iPhone owners criticize iOS 26 'Liquid Glass' design, report readability and battery concerns

Apple’s iOS 26 rollout drew praise for new features but also sharp criticism after many users said a new visual design called “Liquid Glass” made elements of the interface difficult to read and caused distracting animations.

The update, announced in June and released widely this week, replaces many traditional icons and interface elements with translucent, glasslike effects across the Home Screen, Lock Screen, Notification Center and system controls. Some iPhone owners posted on X that the result was “wobbly,” “flashy” and in some cases “unreadable.” One user wrote, “Everything is wobbly, flashy, distracting. Most things are unreadable.” Another said the new look was “disgustingly ugly” and demanded the option to revert to earlier iconography.

Apple described Liquid Glass in a newsroom post as “a new translucent material that reflects and refracts its surroundings, bringing greater focus to content, and delivering a new level of vitality across controls, navigation, app icons, widgets, and more.” The company said the design extends customization options for app icons and widgets and aims to make the Home Screen and Lock Screen “more personal and expressive.”

Beyond aesthetics, some users reported performance issues such as slower animations and reduced battery life after installing iOS 26. Apple responded in guidance posted with the release, saying that a temporary drop in battery life and increases in device temperature are normal immediately after a major update as devices complete background tasks such as indexing files, downloading assets and updating apps. The company said it continually works to optimize battery performance in subsequent software updates.

Several technology commentators and users suggested the Liquid Glass language may work better on devices where users view a layered interface, such as Apple’s Vision Pro headset, than on handheld devices where clarity and contrast are critical. “Liquid Glass as a design language works for devices like the Vision Pro where you're literally looking through the UI, but it just doesn't feel right on an iPhone where tangible, easy to read iconography and buttons are essential,” one X post said.

For users who want to reduce or remove the new translucent effects, Wall Street Journal senior personal tech columnist Joanna Stern posted instructions on X. Stern advised navigating to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text > Reduce Transparency to largely remove the translucent look. She suggested the Increase Contrast option as a less conservative adjustment to decrease the intensity of the effect.

The iOS 26 release includes other changes beyond Liquid Glass: updated Camera, Safari and Phone app designs; message-filtering options and custom chat backgrounds in Messages; a consolidated Games app for Apple Arcade; live translation within Phone, FaceTime and Messages; and expanded capabilities for Apple Intelligence to search and understand on-screen content. Those functional additions have been highlighted by Apple as part of what it called the company’s largest iPhone software update in years.

Apple’s statements on battery behavior emphasized the temporary nature of any post-update drain and noted that new features may require additional resources. The company encouraged users to allow time for devices to complete setup tasks and to expect improvements through subsequent updates.

Analysts and accessibility advocates say the immediate negative reaction illustrates the trade-offs companies face when deploying systemwide design shifts: user familiarity and legibility can be affected when visuals are altered at scale. Apple has provided accessibility controls that let users modify or disable some visual effects, and the company’s software teams frequently issue follow-up patches to refine performance and address user feedback.

As users continue to install iOS 26, reports of visual and battery concerns are likely to inform both user settings choices and any future adjustments Apple makes to the update. The company has a history of iterating on major iOS releases after initial rollout to address stability, performance and accessibility issues raised by customers and reviewers.