Belated Liquid Glass on iPhone First Impressions
This morning I reluctantly updated my iPhone SE (3rd generation) from iOS 18.7.2 to iOS 26.2. I had been hoping for Santa Cook to bring me iOS 18.7.3 for Christmas. Apparently, though, we’ve all been naughty. Or maybe Cook himself is not nice. I was aware that it was (previously) possible to install iOS 18.7.3 by enabling beta software updates, but nowadays that requires enabling iCloud, which I refuse to do on my iPhone. According to MacRumors and my followers on social media, Apple has within the past 24 hours stopped providing 18.7.3 on the beta track. Moreover, Apple is providing restore image to developers for only a few iPhone models: XR, XS, and XS Max. Thus, it appears that iOS 18 is effectively discontinued on most devices, and iOS 18.7.2 suffers from actively exploited security vulnerabilities.
More on that here. I also somewhat involuntarily just updated to iOS 26.2, because I got a new Apple Watch and it refuses to pair with an iPhone running iOS 18.
What struck me on iPhone was something I hadn’t noticed as much on Mac and iPad: the animations.
[…]
There are quite a few visual glitches remaining, three months after the public release of the new operating system. If iOS 26.0 was half-baked, iOS 26.2 is at most two-thirds-baked.
Needless to say, I enabled Reduce Transparency in Display & Text Size Accessibility Settings as soon as I updated to iOS 26. I had already enabled Show Borders and On/Off Labels in iOS 18 or earlier.
[…]
By the way, don’t get me started on the Liquid Crass replacement of close buttons with checkboxes. (On iOS 18, the checkbox in the video was a Done button.) This change is insane! And I’ve already had a customer confused by the checkbox, thinking that they had to “approve” something in the window.
I’d seen the betas, too, and already knew I didn’t like Liquid Glass. What struck me in everyday use is how many glitches remain and that the accessibility settings don’t work very well. There are glass borders that start out with square corners and then become rounded. As with previous recent versions, various things just don’t look good with Reduce Transparency enabled—ugly colors, edges that are harder to see in a sea of white—like I’m being penalized for using it. I ended up turning it off because sometimes the keyboard doesn’t show the labels of the keys. I find the Liquid Glass animations annoying, too, but many of them remain even after enabling Reduce Motion. Prefer Cross-Fade Transitions helps but looks odd, in my opinion, and causes temporarily glitches with curved outlines being left behind. I guess it’s easier to not consider the “bloody ROI” if you don’t commit the resources to actually finishing the job.
Previously:
- iOS 26.2
- Liquid Glass Toggle in appleOS 26.1 Beta
- Shipping Liquid Glass
- Apple Watch SE 3
- Glowtime Ennui
Update (2025-12-23): Craig Grannell:
“like I’m being penalized for using it”
That’s how I’ve long felt about Apple’s approach to the visual design of a lot of accessibility features. It feels petulant. “Well, if you don’t want our gorgeous design, you can make do with THIS.” And there are so many vestibular triggers left in these systems, it may actually be dangerous for some people to update. Yet Apple is effectively forcing them too anyway.
Update (2025-12-26): Arnaud:
I personally love the animations but hard agree on the half baked stuff.
The Mail app is the worst, especially in the headers where the unsubscribe prompt and “could not load over vpn” message live. It’s something you’d expect from android circa 2010.
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Interesting wasn't aware that 18.7.3 was only briefly available as a beta. If we never get a release 18.7.3 it'll be because the spiteful Liquid Asses at Apple have decided to expose OS 18 users who despise v26 to known and circulating security exploits. Upgrade or get F'd! We'll see about that.
Glad I picked up the update before they removed it from the beta track. I never thought I'd say this, but I'm really starting to despise Apple as a company. They botched iOS 26, and their response is to force users onto it any way possible. Preventing the 18.7.3 security update on devices perfectly capable of running it is ridiculous.
Regularly on iOS 26 I turn on a few accessibility settings just to get rid of the Liquid Glass noise and issues, and I have to turn most of them off a few hours later because of the "unfinished" vibe they give; the blank keyboard to unlock the phone surely isn't great nor accessible. I only keep "Show borders" and "Bold Text" on, at least for now. I'm with you on the animations: it feels odd without them, as in there is a little delay in which we don't know whether swiping gestures are registered as input or not.
I begrudgingly ordered a "refreshed" iPhone SE 3rd gen from Amazon to replace my iPhone 7, since half of the apps I want to use refuse to work in iOS 15. I have my fingers crossed that it arrives with iOS 18 installed, and not 26.
I was complaining about this years ago on, I believe it was, iOS 15->16 when they ruined the Apple TV app. I kept my iPad on it as long as I could but they very quickly stopped offering updates.
My Apple TVs, my iPad (not the same one), and even my brand new 17PM all feel sluggish and it's all because of LG.
This kind of thing is what makes me thing Tim Cook/CFed can't possibly be using their own products. Even the brand newest hardware on the latest software is just clearly so pointlessly unfinished.
They wanted to distract from the Apple Intelligence debacle, but this was like starting a fire to distract from dropping the ball.
12:02:00 PM EST (basically 17:00 UT)... iOS 18.7.3 is available for - at least? - me. Released 12 December 2025, build 22H217. Yes, on the developer site. Nothing personal @Allen, but beta track (to me at least) equates to the developer site.
At a time on this planet where the divisiveness - be it political, cultural, technical - I just think while we *should* take Apple to task for, well, WAY TO MANY THINGS they do - we also should strive to make sure we are both complete *and* accurate about what is, including the (substandard) way they rolled out actual availability for 18.7.3 (and yes, you need to scroll down half way for it, that includes 6 26.6 releases and 6 26.3 beta 1 releases).
Dave, in your quest for completeness and accuracy, did you read the linked blog post that said, "Apple is providing restore image to developers for only a few iPhone models: XR, XS, and XS Max," with a link to the Apple Developer Downloads, or did you bother to click "View all" yourself to see the available restore images?
@Jeff Johnson, yes, I did. Did you actually read my comment? I actually acknowledged this. So let's see what was also in the comments:
> "Apple not releasing 18.7.3 despite it already being in beta is just straight up toxic behaviour."
They did. Just in a majorly poor way, and only for certain models. And with no explanation why.
> "The real F-you from Apple is that iPadOS 18.7.3 IS available."
Well, not exactly. Is it available through Software Update? For certain models only?
In my quest for completeness and fairness, could you point me to your last post that isn't being critical of something? I'd be happy to read it. My comments were more about the comments here, not your original post.
> Did you actually read my comment? I actually acknowledged this.
Where exactly in your comment?
In general, your comment seemed confused and confusing. You were replying to Allen, who said, "Glad I picked up the update before they removed it from the beta track." You said, "Nothing personal @Allen," (whatever that's supposed to mean) "but beta track (to me at least) equates to the developer site." Developers can set their device to install beta updates instead of public updates, which is what Allen and everyone else means by the beta track.
You claimed that iOS 18.7.3 is available, but again, it's available only for a few models now, which your comment did not mention, while lecturing someone else about being complete and accurate.
> In my quest for completeness and fairness, could you point me to your last post that isn't being critical of something?
Do you mean blog posts? If so, my blog has a chronological index, which is accessible via the link above, and could you point me to your blog?
Dave, if you need Pollyanna coverage of Apple, there’s no shortage of it out there. For anyone actually paying attention, there’s very little time, energy and room for anything but pointed criticism of the way present-day Apple is treating its developers and customers. Time is of the essence before all traces of the company people loved are damaged beyond repair.
I’m extremely grateful to developers like Jeff, who put their money where their mouth is and take to task a company that can retaliate against them in invisible but ruinous ways.
