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iOS 26 + Liquid Glass First Impressions: The Good, the Bugs and the Ugly
Jun 16, 2025
I’ve spent the week hands-on with #Apple #iOS26 for #iPhone, living with its stunning new design and incredible features. I really love the direction iOS is going — even if there are a lot of kinks that need to be worked out before its September release. More Apple news: @ Produced by Extra Ordinary for Cult of Mac Music composed by Will Davenport, arranged by D. Griffin Jones Feedbacks filed: FB17873776, FB17944976, FB17965600, FB17984181, FB18034927, FB18035004, FB18035165 Chapters: 0:00 Intro 0:51 Liquid Glass 2:58 Lock Screen & Wallpaper 3:29 Safari 4:33 Camera 5:28 Phone 7:33 Miscellaneous Follow us! Threads: https://www.threads.net/@cultofmac
View Video Transcript
0:00
ios 26 has a stunning new design and
0:03
incredible features I really like the
0:06
direction iOS is going even if there are
0:08
a lot of kinks that need to be worked
0:10
out before its release in September Here
0:13
are my oneweek impressions
0:17
So let me start with an obvious
0:19
disclaimer This is the very first
0:21
developer beta There's a lot that needs
0:23
to be cleaned up and tweaked Take my
0:25
criticism here with a grain of salt
0:27
because a lot of it is likely to change
0:29
between now and September Now on the
0:32
other hand as pointed out by Alen Sims
0:34
that doesn't mean we shouldn't air our
0:36
grievances This is the time when Apple
0:39
is most open to hearing feedback So all
0:42
of my complaints in this video have been
0:44
filed as official bug reports to Apple
0:47
with the feedback IDs posted in the
0:49
video description With that out of the
0:51
way let's start with liquid glass Liquid
0:53
glass is kind of ridiculous and
0:56
absolutely beautiful The warping effect
0:59
is remarkable and incredibly realistic
1:02
and it really sings on a promotion
1:04
display The specular highlights around
1:06
the edge of liquid glass materials look
1:08
really cool too It reacts live to the
1:11
movement of your phone in your hand very
1:14
convincingly Now this isn't Apple's
1:16
first rodeo with translucency While
1:18
liquid glass is more transparent and
1:20
less frosted than before it isn't as
1:23
hard to read as people fear in real
1:26
world usage The reduced transparency
1:28
option in accessibility settings turns
1:30
all the liquid glass into the frosted
1:33
gray material you're used to Liquid
1:35
glass isn't all clear either You can
1:37
have color tinted buttons that pop Tab
1:40
bars used to be a simple button at the
1:42
bottom of the screen with a colorful
1:44
outline Liquid glass tab bars are flashy
1:47
and animated You tap on a tab and the
1:49
outline shape turns to liquid flies over
1:53
and plops down like a living blob of
1:56
jello The keyboard now has a rounded
1:59
edge that makes it look like it's
2:00
sitting on top of the app rather than
2:03
part of the app On the other hand though
2:05
the keyboard letters are a little taller
2:07
and narrower in a way that makes it look
2:10
like the Android font Robboto And I mean
2:13
that in a derogatory way Liquid glass
2:16
isn't everywhere though Not everything
2:18
has an interesting background that can
2:20
shine through Apps like settings mail
2:23
notes are still dark gray on black or
2:27
light gray on white which makes sense
2:29
but the difference can be a little
2:31
jarring The spacing has also become much
2:34
more generous on list views and settings
2:37
is a great example of this In iOS 18 you
2:40
used to be able to see your name at the
2:42
top the entire first group of settings
2:44
and the top half of the second group of
2:47
settings In iOS 26 the density is so low
2:51
that you only see the first group and
2:53
none of the second I can't say I'm a fan
2:57
of the change On a more positive note
2:59
Apple has added some awesome features to
3:01
the lock screen and home screen You can
3:04
turn any old 2D picture into a somewhat
3:07
3D scene and see the perspective change
3:10
One reason I've never liked using a
3:12
picture on my home screen is because
3:14
when you fill your home screen up with
3:16
icons they cover up the picture But with
3:19
the new clear icon style you can see
3:21
much more of your wallpaper shining
3:23
through And while I still don't think
3:25
this is my jam I have to admit it does
3:28
look pretty cool Apple is taking another
3:30
crack at simplifying the Safari toolbar
3:33
From left to right you have the back
3:35
button page menu address bar refresh and
3:38
more They tried this once before in the
3:40
iOS 15 beta unsuccessfully but with this
3:44
attempt there are two key changes
3:46
Although the toolbar does float over the
3:48
content web designers don't need to make
3:51
any changes to their website They don't
3:53
need to add a safe area Your phone
3:55
automatically extends the bottom of the
3:57
page so that nothing is covered up or
3:59
lost Also you can opt out of it In
4:02
Safari settings you can choose between
4:04
this modern design the iOS 15 style
4:07
design with the full bottom toolbar or
4:10
the classic design with a top address
4:12
bar and bottom toolbar But personally I
4:14
love it I really like the simplicity and
4:17
the minimalism And it still has all the
4:19
same functionality You can easily swipe
4:22
up on the address bar to get to your tab
4:24
overview or swipe left and right to flip
4:27
between your most recent tabs But I'm
4:30
also that psycho who uses the compact
4:32
layout on the Mac iOS 26 has the first
4:35
groundup redesign of the camera app
4:37
since iOS 7 The rumors indicated that
4:40
this redesign would go back to two main
4:42
modes photo and video All the other
4:45
related modes would be in a submen that
4:48
would appear when you tap on either
4:49
photo or video This isn't the case in
4:52
the final design It shows photo and
4:54
video but the other options are still a
4:57
spinning list to the left and right
4:58
where you can only see a few options at
5:00
once with your thumb covering half of
5:03
them up This is actually the rare case
5:05
where I think the concept video based on
5:07
the leaks has a bit of a more functional
5:10
design Although credit where credit is
5:13
due Apple's design is much prettier and
5:16
you can swipe through all of the options
5:18
much more fluidly than before It's no
5:20
longer one at a time With one swipe you
5:22
can get from one end of the list all the
5:25
way to the other which does make it feel
5:27
faster The phone app has a new layout
5:30
and design for the first time ever
5:33
Although interestingly you can choose
5:35
whether to use the new design or not I
5:38
think Apple has learned its lesson after
5:40
being burned for the controversial
5:42
photos app introduced last year The old
5:45
phone app had tabs left to right that
5:48
went favorites recents contacts keypad
5:51
and voicemail In iOS 26 the calls tab
5:55
has your favorites along the top and
5:57
your recent calls down below Beautiful
6:00
Makes perfect sense No notes Keypad is
6:03
the same as before Contacts browses
6:05
through your contacts That much makes
6:07
sense But weirdly this tab has its own
6:11
search field at the top of the screen
6:13
that's unrelated to the search button at
6:16
the bottom of the screen that's within
6:18
easy reach of your thumb You tap on the
6:21
search button and you see a new window
6:24
that has your most recent five calls at
6:27
the top of the screen Again for no
6:30
apparent reason and then a list of your
6:32
voicemails below it When you type in
6:35
somebody's name in this search field you
6:37
don't see their contact information
6:39
Instead you see a list of the most
6:42
recent times you've called them And this
6:45
clearly needs some rethinking 99% of the
6:48
time I want to search through my
6:50
contacts and browse my list of contacts
6:53
The big obvious search button that's
6:56
right next to the contacts button should
6:59
do that Hold assist is the new feature
7:01
that automatically detects hold music
7:04
and pauses the phone call so you can go
7:06
about your business and it'll ring you
7:08
again when an actual human starts
7:10
talking to you Now I haven't used this
7:12
myself but friend of the channel Ian
7:15
tried it and told me about an
7:17
unfortunate limitation Whenever that
7:20
automated message plays that says
7:22
"Please remain on the line We are
7:24
assisting other customers." Hold Assist
7:27
calls you because it thinks that a human
7:30
is talking to you and that you're no
7:31
longer on hold In response to criticism
7:34
of the photos app Apple has moved the
7:36
search button to the bottom of the
7:37
screen and brought back the tab bar that
7:40
lets you switch between library and
7:42
collections I'm sure a lot of people
7:44
will celebrate the return of the tab bar
7:46
but personally I actually miss that I
7:49
could easily swipe between the two
7:52
Swiping could be performed anywhere on
7:54
the screen whereas the tab bar has a
7:56
smaller tap target in the bottom left
7:59
but I'm sure Apple could add a custom
8:02
gesture to enable both and get the best
8:04
of both worlds I'm not entirely sure
8:06
what the point of the games app is
8:09
Apple's making this a big push but it
8:11
seems to just be game center as an app
8:15
which is nice Game Center was previously
8:17
buried in settings but I'm not sure how
8:20
much I'll use it There's a new daily
8:22
Apple News Plus puzzle called Emoji Game
8:25
You're given three phrases that are
8:27
missing most of their letters three
8:29
clues that hint at what the phrases mean
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and six sets of emoji You have to
8:34
interpret the meaning of the emoji to
8:36
fill in the blank letters
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It's hard So should you install
8:42
the iOS 26 beta
8:44
No It's very buggy Your battery life
8:47
will be terrible and your phone will run
8:49
hot But you should be excited to upgrade
8:52
in September There is a lot to like here
8:55
and Apple will sand down a lot of the
8:57
rough edges For more be sure to check
9:00
out the most recent episode of the
9:01
Cultcast where we talk about all of the
9:04
WWDC announcements in much greater depth
9:07
Remember to like and subscribe I'm
9:09
Driffin Jones with Cult of Mac