Apple Updates Liquid Glass Design Gallery for iOS 26 and macOS 26

Apple updated its Liquid Glass Design Gallery on April 6, 2026, to showcase how third-party developers are integrating the company’s latest software aesthetic into their applications. The gallery highlights the implementation of Liquid Glass across iOS 26, iPadOS 26, and macOS 26, providing a visual comparison between app designs in iOS 18 and the current iOS 26 version.

The Liquid Glass design language was first previewed on June 9, 2025, as a universal design intended to create harmony across Apple’s ecosystem. The aesthetic extends to iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, and tvOS 26. According to Apple, the design uses a translucent material that reflects and refracts its surroundings and transforms dynamically to increase focus on content.

This is our broadest software design update ever. Meticulously crafted by rethinking the fundamental elements that make up our software, the new design features an entirely new material called Liquid Glass. It combines the optical qualities of glass with a fluidity only Apple can achieve, as it transforms depending on your content or context.

Alan Dye, Apple vice president of Human Interface Design

Third-Party Application Integration

The updated gallery demonstrates how teams of various sizes are using Liquid Glass to create responsive experiences. The material is primarily being applied to navigation buttons, tab bars, and bottom toolbars. Apple also features the adoption of separate search buttons and pop-out menu interfaces, both of which are design elements Apple has implemented in its own first-party applications.

Several specific applications are highlighted for their adoption of the new design standards:

• AllTrails has updated its iOS 26 redesign with enhancements to zoom transitions, toolbar glass buttons, and the tab bar. The app utilizes Liquid Glass navigation buttons that float over trail photography on detail pages, and the hero image collapses into a compact Liquid Glass navigation bar.
• Fantastical has moved its search and calendar controls from the top navigation bar into a Liquid Glass bottom toolbar. The app also uses a Liquid Glass view-switcher popover to allow users to navigate between Month, Week, Calendar, and DayTicker views.
• CARROT Weather has updated its visual appearance, specifically when users pan around the map on the Radar tab. The developer has also reduced the number of tabs in the bottom toolbar to create a cleaner user experience.
• Denim, a playlist cover design app, uses Liquid Glass toolbar controls that blend into its dark canvas. The application’s text labels and undo and redo buttons have also adopted the new aesthetic.

Other apps featured in the gallery include Trello, Kroger, Le Monde, and SketchPro.

Technical Evolution and Future Outlook

Since the debut of Liquid Glass, Apple has introduced minor refinements to the system. One such update included the addition of a slider bar to the Lock Screen clock, which allows users to adjust the Liquid Glass level.

Industry rumors suggest that the Liquid Glass aesthetic will remain a core component of iOS 27, iPadOS 27, and macOS 27 with minimal changes. However, there are indications that Apple may introduce a system-wide slider bar to allow for more precise opacity adjustments of the Liquid Glass material across the entire operating system.