While we still don't know what new hardware the iPhone 17 models might be packing, we have seen the big changes coming to iPhone software with iOS26. Liquid Glass delivers a significant design refresh, and that's just where Apple is starting. The Photos app is getting a functional redesign, while Messages and Phone apps are putting power back in your hands by delivering features around hold, and screening calls. Apple Intelligence is still contributing as well, even if Siri has been delayed.
The next version of the operating system is due to ship in September or October (likely with new iPhone 17 models), but developer betas are available now, with a public beta expected this month.
Watch this: Introducing iOS 26 at WWDC25 04:37
Apple/Screenshot by Joe Maldonado/CNET
Transparent new Liquid glass design
After more than a decade of a flat, clean user interface -- an overhaul introduced in iOS 7 when former Apple Chief Design Officer Jony Ive took over the design of software as well as hardware -- the iPhone is getting a new look. The new design extends throughout the Apple product lineup, from iOS to WatchOS, TVOS and iPadOS.
The Liquid Glass interface also now enables a third way to view app icons on the iPhone home screen. Not content with Light and Dark modes, iOS 26 now features an All Clear look -- every icon is clear glass with no color. Lock screens can also have an enhanced 3D effect using spatial scenes, which use machine learning to give depth to your background photos.
The new All Clear icon look in iOS 26 is part of the Liquid Glass design. Apple/Screenshot by Jeff Carlson/CNET
Dynamic and adaptable lock screen
Translucency is the defining characteristic of Liquid Glass, behaving like glass in the real world in the way it deals with light and color of objects behind and near controls. But it's not just a glassy look: The "liquid" part of Liquid Glass refers to how controls can merge and adapt -- dynamically morphing, in Apple's words. In the example Apple showed, the glassy time numerals on an iPhone lock screen stretched to accommodate the image of a dog and even shrunk as the image shifted to accommodate incoming notifications. The dock and widgets are now rounded, glassy panels that float above the background.
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