Jenith
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Apple appears to have stirred up some controversy at WWDC 2025 with the reveal of iOS 26 or, more specifically, the new Liquid Glass design language that will permeate every Apple device and OS moving forward — not just iPhones and iOS.
Commenting on these design changes, many people on social media compared Apple's new glassy effects with Microsoft's Windows Vista. Others claim that iOS 26 looks like a glorified Android icon pack. But are these analogies fair? Here are my honest thoughts as a Samsung fan looking over the fence to the competition.
First, I should point out that I don't own an iPhone. I haven't experienced the iOS 26 beta update firsthand, and I must base my opinions on what Apple revealed during WWDC 2025 and the videos and screenshots that followed the event.
Well, no, I don't think so. First, iOS 26's all-clear UI — which makes every icon monochrome — is seemingly optional. The default look retains the colorful app icons but adds a glassy effect.
I can't say I'm a fan of the all-clear UI. But that could be due to my personal tastes. I don't like monochrome icon packs, even in One UI, and I never applied my UI's color palette to app icons.
But aside from the all-clear look in iOS 26 being optional, the other reason why I don't think it's fair to say Liquid Glass is just a glorified Android icon pack is that Apple's design language permeates the whole UI. It changes many UI elements, including buttons, widgets, the lock-screen clock, and more.
Some Liquid Glass effects simply cannot be achieved with a simple theme or icon pack for Android. Liquid Glass seems to use a much more complex light refraction engine that Apple probably spent (too) many man-hours developing.
I know it's easy to make fun of Apple sometimes, and even Samsung Mobile US took a few jabs at Apple right in the middle of WWDC 2025. But I want to be fair and see Liquid Glass for what it is. I can't say it's just an Android icon pack or that you can achieve an identical effect to iOS 26 Liquid Glass with an icon pack or a theme.
Technically speaking, Liquid Glass is more intricate than that. But is it a good design language? Now that's a good question and a different matter worth exploring.
I can understand why Apple might be moving toward this unusual glass-like design, and I like the basic idea behind the execution. The latter, however, might be problematic.
At WWDC 2025, Apple stated that Liquid Glass was inspired by the presence and physicality of Vision OS. It's supposed to make something purely digital feel more natural.
Now, I can totally get behind that line of reasoning. I am beginning to feel bored with the almost sterile Material Design philosophy, so I must appreciate any attempt to make a UI feel more physical instead of cold and digital.
The way I understand it, Apple is trying to give its UI a more physical feel while avoiding its old skeuomorph design ways. That, in itself, sounds extremely challenging. But that's also where things might be falling apart and miss the mark.
At a glance, I like some Liquid Glass elements. But it does seem to make everything more difficult to see and read, which is where I'm beginning to have a problem — not with the concept itself but how Apple executed it.
Apple may have gone a little too far with its glass effects, so much so that it may hurt the user experience. Liquid Glass doesn't seem very legible, but who knows?! Maybe Apple will tune these visual effects to address the issues we're seeing in its beta firmware.
As to whether Apple copied Windows Vista, this honestly doesn't seem that relevant to me. It's more about the implementation than who did it first. Nevertheless, I won't ignore the question and will dig deeper with an objective mind.
I forgot how Windows Vista looked, so I dug up some old screenshots and footage. And here's what I found. Windows Vista uses Gaussian blur/frosty blur excessively, but that's about it. As far as I can tell, Windows Vista has zero UI elements that look like actual glass baubles refracting light from underneath. I don't see anything extra beyond the frosty blur effects. Any other glass-like UI elements look pre-rendered.
In contrast, Apple's new UI uses Gaussian blur along with new Liquid Glass effects that make some UI elements refract background colors and light in ways that Windows Vista never did. In short, Microsoft Vista's Aero language uses a frosted glass effect, but Liquid Glass is more intricate than that.
But there is one more thing I want to say regarding this comparison with Windows Vista.
Now, I am no expert in Apple software, but as far as I can tell, Mac OS X Yosemite, released in 2014, was the company's first desktop OS to use Gaussian blur effects extensively across the UI. If Apple used frosty blur effects in Mac OS before Yosemite, it must have done so sparingly.
Where am I going with this? Well, here's the thing. If you want to mock Apple for copying the frosty glass effect from Microsoft's Windows Vista, you are about 10 years late to the party.
Playing the devil's advocate, I will say that, in Apple's defense, the idea of glassy buttons is much, much older than Mac OS X Yosemite. In fact, it dates back to the release of Apple's Aqua design language in 2000.
The way I see it, Apple's vision in 2000 was similar to Liquid Glass. But back then, no hardware was powerful enough to process live blur, refraction, and reflection effects across the UI. So Apple pre-rendered buttons and other UI elements in Mac OS to look more gel-like or glass-like.
With that in mind, I can see Apple's new Liquid Glass origins dating back to Aqua rather than Windows Vista. And I am honestly surprised that Apple didn't once mention Aqua at WWDC 2025, especially since Aqua debuted 25 years ago. Apple may have missed an opportunity to say that, 25 years later, the original Aqua vision can truly come to life thanks to much more powerful hardware and clever software.
What do I think of iOS 26 and, more specifically, Apple's Liquid Glass design language?
I think some of the criticism directed toward the new look is warranted. Liquid Glass may look pretty in some ways, and I like the basic idea of making UIs feel more connected to the physical world. However, the implementation leaves something to be desired.
Apart from that, as easy as it may be to mock Apple on occasion, I can't agree with the idea that Liquid Glass is a glorified Android icon pack or a rip-off of Windows Vista. I think those are just memes at best and gross oversimplifications of both tech and tech history at worst.
The post Apple’s iOS 26: Just an Android icon pack or something more? appeared first on imeisource.
Commenting on these design changes, many people on social media compared Apple's new glassy effects with Microsoft's Windows Vista. Others claim that iOS 26 looks like a glorified Android icon pack. But are these analogies fair? Here are my honest thoughts as a Samsung fan looking over the fence to the competition.
First, I should point out that I don't own an iPhone. I haven't experienced the iOS 26 beta update firsthand, and I must base my opinions on what Apple revealed during WWDC 2025 and the videos and screenshots that followed the event.
Is iOS 26 Liquid Glass just a glorified Android icon pack?
Well, no, I don't think so. First, iOS 26's all-clear UI — which makes every icon monochrome — is seemingly optional. The default look retains the colorful app icons but adds a glassy effect.
I can't say I'm a fan of the all-clear UI. But that could be due to my personal tastes. I don't like monochrome icon packs, even in One UI, and I never applied my UI's color palette to app icons.
But aside from the all-clear look in iOS 26 being optional, the other reason why I don't think it's fair to say Liquid Glass is just a glorified Android icon pack is that Apple's design language permeates the whole UI. It changes many UI elements, including buttons, widgets, the lock-screen clock, and more.
Some Liquid Glass effects simply cannot be achieved with a simple theme or icon pack for Android. Liquid Glass seems to use a much more complex light refraction engine that Apple probably spent (too) many man-hours developing.
I know it's easy to make fun of Apple sometimes, and even Samsung Mobile US took a few jabs at Apple right in the middle of WWDC 2025. But I want to be fair and see Liquid Glass for what it is. I can't say it's just an Android icon pack or that you can achieve an identical effect to iOS 26 Liquid Glass with an icon pack or a theme.
Technically speaking, Liquid Glass is more intricate than that. But is it a good design language? Now that's a good question and a different matter worth exploring.
I see Apple's vision, but the execution seems problematic
I can understand why Apple might be moving toward this unusual glass-like design, and I like the basic idea behind the execution. The latter, however, might be problematic.
At WWDC 2025, Apple stated that Liquid Glass was inspired by the presence and physicality of Vision OS. It's supposed to make something purely digital feel more natural.
Now, I can totally get behind that line of reasoning. I am beginning to feel bored with the almost sterile Material Design philosophy, so I must appreciate any attempt to make a UI feel more physical instead of cold and digital.
The way I understand it, Apple is trying to give its UI a more physical feel while avoiding its old skeuomorph design ways. That, in itself, sounds extremely challenging. But that's also where things might be falling apart and miss the mark.
At a glance, I like some Liquid Glass elements. But it does seem to make everything more difficult to see and read, which is where I'm beginning to have a problem — not with the concept itself but how Apple executed it.
Apple may have gone a little too far with its glass effects, so much so that it may hurt the user experience. Liquid Glass doesn't seem very legible, but who knows?! Maybe Apple will tune these visual effects to address the issues we're seeing in its beta firmware.
Windows Vista did it before Apple?
As to whether Apple copied Windows Vista, this honestly doesn't seem that relevant to me. It's more about the implementation than who did it first. Nevertheless, I won't ignore the question and will dig deeper with an objective mind.
I forgot how Windows Vista looked, so I dug up some old screenshots and footage. And here's what I found. Windows Vista uses Gaussian blur/frosty blur excessively, but that's about it. As far as I can tell, Windows Vista has zero UI elements that look like actual glass baubles refracting light from underneath. I don't see anything extra beyond the frosty blur effects. Any other glass-like UI elements look pre-rendered.
In contrast, Apple's new UI uses Gaussian blur along with new Liquid Glass effects that make some UI elements refract background colors and light in ways that Windows Vista never did. In short, Microsoft Vista's Aero language uses a frosted glass effect, but Liquid Glass is more intricate than that.
But there is one more thing I want to say regarding this comparison with Windows Vista.
Now, I am no expert in Apple software, but as far as I can tell, Mac OS X Yosemite, released in 2014, was the company's first desktop OS to use Gaussian blur effects extensively across the UI. If Apple used frosty blur effects in Mac OS before Yosemite, it must have done so sparingly.
Where am I going with this? Well, here's the thing. If you want to mock Apple for copying the frosty glass effect from Microsoft's Windows Vista, you are about 10 years late to the party.
Playing the devil's advocate, I will say that, in Apple's defense, the idea of glassy buttons is much, much older than Mac OS X Yosemite. In fact, it dates back to the release of Apple's Aqua design language in 2000.
The way I see it, Apple's vision in 2000 was similar to Liquid Glass. But back then, no hardware was powerful enough to process live blur, refraction, and reflection effects across the UI. So Apple pre-rendered buttons and other UI elements in Mac OS to look more gel-like or glass-like.
With that in mind, I can see Apple's new Liquid Glass origins dating back to Aqua rather than Windows Vista. And I am honestly surprised that Apple didn't once mention Aqua at WWDC 2025, especially since Aqua debuted 25 years ago. Apple may have missed an opportunity to say that, 25 years later, the original Aqua vision can truly come to life thanks to much more powerful hardware and clever software.
Conclusion
What do I think of iOS 26 and, more specifically, Apple's Liquid Glass design language?
I think some of the criticism directed toward the new look is warranted. Liquid Glass may look pretty in some ways, and I like the basic idea of making UIs feel more connected to the physical world. However, the implementation leaves something to be desired.
Apart from that, as easy as it may be to mock Apple on occasion, I can't agree with the idea that Liquid Glass is a glorified Android icon pack or a rip-off of Windows Vista. I think those are just memes at best and gross oversimplifications of both tech and tech history at worst.
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