Here's How Apple Plans to Change Liquid Glass in macOS 27

Liquid Glass, Apple's big design overhaul for the "26" era, is contentious to say the least. Some users love it, some hate it, and others despise it. There's a real spectrum of opinions out there, especially since Apple rolled out the design to all of its products. iPhones got it with iOS; iPads with iPadOS 26, and, of course, Macs with macOS 26. Apple later added controls to adjust the look of Liquid Glass across all these platforms, but it's far from an off switch. If you don't like Liquid Glass, you probably aren't going to like Liquid Glass-lite.

It seems, however, that some of the criticism is being levied at some platforms more than others. While Liquid Glass on the iPhone has its detractors, its macOS' interpretation of the design that is drawing ire. Some users aren't happy with the effect Liquid Glass has on legibility across the OS. I like the design overall, but I can agree that, at times, it can be more difficult to read text across a variety of elements than it should be. If you open Control Center, for example, the glassy elements can obscure the text within, especially if you open Control Center over a bright white article or Word document. The same can happen with other UI elements that blend over others; the glassy effect can make it difficult to read.

Bloomberg's Mark Gurman suggests these issues may be due to the Mac's varying display types: Apple's computers can come with LCD or mini-LED displays, not OLED like on the iPhone, Apple Watch, and some iPads. It's possible Apple's glass effects work a bit better on OLED than these other display types, which is why most of the biggest complaints come from Mac users. Apple is working on an OLED MacBook, which could ship as soon as this year, so that could remedy some of the issues, but it wouldn't fix the problem for critics with existing Macs.

macOS 27 could fix these legibility issues with Liquid Glass

As Gurman reports, however, Apple is looking to make some design changes to Liquid Glass on macOS 27. The goal is to update shadows and transparency on the Mac: If Apple can manage to adjust these elements and optimize them for the Mac's larger and varying display types, Liquid Glass could be a bit more useful on macOS. Gurman's source suggests that these changes reflect Apple's original intent for the design. That doesn't surprise me, as the company's original concept video does feel a bit more fluid than the end result.

To be clear, however, this will not be a Liquid Glass "overhaul," nor is the design going anywhere. Gurman says that macOS 27 will mark a "slight redesign" for Liquid Glass, but will not change or erase it completely. If you like Liquid Glass, like me, this should be good news; if you're a critic or a skeptic, you might be a bit disappointed.

But this appears to be Apple's goal for the "27" era: polish and refinement. Gurman has previously reported that the new wave of updates due out this year will offer bug fixes and quality-of-life improvements in favor of a bundle of new features. That sounds great to me: My Apple products already do just about everything I want them to; if Apple can just make the experience a bit smoother, that'll check off most of my requests. Of course, the company likely isn't omitting new features entirely: They're still on the hook for the AI updates to Siri that they promised two years ago (and are currently settling a lawsuit over). But if macOS 27 largely makes my Macs look and run a bit better, I'll be quite content.

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