Apple scales back the glassiness of its 'Liquid Glass' design in latest test version of the iPhone software

One month after its big WWDC event, Apple appears to be waffling about how glass-like its new "Liquid Glass" software aesthetic should be.

Apple's newest beta of its iOS 26 iPhone software frosts over much of the transparent design. In the test version of its forthcoming software, Apple increased the contrast between the front display and background items, also boldening the bubbles' tints.

The latest changes likely make iOS 26's interface more readable — but some critics questioned if Apple was getting rid of what they felt was so innovative about the redesign it first showed off.

Apple typically releases its new version of iOS in the fall alongside its new iPhone lineup. However, it makes early versions of the software available to the developer community in the months prior, often making adjustments and tweaks after receiving feedback.

In June, Apple released its first beta version of iOS 26, opening it up to developer testing. While the Liquid Glass aesthetic has its fair share of fans, some early testers found the new design to muddle the user experience, with background text and colors shining through the glass bubbles. The iPhone's Control Center was a specific point of contention, with some saying the buttons were difficult to navigate given the level of shine-through.

For its second beta release later that month, Apple began to tone down the glassiness. The Control Center got a darker blur, and a new High Contrast Mode allowed users to add a border to the glass bubbles.

Beta 3, which premiered on Monday, is even less glassy. The new design adds a significantly bolder tint to navigation bars, notifications, and buttons. Bubbles in Apple Music are shaded to prevent background songs and album covers from bleeding through. Notifications and navigation bars are toned darker, increasing the contrast between the text and its background.

While Apple does not currently let testers control how glassy their displays are, users can enable reduced transparency, a pre-existing accessible feature that unifies the background color.

Apple is still in developer testing, and it could decide to roll back some of the latest changes for the wide release of iOS 26 in September. Apple did not respond to a request for comment.

Some developers and designers questioned whether Apple is removing what made Liquid Glass exciting. Some X users wrote that the newest version of the software "looks so much cheaper" and "barely looks any different from iOS 18."

Others were excited about the design change. One X user wrote, "Frosted glass > Liquid Glass," while some Redditors applauded the accessibility: "It was pretty unreadable for anyone without perfect vision and this addresses that, which is ultimately more important than pretty glass graphics."

Allan Yu worked as a designer for Shopify and Facebook before cofounding his own app, Output. He told BI that he found Apple's first iteration "foreign" and "tough to use" and thought that the second beta was a great improvement. Now, he said Apple may have over-corrected.

"It took a step back to where design was anyways," Yu said. "Everything was floaty, and everything had that background blur. There's a little bit of transparency, but not really."

Serhii Popov, a senior software engineer and design reviewer for app studio MacPaw, told BI that he was also disappointed by beta 3's update. He prefers the apps that remained largely unchanged in the latest version, like Stocks.

"I got used to the new design language," Popov said. "As an Apple fan, I'd love to have a customized option so I can choose what effect to use."

Both Popov and Yu expect Apple to continue testing and to land somewhere in between the transparent glass of beta 1 and the new frosted-over look.