iOS 26 Beta 2 Fixes Control Center Design

[MacRumors]

With the second beta of iOS 26 that Apple provided to developers today, Apple addressed one of the major complaints that people have had with Liquid Glass.

iOS 26 beta 1 on left, iOS 26 beta 2 on right​

The Control Center buttons are now slightly more opaque, making it easier to see the different control options even on a multicolored background. The new, more opaque look is apparent with the standard app icons and the glass icon style.

The Liquid Glass design refresh in iOS 26 will be an adjustment, but small tweaks like the one Apple made to Control Center will make it easier for people to transition when the operating system launches this fall.

Article Link: iOS 26 Beta 2 Fixes Control Center Design

 

[MacUserFella]

For me, I think it’s suckier

 

[dustin_]

i preferred the look of beta 1. it was a shock at first, but fun to use once you got used to it. beta 2 is ugly imo.

 

[Kramerjn]

For me, I think it’s suckier

I agree, actually. Now it just looks slightly different than it did on iOS 18 and takes away from the aesthetic.

 

[indros]

With the second beta of iOS 26 that Apple provided to developers today, Apple addressed one of the major complaints that people have had with Liquid Glass.

iOS 26 beta 1 on left, iOS 26 beta 2 on right​

The Control Center buttons are now slightly more opaque, making it easier to see the different control options even on a multicolored background. The new, more opaque look is apparent with the standard app icons and the glass icon style.

The Liquid Glass design refresh in iOS 26 will be an adjustment, but small tweaks like the one Apple made to Control Center will make it easier for people to transition when the operating system launches this fall.

Article Link: iOS 26 Beta 2 Fixes Control Center Design

I find it really disappointing that Apple is spending any time on Liquid Glass while we wait for over-promised Apple Intelligence features.

 

[xhArRiSoNxD]

i didnt mind it at all. You dont really need to read the control center icons too much cause they generally don’t change much.

The lock screen is bad depending on your background. My parents are going to have to turn all that liquid glass stuff off to see the white text on a HDR background picture like the one i have currently.

 

[Radeon85]

I prefer B2, looks less distracting.

 

[nfl46]

Good. While I won’t say it looks better in Beta 2, readability has improved significantly.

 

[JohnC1959]

I find it really disappointing that Apple is spending any time on Liquid Glass while we wait for over-promised Apple Intelligence features.

You do know that it's entirely different teams working on each of those and that simply moving people from one team to another rarely works well. Not only are the skills only partially transferrable, but for any given effort you reach a point where adding more people just hampers the effort.

 

[AppliedMicro]

So Liquid Glass.
Just less glassy.

I agree it now locks worse.
But probably will have better readability.

Screenshots on a rumor website and online forum aren’t representative of real world use (outside under daylight, etc.).

 

[DHagan4755]

It's an improvement, for sure. It'd be better if they made the background completely opaque with a gradient color representing the dominant color of what's behind it. I don't think we need to see the what's behind it it, so no blur would be necessary.

 

[mcbumbersnazzle]

"Fixes"

 

[LuissCM]

I find it really disappointing that Apple is spending any time on Liquid Glass while we wait for over-promised Apple Intelligence features.

I understand the Apple AI disappointment but I'm pretty sure the team behind liquid glass has nothing to to with Apple Intelligence if anything the AI team just needs to make sure the UI is fine once the figure out all the backend stuff they have been doing wrong for years now.

 

[Rogifan]

How do we know this was Apple ‘fixing’ the design due to complaints? If we believe John Gruber’s sources what we saw in beta 1 came together quickly and some inside Apple weren’t even sure if it would come together in time for WWDC. Seems more likely that Apple has been constantly working on changes and some of those changes will show up in future betas and address complaints people have had. I guess what I’m saying is I don’t believe Apple ever intended to ship software this fall that had major legibility issues.

 

[JohnC1959]

How do we know this was Apple ‘fixing’ the design due to complaints? If we believe John Gruber’s sources what we saw in beta 1 came together quickly and some inside Apple weren’t even sure if it would come together in time for WWDC. Seems more likely that Apple has been constantly working on changes and some of those changes will show up in future betas and address complaints people have had. I guess what I’m saying is I don’t believe Apple ever intended to ship software this fall that had major legibility issues.

It wouldn't surprise me if they fully expected they would tweak the transparency but decided to go ahead with Beta 1 and get some additional feedback to guide those tweaks.

 

[n-evo]

The Control Center buttons are now slightly more opaque, making it easier to see the different control options even on a multicolored background.

Didn’t they just make the entire backdrop more blurry?

 

[CharlesShaw]

It wouldn't surprise me if they fully expected they would tweak the transparency but decided to go ahead with Beta 1 and get some additional feedback to guide those tweaks.

Agreed. "Hey Testers. Does this amount of transparency make my butt look fat?"

 

[The Game 161]

certainly fixed the issue so glad apple has took it on board.

 

[JohnC1959]

The Control Center buttons are now slightly more opaque, making it easier to see the different control options even on a multicolored background.

Didn’t they just make the entire backdrop more blurry?

It's both. The combination of those two fixes means that they only have to do each of those a little to make things better.

 

[svish]

Better to read now but did not have an issue with it earlier. Will be better if Apple gives an option to set the level of transparency for the control center items.

 

[Neil Harrison]

The beta has been really stable..nerovous about downloading it lol

 

[iPay]

Looks like the guy who was blamed for jelly scrolling went postal and released the Full Jelly Design.

 

[winxmac]

From Windows Aero to Windows Basic

I'm so used to the iOS 11 to iOS 17 Control Center that the only time I will have to get used to with the iOS 18 and newer Control Center is when I upgrade from my iPhone 11 Pro Max still running iOS 17.7

 

[Parowdy]

Such innovation.

 

[PotentPeas]

Phew, thank you.
Did they do anything to the background of notification bubbles on the lock screen, which were also way too "transparent"?