At WWDC 2025, Apple debuted Liquid Glass, a sweeping visual refresh that now defines iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, tvOS, and visionOS. The design replaces flat elements with semi-translucent layers, ambient lighting, and smooth animations that give everything a more fluid, dynamic feel.
Visually, it’s impressive. Buttons appear to float, panels softly blur the background, and interactions are accompanied by animations that feel natural without being flashy. On devices like the iPad and Vision Pro, it’s a cohesive and even striking experience. Apple’s design and animation work here is some of its best in years, and I really do like it.
But Apple’s idea of “beautiful and elegant” is getting dragged online. And some of those concerns are very real.
Vista Called, It Wants Its UI Back
Early reactions on Twitter and Reddit paint a different picture. Many are comparing Liquid Glass to Windows Vista, comparing it to the infamous Aero design from the 18-year-old OS. For some, it’s less about looks and more about function. Blurry panes and translucent overlays look great, but they hinder readability and strain the eyes.
A common complaint: it looks great in demos and press images, but feels impractical in everyday use. Especially on smaller screens, where dynamic blur and lighting effects can reduce text contrast or distract from key content.
While Apple’s visual work is getting praise, accessibility advocates are sounding alarms. The default interface may look great in the right lighting or on the right display, but it’s posing challenges for users who rely on strong contrast, clarity, or reduced motion settings.
Apple usually offers toggles to tone down such effects, but it’s unclear how customizable Liquid Glass will be once it ships. Without robust controls, the default aesthetic could make life harder for users with vision issues, or even just anyone using their device outdoors.
To be fair, the demos do look like Apple has taken into account any potential readability issues that might arise from making everything transparent in the background. It just might not be enough.
Beyond accessibility, there’s another issue that’s raising eyebrows: performance. Apple says that the new design won’t hurt responsiveness, but looking at Liquid Glass, I’m not sure that’ll be true across the board for all the many devices that’ll be getting the redesign. The real-time rendering, the blurring, the lighting effects, all of it demands more from the GPU.
For users running macOS 26 on older Intel Macs or aging iPhones, this could be a real problem. The company’s track record with planned obsolescence doesn’t inspire confidence. Critics have long accused Apple of quietly nudging users toward upgrades by pushing system updates that degrade performance on older devices.
Whether intentional or not, introducing a resource-heavy design could exacerbate that. If your older device struggles with these new effects, it might not be a coincidence.
Will Liquid Glass Crack Under Pressure?
Apple’s goal here is clear: unify the visual language across devices, from iPhones to Vision Pro. On hardware designed for spatial computing, the effects feel right at home. But on smaller screens or older machines, they risk feeling overkill; form overwhelming function.
The UI now mirrors what users see in visionOS, but without the spatial depth that makes those effects feel natural. Instead of enhancing usability, the glass-like layers may simply get in the way.
Liquid Glass is sleek, polished, ambitious, and once again, I do appreciate Apple for the bold design choice. But for some, it may also be a headache waiting to happen.