LiquidGlassReference

iOS 26 Liquid Glass: Comprehensive Swift/SwiftUI Reference

https://conor.fyi/writing/liquid-glass-reference

Overview


iOS 26 Liquid Glass represents Apple's most significant design evolution since iOS 7, introduced at WWDC 2025 (June 9, 2025). **Liquid Glass is a translucent, dynamic material that reflects and refracts surrounding content while transforming to bring focus to user tasks**. This unified design language spans iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe 26, watchOS 26, tvOS 26, and visionOS 26.

Liquid Glass features real-time light bending (lensing), specular highlights responding to device motion, adaptive shadows, and interactive behaviors. The material continuously adapts to background content, light conditions, and user interactions, creating depth and hierarchy between foreground controls and background content.

**Key Characteristics:**

• Lensing: Bends and concentrates light in real-time (vs. traditional blur that scatters light)
• Materialization: Elements appear by gradually modulating light bending
• Fluidity: Gel-like flexibility with instant touch responsiveness
• Morphing: Dynamic transformation between control states
• Adaptivity: Multi-layer composition adjusting to content, color scheme, and size

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Part 1: Foundation \u0026 Basics

1.1 Core Concepts

**Design Philosophy** Liquid Glass is exclusively for the **navigation layer** that floats above app content. Never apply to content itself (lists, tables, media). This maintains clear visual hierarchy: content remains primary while controls provide functional overlay.

**Material Variants**

Variant	Use Case	Transparency	Adaptivity
.regular	Default for most UI	Medium	Full - adapts to any content
.clear	Media-rich backgrounds	High	Limited - requires dimming la