- Apple has just released iOS 26 developer Beta 3 update
- This adjusts the floating glass design to make it less transparent
- It’s not the first time Apple has fine -tuned liquid glass in iOS 26
When Apple revealed iOS 26 at its WWDC 2025 event in June, the thing on everyone’s lips was the floating glass nest. This has brought glassy effects to Apple’s operating systems and has shared meaning in a big way, but the latest iOS 26 beta seems to have called it significantly – and I’m glad to see it.
Compared to previous betas, iOS 26 Beta 3 has added a little more opacity to interface elements, reducing their transparency in the process. Toolbars and buttons are now a little more solid, making it harder to see what lies below them.
It addresses one of the most important criticism of liquid glass so far: That it is too difficult to read the top level elements when text or images are visible below them. By adding more opacity, Apple has gone a way of putting it right.
This is not the first time Apple has fine -tuned liquid glass. In iOS 26 Beta 2, the company reduced the transparency of buttons and boxes in the control center, which were especially difficult to read in previous releases. No doubt there will be further adjustments before iOS 26 will be fully launched in the fall.
A little more readable
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I’m a fan of liquid glass, but I prefer it in MacOS Tahoe than in iOS 26, simply because the larger screens you get on a Mac versus an iPhone remedy value that are fewer overlapping elements that allow macos to avoid some of the worst readability issues plaguing iOS 26.
Despite iOS 26 Beta 3, things make things a little more readable, not all fan of the change is. E.g. Writing on X wrote Apple Pundit Sam Kohl that “iOS 26 Beta 3 complete Nerf’s floating glass,” added that “It looks so much cheaper now and feels like Apple Backtracking on their original vision.”
With plenty of time until the full release of iOS 26, we can expect Apple to make more changes as the year progresses. Hopefully it will give it time to get liquid glass right – or at least make it a little more readable.
