iOS 26 Liquid Glass Effect Makes App Icons Appear Tilted, Causing Disorientation
So, there's this new thing in iOS 26 called Liquid Glass, and it's got some people feeling a bit...off. Basically, it's supposed to make app icons look all glassy and cool, with depth and stuff. But, for some users, it's creating this weird optical illusion that makes the icons look tilted.
I can imagine how that would be annoying! Imagine staring at your phone all day, and everything looks like it's about to slide off. It's like when you have one too many and the room starts spinning. I've seen reports online of people saying it's actually making them feel dizzy.
The problem seems to be worse when you're using dark backgrounds or have your icons set to "Dark," "Clear," or "Tinted" modes. The glowing corners of the icons, that are meant to give that liquid effect, end up tricking your eyes. Colorful wallpapers seem to help a bit, though, since they distract from the edges of the icons. Seems like not everyone's affected, but those who are REALLY don't like it. One user commented all of iOS 26 is an optical nightmare, calling it horrible.
Interestingly, some accessibility settings that reduce transparency or motion don't seem to fix the issue. You'd think turning those on would help, but apparently not. Hopefully, Apple will listen to the feedback and give us an option to adjust or turn off this Liquid Glass effect in a future update. I know I'd appreciate that. After all, usability should always come first, right?
Source: Mac Rumors