Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) 2025 keynote today was packed with announcements, but the link that ties all the announcements together is a new software design language named “Liquid Glass.”
Apple says this represents the company’s “broadest software design update ever.” As such, this isn’t just a fresh coat of paint; it’s a fundamental rethinking of how users interact with their Apple devices.
The stated aim is to make apps and system experiences “more expressive and delightful while being instantly familiar.” But what does this sophisticated new aesthetic truly mean for the everyday experience on iPhones, iPads, Macs, and Apple Watches? Let’s dive into the shimmering depths of Liquid Glass.
What is Liquid Glass? Unpacking Apple’s Revolutionary New Design Material
At the heart of this comprehensive redesign is an entirely new design material Apple has engineered called Liquid Glass. This isn’t a physical material, of course, but a digital one that forms the visual and interactive foundation of the new software. Apple explains that Liquid Glass is a “translucent material [that] reflects and refracts its surroundings, while dynamically transforming to help bring greater focus to content”. This suggests an interface that is more aware of its context and the content it presents.
The characteristics of Liquid Glass are quite remarkable:
- It draws inspiration from the “depth and dimensionality of visionOS,” Apple’s platform for spatial computing. This lineage hints at a user interface with a more layered, almost three-dimensional feel, even on traditional screens.
- It is designed to “behave like glass in the real world.” Its color is “informed by surrounding content” and it intelligently adapts between light and dark environments. This means UI elements might subtly pick up hues from wallpapers or app content, creating a more cohesive and immersive visual.
- Crucially, Liquid Glass is dynamic. It “uses real-time rendering and dynamically reacts to movement with specular highlights,” creating a “lively experience”. Imagine buttons that subtly glint as the device moves, or interface elements that ripple in response to touch. This level of graphical richness, requiring significant on-device processing for real-time effects, is made possible by Apple’s continued advancements in its silicon and tight hardware-software integration—a synergy the company has long championed.
Alan Dye, Apple’s vice president of Human Interface Design, captured the essence of this new direction: “It combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve… it makes even the simplest of interactions more fun and magical”. This “digital materiality” moves beyond the starkness of pure flat design, introducing a sense of depth, tactility, and responsiveness that imbue a more modern feel to Apple’s platforms. It’s not about mimicking real-world objects, but about imbuing digital elements with the sophisticated properties of a material like glass, focusing on how the UI behaves as much as how it looks.
A Unified Vision: Liquid Glass Across Your Apple Ecosystem
One of the most significant aspects of the Liquid Glass announcement is its unprecedented scope. Apple states that “For the very first time, the new design extends across platforms – iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 (Tahoe), watchOS 26, and tvOS 26”. (For tvOS 26, this new design will be available on Apple TV 4K, 2nd generation and later. This is a major step towards a truly unified Apple ecosystem.
The goal, according to Apple, is “to establish even more harmony while maintaining the distinct qualities that make each unique.” This means users can expect a consistent visual language and interactive principles whether they are on their iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch.
How Liquid Glass Will Transform Your Daily Interactions: A Closer Look
The impact of Liquid Glass will be felt in nearly every interaction with Apple devices, from the smallest controls to broad system experiences.
Redesigned Controls and Navigation
Apple has rethought core interface elements. “Controls, toolbars, and navigation within apps have been redesigned,” Apple says. A subtle but significant detail is that these elements now “fit perfectly concentric with the rounded corners of modern hardware and app windows,” which promises to establish “greater harmony between hardware, software, and content.” This change is emblematic of Apple’s typical attention to detail.
Controls themselves are “crafted out of Liquid Glass” and act as a “distinct functional layer that sits above apps.” They are designed to “give way to content and dynamically morph as users need more options or move between different parts of an app”. This should result in a more intelligent, adaptive UI that recedes when not needed, keeping the focus on the user’s content.
Specific examples include:
- iOS 26 Tab Bars: “when users scroll, tab bars shrink to bring focus to the content while keeping navigation instantly accessible. The moment users scroll back up, tab bars fluidly expand”. This dynamic adaptation is a prime example of the UI becoming less obtrusive.
- iPadOS & macOS Sidebars: These have been updated to make apps like Apple TV “even more immersive.” They will “refract the content behind them—while reflecting content and the user’s wallpaper from around them—which ensures users always have a sense of their context”.
Enhanced System Experiences
The Liquid Glass treatment extends to fundamental system areas:
- Lock Screen: The time is now “crafted out of Liquid Glass and fluidly adapts to fit elegantly behind the subject” of photo wallpapers, enhancing the sense of depth and personalization.
- Home Screen & Desktop: The “Dock, app icons, and widgets have all been crafted from multiple layers of Liquid Glass.” They will feature “specular highlights” and allow for “greater personalization options while still maintaining the familiarity that users rely on”.
- macOS 26 (Tahoe) Specifics: Mac users can look forward to deeper customization for the desktop and Dock, with “widgets and app icons that come to life in light or dark appearances, colorful new light and dark tints, as well as an elegant new clear look.” A particularly exciting update is a “completely transparent menu bar that makes the Mac display feel even larger.” This, along with other UI minimizations, directly supports the “focus on content” philosophy. The new design also touches “notifications, Control Center, and more,” ensuring a consistent feel throughout the operating systems.
Your Favorite Apps: More Immersive and Instantly Familiar
This comprehensive redesign isn’t limited to system chrome; it extends into the heart of Apple’s own applications. Apps such as “Camera, Photos, Safari, FaceTime, Apple Music, Apple News, and Apple Podcasts” will feature “fresh new experiences” thanks to Liquid Glass.
Apple emphasizes that the goal here is “bringing greater focus to content that’s instantly familiar”. This is key: users should find these updated apps refreshed and more engaging, not confusingly alien.
What Liquid Glass Means for Developers
For the developer community, Apple is providing “an updated set of APIs” for SwiftUI, UIKit, and AppKit, making it “easy to adopt the new design.” The explicit mention of support for the established UIKit and AppKit frameworks, alongside the modern SwiftUI, is particularly noteworthy.
This indicates Apple’s desire for broad and rapid adoption of Liquid Glass across both new and existing applications, lowering the barrier for developers who might have extensive codebases in these older frameworks. This ensures that the entire app ecosystem can evolve together as it would be quite jarring for the OS and core apps to embrace such a wildly distinct and new design language while third party apps continue to feature the old look.
