Will Apple’s new “Liquid Glass” look glitter away like a shimmering mirage, or will it inspire a faint, ghostly echo of Windows Vista? The parallels are uncanny. Remember Vista’s “Windows Aero,” a design language that was heavy on transparency? Apple UI, from the glassified application icons in iOS 26 and macOS Tahoe 26 reminiscent of Vista’s glossy icons, to the transparent dropdown menus, seems like a synchronized resurrection. However, here’s an important twist: they’re not sharptly picking from the past; they’re perfecting it. Where give-away glassish desires of Vista died, do mature expectations of reflection await an enlivened with shining bright future?
Windows Aero: a swing and a miss for Vista. Microsoft’s vision of glassy UI came to an ill fate, not owing to lack of ambition but due to execution. Vista itself became an albatross, performing like a hog and full of bugs, which made users waxing nostalgic about the speed of good old XP. Aero’s much-desired transparency effects required the horsepower of a state-of-the-art GPU, which was a rarity in 2007. Today, even integrated graphics would scoff at such demands. Apple seems to be flexing its silicon muscles by the way with the “Liquid Glass” design showcased on iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, sleek responsive interfaces that Vista could only dream about.
The Windows Vista start menu and desktop.
(Paowee/Wikipedia)
Liquid Glass is not an earthquake happening at Apple. One would rather think of it as a reflective shimmer. Consider it less of a shock from “Windows XP to Vista” and more of a natural evolution. From the very beginning of iOS 7 in 2013, Apple started embracing the modern clean aesthetic, literally stripping life out of skeuomorphic designs, opting instead for something flat and modern. Hence, even if iOS 26 finishes off your icons and menus in classy veneers, the core UI stays comfortably familiar. (Some would even argue that the seeds for this trend were laid down by Apple with some transparency in its desktop OS with the glossy dock in Mac OS X back in 2001.)
Liquid Glass: brilliance or visual migraine? I dig my heels deeply into the gang of “genius,” especially now that I think about the Windows Vista era. For me, it gave iOS a much-needed splash of personality. But if the stimuli molest your sensibilities, I am not going to try and reason with you. Within my own Engadget team, some have termed it “busy and obnoxious,” with Aaron Souppouris even equating it with mid-2000s moods by stating, “I don’t need light refracting around my pause button.” Fair enough! The beauty (or lack thereof) depends on the eye. Should the shimmer and shine start bothering the viewer, Apple has ensured there are options: simply head over to the Accessibility Settings and decrease Transparency and Motion. Case closed.
Apple
If you asked me about specs, this Liquid Glass of iOS 26 is the definition of adjective crushes. App icons evolve into glistening, irresistible gems, causing the needy urge of being poked. This OS-wide transparency is much more than a pretty picture: it showcases your eyes’ tantalizing glimpse of a holographic future, an ambiance replayed at visionOS on the Vision Pro, which is the birthplace of Liquid Glass. And Safari? It’s a majestic browser finally going incognito-full. Indulging in full-screen browsing while the location bar presumably shrinks away as you scroll, only to resurface with a tap presenting classic navigation options, is an understated victory.
Devindra Hardawar for Engadget
Maybe I’ve always been a novelty addict, a digital magpie attracted to shiny new objects. Windows XP and WindowBlinds, anyone? I remember spending hours trying to achieve a near-transparency effect, the perfect glassy look. Yet, Apple’s iOS 26 Control Center has me asking if they overdid it. It’s gracious when pulled up from within an app. Going the swipe-down way from the home screen? It’s a layered glass sandwich of dizzying views through transparent surfaces. Visual overload like that may just be a pane in the glass for some.
Interface redesigns are often rejected in the initial stage. Screenshots and videos just do not capture its tactile truth. Even the Apple distortion field flickers sometimes. Remember the hype over Liquid Design? In practice, iOS 26 felt… well, familiar. There was a subtler, siren-like almost comforting continuity hovering behind the apparent shock. Give it a shot. That initial “meh” could escalate into “aha.”
Apple
With many months until launch, the Apple OS is far from being released and so still offers ample space for course correction. Apple is known to bend to its beta testers’ feedback in the case of designs not getting approved by them. Imagine a Control Center with lower transparency, or better yet, one with user-adjustable “Liquid Glass” settings. I prefer to see companies explore all avenues when it comes to UI design; it is easier to reel them back from overreaching than playing it too safe. Theming that is bold, even if it fails, is much more stimulating to think about than a design that never takes a risk.
Thanks for reading Apples Liquid Glass is Windows Vista done well
