Why Apple’s redesign falls flat

Overlook summer time already; it’s software program season, and it’s positively raining betas. Between Android 16 and the brand new iOS 26, I’ve been knee-deep in cell OSs and, nicely… I’ve notes.

When you’re an everyday reader, you would possibly know that I’m not an enormous fan of Google’s new Materials 3 Expressive. I don’t hate it, however definitely don’t love its paranoia of something approaching a right-angle. However in comparison with what Apple’s been cooking up in iOS 26, Materials 3 Expressive seems just like the modern-day Creation of Adam.

Like Android’s newest redesign, iOS 26 and its new “Liquid Glass” UI are constructed to be extra reactive and aware of the consumer’s aesthetic choice. It’s additionally designed to unify the look throughout Apple’s product portfolio. Nonetheless, it falls nicely in need of the mark.

I’m positive you’ve seen loads of pictures of it on-line already, and it’s as positively illegible as everybody says. Extreme use of transparency and refraction makes any overlay menu a headache-inducing mess and, from an accessibility standpoint, it’s a catastrophe.

Materials 3 Expressive would possibly look flat by comparability, however its smart, configurable coloration palettes keep away from these sorts of jarring clashes and eyesores. It’s simple to learn and navigate, and will get the job finished with a splash of easy customization.

A UI must be practical firstly, a lesson Apple has seemingly forgotten with Liquid Glass. Apple significantly must dial the transparency again earlier than this ships. As well as, my iPhone 15 Professional has been extremely sizzling and chugs down battery life since updating to iOS 26. It’s too early to inform if these graphics-heavy results are guilty, however there’s a purpose Home windows ditched Vista’s Aero Glass theme.

Apple additionally launched icon theming again with iOS 18 and has a brand new clear possibility to essentially cement its Glass design change. Nonetheless, the shortage of any coloration deprives icons of immediate recognition, making the entire UI tougher to navigate. Whereas Google’s color-themed icon efforts aren’t nice, a minimum of they’re simply distinguished from the background. Android additionally supplies a lot smarter customized theming throughout the UI, making settings and choices simple to see at a look, no matter your coloration palette. Apple nonetheless doesn’t try this, and its newest glass icons are too onerous to eyeball. It’s dangerous design — plain and easy.

To be truthful, the glass impact isn’t horrible when paired with apps that supply largely strong background colours. Nonetheless, utilizing it side-by-side with Google’s newest tweaks, it’s onerous to not conclude that Apple isn’t serious about bettering performance. The digicam app is a first-rate instance; outsized cartoonish bubbles and a labyrinth of hidden layers have changed the glossy, simply accessible, camera-inspired format.

Placing questionable aesthetic selections apart for a minute, iOS 26 apes Materials 3 Expressive with its customizable “Management Middle,” aka Android’s Fast Settings menu. Now you can rearrange and resize icons, permitting you to suit roughly on display, relying in your wants.

In some methods, iOS 26 permits for much more customization with the flexibility to stretch toggles each vertically and horizontally. The media heart, as an illustration, may be made taller or shorter relying on how a lot info you need to show, and even moved round, which you’ll’t do on Android. Nonetheless, some toggles can’t be resized in each path, so once more, it may look a large number.

Nonetheless, Apple’s UI implementation is the actual challenge for me. Android 16 separates resizing and repositioning by requiring a long-press on the toggle. iOS makes an attempt to do each concurrently, which means it’s all too simple to tug as a substitute of resize, inflicting a Microsoft Phrase-style cascade of format chaos. I discovered it infuriating to make use of.

Likewise, Android has addressed a big redundancy bugbear; the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggles now instantly open a small window so that you can configure the required settings. iOS 26 is caught someplace between, permitting you to toggle Wi-Fi on/off rapidly however not Bluetooth, which requires you to leap via a number of menus to seek out the pairing web page. Totally different outcomes relying on press period or location simply add to the insanity.

After spending an admittedly quick time flipping via the newest variations of Android and iOS, I’ve come away with a big distinction in thoughts.

Whereas not excellent, Materials 3 Expressive is primarily centered on making Android extra user-friendly. It’s extra customizable, tweaked to current info extra clearly, and consists of new additions like Stay Updates. It’s a quality-of-life enchancment to an OS we already like; an improve moderately than a redesign.

iOS 26, by comparability, is just about all about appearances. Cherry-pick Liquid Glass on the precise backdrop and it seems nice, however the replace fixes little or no of my long-running bugbears when navigating the OS. Customization is marginally higher, however nonetheless solely pores and skin deep and too typically breaks its personal aesthetic guidelines. Menus stay a laborious back-and-forth arm wrestle that’s now arguably worse in locations, and the glass design hampers moderately than helps readability. It’s a lick of paint on a creaking basis.

The cynic in me would possibly accuse Apple of making an attempt to divert consideration away from its lack of real concepts and abysmal state of Apple Intelligence with a shiny new interface. In spite of everything, these are the highest two enhancements within the iOS 26 press package. Nonetheless, the implementation is so poor that I’m now genuinely involved concerning the platform’s path of journey. Critically, who let this beta cross high quality management?

To cite ex-Apple design chief, Jonny Ive, again on the launch of iOS 7 in 2013: “I believe there’s a profound and enduring magnificence in simplicity; in readability, in effectivity. True simplicity is derived from a lot extra than simply the absence of litter and ornamentation. It’s about bringing order to complexity.”

I’ll go away you to resolve which trendy cell OS finest lives as much as that mantra.