I have been using the current public betas for iPadOS 26 and macOS 26 Tahoe for a week now, but I am wondering about Liquid Glass: that’s it? Apple says it’s the biggest change in visual appearance of their software in years – that might be true, but in many cases it is just a gradual change, because transparency and background blur have been around for a couple of years now.
Apple recommends using Liquid Glass only for overlay elements, so the main content of most apps will look roughly the same. Some UI elements will have the new look and the visual distortion / glass effect is nice, but it does not feel like a revolution to me. Background blur has been increasingly used in CSS over the last couple of years and it has been – in many cases – well balanced for readability. In the current beta it’s okay-ish, but not perfect in all cases (control center, notifications, …). Also, many apps that have not yet been adapted, will always look identical as before (except for minor differences e.g. in button styling).
I am not a designer, but really like well-looking software. And I do think the Apple’s software deserved a refresh, and that Liquid Glass looks good. But I don’t see how this is a major revolution it is said to be. Apple could have been a bit more courageous.