Apple’s biggest interface makeover in years, known as Liquid Glass, isn’t going anywhere. Even though the design sparked mixed reactions after it was previewed at WWDC, a new report indicates Apple is committed to Liquid Glass for the long haul and will focus on refining it through steady, incremental updates rather than reversing course.
Liquid Glass was a major, multi-year effort that traces its roots back to the development of visionOS. Because it took so long to plan and implement across Apple’s ecosystem, walking it back wouldn’t be a simple “undo.” It would likely require years of additional work to retool Apple’s design language yet again, making a full reversal highly unlikely.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman, Apple leadership strongly supported the shift to Liquid Glass from the start. He also says he hasn’t seen evidence of internal resistance among Apple’s designers during development, suggesting the company was broadly aligned behind the new visual direction.
That said, Liquid Glass still has clear pain points. One of the most common criticisms is readability—particularly where transparent elements sit on top of text, icons, and busy backgrounds. The look tends to shine on iPhone and iPad, where touch-first layouts and smaller interface patterns make the glass-like visuals feel more natural. On Mac and Apple Watch, though, the experience reportedly needs more polish, with refinements needed to improve clarity and usability.
Rather than delivering all fixes at once, Apple is expected to evolve Liquid Glass over several years, similar to how iOS 7 changed gradually after its debut. Small steps in that direction have already appeared in the iOS 26.4 beta, which reportedly includes new options to reduce or tone down the glass effect for users who find the visuals too intense.
Some observers wondered whether Apple’s commitment might waver after Alan Dye—an executive closely associated with the design overhaul—left for Meta. But based on current reporting, Apple’s trajectory remains the same: Liquid Glass is the future of Apple’s user interface, and the company plans to keep improving it instead of replacing it.
