At WWDC 2025, Apple introduced its largest design update in over ten years, the Liquid Glass concept – which reshapes the visual language across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS. Interfaces now feel lighter and more dynamic, with translucent layers that mimic real glass refractions and adapt in real time to shifts in background, lighting and device movement.
In a sense, this is Apple’s subtle nod to skeuomorphism, reimagined for modern hardware yet still rooted in flat design principles. Gone are the days of imitating leather or wood; instead, the system builds depth and visual richness through light and layered glass effects. Much of this is powered by Apple Silicon chips, whose performance drives the new animations and interactions. Apple explains that Liquid Design is meant to lay a fresh foundation for user experience, one that will feel more natural as AR devices continue to develop.
The story of Liquid Design actually starts with visionOS, the operating system for Apple’s Vision Pro headset. From day one, that platform embraced spatial interfaces with volumetric, translucent elements that seem to float in the user’s environment rather than pull them out of it. Now Apple is bringing that aesthetic to more traditional devices, aiming for a unified ecosystem where users can switch seamlessly between an iPhone and a Vision Pro without losing visual continuity.
That said, not everyone is on board. Accessibility experts have voiced concerns that heavy use of transparency and visual effects can hurt readability. In some cases, text contrast falls to just 1.5:1 well below the WCAG-recommended minimum of 4.5:1 for body text—and on certain backgrounds legibility becomes a real issue. Apple includes options to reduce transparency or boost contrast, but it still begs the question: why not make the core interface accessible to everyone from the start?
Clearly, Liquid Design goes beyond mere aesthetics. Apple is laying the groundwork for its future in wearable AR, and a unified design language will help bridge flat screens and spatial interfaces. Apple introduces a delightful and elegant new software design, and those innovations are almost certainly focused on strengthening Apple’s presence in augmented and mixed reality. The emphasis on transparent, adaptive and context-aware interfaces points to a future where we interact with technology not through fixed screens but in the space around us.
Written by Sergey Goltsov
For more information, please visit sergeigoltsov.com.
