Liquid glass. It is an umbrella term for interface changes on practically all Apple platforms, but it also evokes an intangible thing; The digital, transparent and amorphous glass that slides, flexes and responds to the touch in a way that real glass could never do.
A few hours after Apple unveiled, at WWDC 2025, the biggest change for iOS since iOS 7 13 years ago, I, with the world editor of Tom’s Guide, Mark Spoonauer, sat with the main vice-president of Apple software engineering, Craig Federighi, and the world vice-president of Apple Greg Joswiak Which revealed during his 90 -minute key.
We talked about Siri, Apple Intelligence and the remarkable transformation of iPados, but it is when we asked questions about the inspiration for liquid glass that the pair has become the most lively.
Federighi first confirmed what rumors have suggested for months: that the toddler-aging Visionos, which takes place on the $ 3,500 helmet of the mixed reality of Apple, was the place where it all started.
“So, I would say that the most obvious inspiration is visionos, which uses glass, and you say:” Well, why has Visionos used glass? Well, glass is a material that allows interfaces to sit in the context, in this case, of a room, and feel like chrome [or frame] – That is to say the glass- consumes a little less space. This allows more context to pass. It was very powerful in the concept of visionos “.
I had trouble believing, however, that this still new platform could be the complete inspiration for Liquid Glass, a design approach that should appear in iOS 26, iPados 26, MacOS Tahoe, Tvos 26 and Watchos 26. I asked Federighi if he had watched Visionos and the Lightbulb bulb, or if there were other older influences. It turns out that Apple’s obsession for glass interfaces dates back at least a dozen years.
Through the glass in search
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“If you look back on iOS, 7, we started working with translucent materials, then you even saw in MacOS Yosemite, the side bars and the windows began to have this type of translucidity,” he said. “So there was a window, already, which found its way as a building material for the interfaces.”
Federighi also revealed the extent of real world tests which have been devoted to the strangely realistic appearance and responsiveness of the liquid glass. “There [are these] rooms designed. You know, they bring […] In different pieces of glass with different opacities, different lenses, it’s quite interesting. “.
He added that Apple has an industrial design studio that has the capacity to make almost anything. “There were certainly real material studies that were done there.”
The efforts to simulate real glass and its optical qualities were extended, but liquid glass also makes things that no real glass can do, as changing shape when you touch or move it. But it goes further than that.
“We have found that due to the incredible diversity of content you have on your device – you scroll through a flow and everything is white and suddenly, there is an image of the dark sky that comes and scrolled under the glass – but you want the glass to react in a way that a clear transparent glass would do it.
Suddenly, the dark thing comes into play, and you cannot read any of your text, or it looks poor. We were able to build adaptive glass which changes the way it transmits the color which can even go from a dark glass to an adaptive clear glass, understanding what is behind. So, you know, it now becomes this incredibly malleable material that is always integrated with everything below. “”
Come back soon for a link to the Podcast Techradar and Tom’s Guide with the full interview with Federighi and Joswiak.
