For the fastest way to join Tom's Guide Club enter your email below. We'll send you a confirmation and sign you up to our newsletter to keep you updated on all the latest news.
By submitting your information, you confirm you are aged 16 or
over, have read our
Privacy Policy
and agree to the
Terms & Conditions.
FIND OUT ABOUT OUR MAGAZINE
Want to subscribe to the magazine? Click the button below to
find out more information.
Join the Tom's Guide Club for quick access. Enter your email below and we'll send confirmation, and sign you up to our newsletter.
By submitting your information, you confirm you are aged 16 or over,
have read our
Privacy Policy
and agree to the
Terms & Conditions. Geographical rules apply.
Here at Tom’s Guide our expert editors are committed to bringing you the best news, reviews and guides to help you stay informed and ahead of the curve!
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Want to add more newsletters?
Join the club
Get full access to premium articles, exclusive features and a growing list of member rewards.
An account already exists for this email address, please log in.
Subscribe to our newsletter
Liquid Glass may be one of the most controversial additions to iPhone software in recent years, but it sounds like it won't be going away anytime soon. Or at least that's according to Mark Gurman at Bloomberg, in the latest issue of his Power On newsletter.
That does make a lot of sense, regardless of how you actually feel about the Liquid Glass design. The new look was a major part of Apple's marketing for iOS 26, and without it, very little actually seemed to change compared to iOS 18.
It had been speculated that changes would happen, since Liquid Glass design lead Alan Dye left Apple for Meta and Steve Lemay took his place. But even with that, the prospect of Liquid Glass being scrapped in its entirety seemed very unlikely. It would be an unprecedented course change for Apple, which has a history of resisting u-turns for far longer than it should. Just look art how long butterfly keyboards stuck around.
Article continues below
As Gurman put it, "Liquid Glass took a lot of time to design, so it won't get overhauled overnight." Instead, we should expect to see "years of gradual improvements."
We've already seen some of those improvements, with iOS 26.1 adding the option to reduce the transparency of Liquid Glass menus and iOS 26.4 adding the ability to disable Liquid Glass highlights. Gurman notes that there may be at least one more option in the works: a systemwide slider to finetune the Liquid Glass effect.
Apparently, Apple had been working on this feature for iOS 26, but faced various engineering challenges implementing it beyond the clock on the lock screen. Apple may be able to get it working properly for iOS 27, and that could see users get better customizable options for things like app folders, home screen elements and navigation bars.
At the very least, there may be more options beyond the "clear" and "tinted" options currently available. Though we can't really predict what other measures Apple might implement going forward, or if it even plans to tone down the design by any considerable amount.
Sign up to get the BEST of Tom's Guide direct to your inbox.
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
Tom is the Tom's Guide's UK Phones Editor, tackling the latest smartphone news and vocally expressing his opinions about upcoming features or changes. It's long way from his days as editor of Gizmodo UK, when pretty much everything was on the table. He’s usually found trying to squeeze another giant Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of coffee, or complaining about how terrible his Smart TV is.
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
Club Benefits
