The new glass appearance of the iPhone is highlighted by the release of the third Beta programmer on Monday’s iOS 26.
At WWDC 2025 in June, the technological giant introduced its new design language, known as the Liquid Glass, which is inspired by the visual properties of the glass in the real world, including the way it refracted and its translucent nature.
But the early version of the first Beta developer of iOS 26 and accompanying updates on other Apple devices still leave room for improvement in usability, accessibility and necessary.
Last month, Apple defined some of the most important issues with the Liquid Glass, such as how the control center made so transparent that the iphone’s icons and widgets, creating visual clutter and confusion.
Monday’s update sees Apple take another step to call things behind an overly glossy look in a series of basic areas. While Beta 2 has had problems with the control center, Beta 3 shifts its focus to other areas of the mobile operating system, such as notifications and navigation to Apple’s first manufacturers applications, such as Apple Music.
For example, the navigation line in Apple’s streaming music app no longer sees the background shining a little, choosing a more compact white.
Notifications are also less translucent, as the background behind the text darkens, increasing the contrast.
While changes make it easier to read features, some users now complain that Apple has gone far in the other direction with a return to more “frozen glass“Aesthetics.
However, it is worth remembering that these are mere Betas developers – early versions of the mobile operating system that will not be finalized until its public release this autumn. The point of Beta software is to allow Apple to collect feedback, find errors and address issues before the software unfolds wider.
This means that Apple could continue to pinch the wet glass look and feel over the next releases to find the sweet spot for the new glass look in every application and screen.
