Apple’s big new design language is almost here, and it’s coming to all of Apple’s major operating systems in the fall with the official launch of iOS 26. Liquid Glass is what Apple calls its newest design philosophy, and it promises to bring major changes to how all of its operating systems look and feel. That includes iOS, its most important operating system.
Indeed, Liquid Glass does bring somewhat of a major change to iOS 26, or what we would have called iOS 18 (Apple is switching iOS numbers to years, and iOS 26 will release in the fall). I’ve been using the developer beta of iOS 26 for some weeks now, but now that the public iOS 26 beta is open, I can finally share my thoughts.
The short version? Liquid Glass may not bring quite as big of a shift to iOS as Apple might have you believe, but that’s probably not a bad thing. And while I’m focusing on Liquid Glass, there are a ton more iOS 26 features to check out.
As always, remember that the iOS 26 beta is… a beta. So, back up your phone before making the switch. And as Apple says in its Beta Program FAQ, “Beta software may contain errors or inaccuracies and may not function as well as commercially released software. We encourage you to submit feedback when you encounter these issues.
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