iOS 27 likely won’t include major Liquid Glass changes: report

In just a few months, Apple is expected to unveil its latest round of operating systems: iOS 27, macOS 27, watchOS 27, etc. Previous reports on iOS 27 have largely focused on how this year’s operating systems should focus more on performance improvements and overall stability.

In Today’s Power On newsletterBloomberg’s Mark Gurman reports that we probably won’t see any major changes to Liquid Glass, although there could still be some minor ones.

Many people are not the biggest fans of Liquid Glass, partly due to its poor readability. Personally, I’ve always quite liked Liquid Glass, but I understand many people’s concerns. Design lead Alan Dye, who was largely in charge of the design of Liquid Glass, even left Apple at the end of last year – leaving for Goal. That meant a new design lead, Steve Lemay, took his place.

Many hoped that new design leadership would mean things would go in a different direction soon. Since the debut of iOS 26, we have a few options to customize Liquid Glass, with iOS 26.1 adding ‘Dyed’ optionand iOS 26.4 adding the option to turn off Liquid Glass highlights.

Despite these adjustments, Gurman Reports that we probably won’t see any radical changes with Liquid Glass, reporting that “the latest internal versions of iOS 27 and macOS 27 do not reflect major design changes.” In the end, Liquid Glass took a long time to design, so it won’t be overhauled overnight. He says “years of gradual improvements” are expected.

iOS 27 could add another slider

Still, Gurman reports that Apple could add one more layer of customization to Liquid Glass:

During the development of iOS 26, Apple had been working on a system-wide slider that would allow users to precisely control the level of the glass effect. The company was able to implement this feature for the watch on the lock screen, but ran into engineering challenges trying to extend it to the entire system, including app folders, the home screen, and navigation bars.

If Apple gets that system-wide control working in iOS 27 as desired, along with broader engineering improvements, the entire conversation around Liquid Glass could change dramatically again.

This is apparently more speculative than a direct report, but it would nonetheless be great to see a system-wide slider for adjusting the level of glass, beyond the “Clear” and “Tinted” options we have today, similar to how it works with the lock screen clock.

Are you satisfied with Liquid Glass or would you like to see more radical changes sooner? Let us know in the comments.

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