Apple’s user interfaces are going to feature more transparency than ever before—literally. The company’s new design language—which was announced today at WWDC 2025 and will be incorporated on iPhone, iPad, Mac, Watch, and other Apple devices—is called “Liquid Glass.” The design incorporates transparency into almost every aspect of the user experience, which is going to be either very cool or very annoying, depending on your aesthetic preferences and eyesight.
Credit: Justin Pot
This new design language feels less like an overhaul and more like building on recent UIs trends Apple has been incorporating. I’ve noticed the glassy, transparent effect show up in more and more places over the years. If the keynote presentation at WWDC is anything to go by, that transparency is going to be even more prominent.
Credit: Justin Pot
Screenshots shown during the presentation show colors leaking through everything from pop-up menus to the address bar in Safari.
Credit: Justin Pot
Glass, apparently, will be one of three UI choices alongside the traditional light and dark mode, though I’m not sure what those choices look like relative to each other yet. And there are further customization options. Changes coming to iOS allowing users to customize the color scheme for icons and widgets on their operating system, building on a tint featured added to iOS last year. This change, in the screenshots shown, make home screens feel less cluttered while also potentially reducing the number of times I impulsively tap icons.
What do you think so far?
Credit: Justin Pot
It’s a great deal of customization. People who like transparency are going to be happy; those who don’t like it have the option to try these other modes.
This is all made possible by Apple’s increasingly powerful processors, which can render these kinds of effects easily. I suspect anyone with an older Apple device is going to notice things slowing down. Hopefully the option to turn off transparency entirely will live on in the Accessibility settings—those with poor eyesight are going to need it more than ever.
Leave a Reply