 1 was still good enough to run on a daily pilot.
I was also quick to warn you not to install iOS 26 beta 1 on your iPhone until you see what the new user interface looks like. Liquid glass provides transparency and light effects at all levels, opening the way to AR / AI intelligent glasses on which Apple would have worked. Although transparency is required on smart glasses, the iPhone can benefit from a better contrast and a certain opacity in iOS 26.
I also explained the various problems in iOS 26 that Apple must solve before the public launch of the operating system in September.
Quick advance until June 23, and Apple has published the next version of “26” beta on all its operating systems. In addition to new features, Apple has already solved the transparency problems that most people criticized after the first cycle of beta.
More specifically, iOS 26 beta 2 corrects how the control center and notifications are consulted on iPhone. The same liquid glass updates are available on all Apple devices, but it is the iPhone where it is most important.
Notifications are one of the main ways we interact with the iPhone. A message enters and we could read it on the lock screen before acting. Repeat this for dozens of applications several times a day. Liquid Glass made these notifications difficult to read for someone like me. I could already imagine my father’s reaction to the liquid glass in September, when he received the update.
The control center is another key area of the iPhone. I use it all the time to access shortcuts, control music reading and manage smart home devices. The high liquid glass transparency frame has worsened the experience. Some people may have trouble saying what.
These transparency problems also have an impact on the user interface of other applications, the musical application being the best example of this.
Corrects in iOS 26 beta 2
Before iOS 26 beta 2, the only fix was to hunt a frame called to reduce transparency and apply it to all levels. I don’t want that. I want better contrast and reduced transparency for notifications, the control center and other places in iOS 26 where higher transparency ruins experience.
Apple did not give us new tips for these specific areas. Instead, he corrected transparency problems for notifications and the control center in itself.
I installed iOS 26 beta 2 late Monday, and I was happy to see that notifications have a much better contrast. Transparency has been reduced and it is much easier to read them on the locking screen.
I do not have two iPhones executing Beta 1 and Beta 2, but many iPhone users who complained about the same liquid glass problems published screenshots on social networks showing how Apple managed notification problems.
Here is an example:
The same goes for the control center. The background is now vague, and it is clear that you have a different leaf in front of you where you interact with the buttons and menus that you may have set up.
Again, examples on social networks show the iOS 26 beta 1 against iOS 26 beta 2 control center design Adjustments:
I went to the musical application then, and I have the impression that the menus and the liquid glass buttons seem better than before, but that could be just a placebo effect after having undergone the changes of the notifications and the control center.
What is clear is that the transparency parameter reduced in the accessibility menu does a job even better to reduce transparency.
I have the feeling that I will allow the reduction transparency button on my father’s iPhone to ensure that he can read all the menus of all applications without too much pressure. I have not decided if I will keep the parameter activated on my iPhone, but this is something that I will consider.
If you avoided iOS 26 beta 1 when you saw all the screenshots showing what the notifications and the control center looked like, you will love iOS 26 Beta 2. Apple still has problems solving, but it is great to see how fast the company responds to comments and criticism.
Finally, the good news here is that iPhone users waiting for public beta will obtain this version of iOS 26 when Apple publishes the public beta 1 in the coming weeks.
