I have tried iOS 26 for the first time and I have removed the transparent icons in minutes, but Liquid Glass is much more than that
The day has come, iOS 26 It is already available and last night I left my cell phone updating while I slept. I did not installed the public beta, so when I woke up I have encountered A totally changed mobile. With the illusion of who opens new shoes, I have begun to navigate All news And these are my first impressions. Liquid Glass is more than icons (and less bad) Design is the great novelty of iOS 26. This is the most important change since iOS 7 in 2013, there is nothing. Apple has redesigned the entire interface, menus and native apps with the new design language to which Liquid Glass have baptized. My feeling in these first hours is that I had a wrong idea. Let’s see why. Icons by omission, dark, translucent and tired. The most striking thing is that we can now change the icons and, in addition to putting them with a light or dark background, it allows us to make them completely transparent. Transparent icons completely change the interface and is the first thing I have tried. I think it took three minutes to return to the “by omission” mode. Beyond tastes, transparent icons make everything be applauded and cost a lot to differentiate some apps from others. A design that costs us to read, is not a good design. If I had left them, I would have ended up getting used to where each app is, but it seems to me an unnecessary effort for something that I also do not find it especially groundbreaking. More than iOS, they remind me of any Personalized android theme. They called her Liquid Glass because “I can’t find my apps” it didn’t look good. The icons are optional, but transparencies affect the entire interface. My partner Ricardo was in charge of trying the beta when she was announced and had to suffer a much less polished interface. The contrast problem has been minimized And now notifications and other elements are more legible. Of course, if you choose a clear wallpaper, readability worsens. I recommend betting on a rather dark background. The Glow is subtle, but left over in normal icons What is still there is the effect Glow Around buttons and icons. With transparent icons it is necessary for us to see the edges well, but in normal icons with a clear background It gives the feeling that the edge is not well defined. Again, it is perceived more if we use clear wallpapers, even becoming annoying, as if there were a glare effect. Another striking novelty of the new design is the lock screen, especially the New elongated watch. This has seemed more interesting to me and I have left it configured. In addition, the depth effect is very achieved and is especially good if you use a portrait or a photo of your pet as a wallpaper. I had come countless times the starting screens with transparent icons and, without realizing it, I had formed the idea of the interface was going to be illegiblebut beyond the icons, I think the design language is consistent and there are very interesting changes in some apps. Camera app and photos System applications have also been redesigned for the new visual language of Liquid Glass and I want to stop especially in the camera app and the APP photos. The camera app has changed a lot The first thing you think when opening the app is what has happened to the portrait or slow camera mode. Apple has reduced the options that are seen on screen to video and photo, which now look larger. Only when you slide on them the others appear. I don’t think it’s an especially intuitive solution, But it is not a drama either. The camera options has also changed and now a floating window with quite large round icons is deployed. Design is coarse, although a priori it seems quite a lot more comfortable than the previous one. However, I find it inconsistent that these buttons are so large and instead the direct access to the flash or the night mode (up to the right) are tiny. In fact, trying to open the emerging menu I have activated the flash unintentionally. The good news is that we can also open it sliding from the bottom. The APP photos makes more sense in iOS 26. On the other hand, the photos apptho has received a redesign that I loved and that It finally makes sense. I had become accustomed to using it in iOS 18, but it has been to install iOS 26 and realize that The previous version was a real disaster. With iOS 26 we have two eyelashes again, one with all the photos in chronological order and another with the collections, that is, albums, memories, prominent photos, etc. The interesting thing about this second tab is that it is customizable. If we go down to ‘reorder’ we can choose what we want to be shown above. If you let us eliminate some of these options, it would be ten, but at least we can leave them folded so that there is not so much noise. Most accessible menus Settings, notes and app store with the search at the bottom. Another novelty of the new interface is that the Search Bar in the system apps and menus is at the bottom. Here is a lot more comfortable access to it With one hand, especially if you have an iPhone of the biggest. Another change that I liked of the APP adjustments is that now Apps settings are grouped into a block. We no longer have that endless list on the main screen, but is nested in its own section. I think it makes much more sense. The new safari design can be customized. Safari is one of the apps that has been completely redesigned and also bets on the search bar and controls at the bottom, with a Very compact … Read more