[mglikesbikes]

How many have used the new iOS daily since it was announced?

Gentle reminder that the average Mac user is nontechnical, especially the younger generation. IMO this is Apple slapping a formalized paint on the simplification of iOS 7, and doubling down on iconography (not app icons).

Now all of that said — there are major usability concerns in iOS 26 and the liquid glass design language. The file picker’s previous “Done” has been replaced with a single checkmark. Significant meaning is lost in a few places, and there are super-odd double-X icons (in mobile safari while entering a URL, for example). Safari’s new tab button is now out of reach, while the previous new tab gesture is now new tab group. Context menus expand now, instead of swipe, meaning what used to feel more natural now takes extra taps/muscle memory updates.

That all said, as iOS 7 improved over time and was nailed down, so will this.

To me it’s given the iPhone - an incredibly boring platform/device 18 years in - new life. The new Lock Screen Photo Shuffle is incredibly personable and downright beautiful. From my understanding, a lot of work went into pre-composing app icons, many of which are objectively beautiful.

I’ve found users can’t find buttons “under the thumb” so I’m curious how the dedicated tab bar search will work in practice.

Overall I think for the goals of liquid glass as a design system, it’s something only Apple could do - in a good way.

[sixothree]

I did a yolo and installed it the day after it was released. I have been daily driving it since. I like it. And I mean I really like it. When Apple says the focus is the content, they really mean it. The content is king here, not the interface.

All of these things people keep telling me are "worse" are often things I thought were poorly designed in the first place. Being able to find controls easily seems to be the biggest complaint, for instance the buttons in Safari. I've always thought the buttons in Safari were unintuitive. This actually feels better to me.

This idea that things are harder to find because of the visual changes, that goes away in like a day. Just like every major visual upgrade before this your eyes train to it _extremely_ quickly.

I do feel like they "borrowed" the shape of textboxes from google though with the circular edges. I was never really a fan of that shape.