Ignore the haters Apples Liquid Glass theme is one of my favorite parts of macOS Tahoe

Date:
Sun, 29 Jun 2025 12:30:00 +0000

Description:
Apples Liquid Glass redesign looks fantastic in macOS Tahoe and feels better executed than in iOS 26.

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If youve tried Apples macOS Tahoe developer beta or just watched the
companys most recent Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) stream chances are youve got some opinions on its new Liquid Glass redesign . The visual overhaul is coming to almost every Apple device, so love it or hate it, youre going to have to get used to it.

In his latest Power On newsletter , Bloomberg reporter and renowned Apple leaker Mark Gurman has shared some thoughts on Liquid Glass. While he was impressed with the design on iOS, he was less enamored with it elsewhere, stating that Liquid Glass is pointless on the Apple Watch and less impressive on non-touch devices like Macs.

It follows a previous edition of Power On , where Gurman said that Liquid Glass isnt very impressive on Macs due to their lack of OLED and touchscreen capabilities. He also felt it makes less sense on a big-screen TV.

After my own testing, however, I disagree I think macOS is the best platform so far for Liquid Glass, and that a larger display helps mitigate some of the main problems with the new look. To me, the implementation on macOS is much less troublesome than on iOS.

Sure, perhaps the design would look better on an OLED Mac , but since those dont exist yet and I dont have a standalone OLED monitor, Im happy with how
it looks. In my eyes, the best MacBooks and Macs are where Liquid Glass truly shines so far. Objectionable overlaps (Image credit: Apple / Future)

To understand why Liquid Glass feels right at home on a Mac, youve first got to understand the problems the redesign is facing on iOS.

In contrast to macOS, iOS needs to exist on much smaller screens, and that means there are far more overlapping elements in play. The Control Center, notification popups, and app folders all appear on top of other on-screen objects, where theyre forced to share space in a way they arent on a larger Mac display. So far, Ive found that this overlapping often makes it difficult to read text on the screen, especially if the image behind is bright or complex.

With macOS, your larger display means there are likely to be fewer
overlapping elements, helping to avoid this problem. With more space to breathe, it doesnt really matter if the glassy effects make certain things harder to read underneath if theres nothing below them in the first place.

The times when Liquid Glass in macOS Tahoe uses full transparency such as when you open the Control Center are few and far between. In most cases, you can customize the amount of transparency. In fact, Control Center is one of the few occasions where you have to use the full-on glass effect.

And even so, thanks to the Macs larger screen, its rare for this to overlap anything on the screen below. When it does overlay something, its less of a problem because Apple has added a drop shadow behind the Control Center, helping it stand out. Its not perfect, but it feels less objectionable than
on iOS. At home on macOS (Image credit: Apple)

Having more screen real estate brings other benefits. For instance, one of my favorite aspects of Liquid Glass is the transparent Dock. I keep my Dock
icons solid rather than using one of the translucent options Apple provides, and that results in a set of bright, colorful icons resting on a clear glass slate. It looks beautiful, especially with macOS Tahoe's default blue background. Sure, iOS 26s Dock can also do this, but it can only hold a handful of icons. The Dock in macOS is far larger, giving me much more eye candy to enjoy.

In other words, I get the subtle effects of Liquid Glass without having to make all of my icons transparent (and thus harder to see). Im not a fan of
the 'totally clear' effect thats too much glass for my liking and using the new design tweaks in moderation really helps the Mac feel like the best place for Apples redesign.

And its not just iOS that gets trumped by the Macs implication of Liquid
Glass watchOS 26 does too. Take app toolbars, which have a new translucent blur effect. This works better than Liquid Glass on watchOS, where Ive found this blur effect makes it very difficult to see certain figures in the
Fitness app. Ive not come across any such annoyances on my Mac. (Image
credit: Apple)

Ive written before about how Liquid Glass gave me a welcome nostalgia trip to the days of the Aero theme in Windows Vista and Windows 7. After a few weeks usage across macOS, iOS, and watchOS, I can say that Liquid Glasss implementation on macOS is my favorite across the platforms. Maybe I like it because it reminds me of that old Windows theme, or maybe I like it simply because it feels like its most at home on a Mac. Either way, it just feels a lot more natural in macOS than anywhere else.

Every year, Apple uses the beta period to make plenty of changes to its new features, and theres no doubt Liquid Glass will see a host of adjustments between now and the full version release later in the year. That could mean
it becomes a lot more viable away from macOS over the next few months, and given my frustrations with Liquid Glass in iOS and watchOS so far, Im hoping that proves to be true.

For now, though, Im very happy with Apples new look on macOS even if its
left me wishing for improvements everywhere else. You might also like WWDCs best announcement was something Windows did 15 years agohere's why it's awesome Apple's new Liquid Glass design puts the spotlight on skeuomorphism for the first time since iOS 6 and I'm all for it Microsoft makes fun of macOS Tahoes Liquid Glass redesign for ripping off Windows Vista but Apple could have the last laugh



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/ignore-the-haters-apples-liquid-glass-them e-is-one-of-my-favorite-parts-of-macos-tahoe


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