iOS 26 beta preview: Liquid Glass is better than you think

At WWDC 2025, Apple revealed a major visual shake-up for iOS (not to mention the rest of the company’s operating systems). This is the biggest change, aesthetically, since the shift away from the stitching, textures and skeuomorphic design of the iOS 4. It also comes with significantly fewer AI and Siri updates this time around. However, it’s the smaller touches that make iOS 26 seem like a notable improvement over its predecessor.

I’ve been running the iOS 26 developer beta for the last two weeks and here's how Apple’s new Liquid Glass design — and iOS 26 broadly — stacks up.

(Ed. note: Apple just released the public betas for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 and watchOS 26. This means you can run the preview for yourself, if you are willing to risk potentially buggy or unstable software that could cause some of your apps ...