Apple has refined its Liquid Glass design in iOS 26 beta 3, introducing some major changes that have frustrated some users who feel that the updates are making the aesthetic too opaque. The changes vary across apps, but most navigation bars have become more opaque, reducing the frosted glass look that Apple is now favoring.
The most noticeable change can be seen in Apple Music, where the bottom navigation bar has become significantly more opaque, allowing less of the background color to shine through. Similarly, the App Store’s navigation bar has almost entirely lost its translucency, while Safari’s URL bar has become more opaque but still retains some transparency.
Other apps have also tweaked their design, with the Photos app and Calendar having more opaque navigation buttons, while Maps is actually more translucent due to its use of Liquid Glass for turn-turn directions. Notably, Apple Music, Podcasts, and Weather have almost entirely eliminated translucency in their navigation bars.
The changes are largely dependent on background colors, but some apps have retained more transparency than others. Dark Mode has also been tweaked, with menu bar elements becoming darker but white text on a dark background being preserved to increase readability.
The updates have sparked debate among users, with some hoping for the design to be reimplemented and others preferring the more opaque look.
Source: https://www.macrumors.com/guide/ios-26-beta-3-liquid-glass-changes