Android 17 May Look A Lot Like iOS 26, But Is That Good News?

Google is preparing to drop the first developer build of its next Android version, Android 17, in the coming weeks, with a new report suggesting that it could be heavily influenced by Apple’s iOS 26. Android 17 is expected to include more translucent and blurred effects in its interface, making it look closer to the latest iPhone software.

A tipster, who goes by MysticLeaks, posted screenshots on Telegram of what could be the interface in the next Android version. While the tipster deleted these images sometime later, his followers were quick to save them and observe the changes compared to Android 16. Shared by one of the people who obtained the original images, the screenshots show increased blur effects in the volume menu and volume bar, particularly in both light and dark themes.

The latest Android 16’s Material 3 Expressive design already offers translucency in the system interface, but these screenshots hint that Google could slightly tweak the look of the next version of its mobile operating system.

Another user who obtained the screenshots from the original poster shared a different set of images on Telegram. In these images, increased blur and translucency effects can be seen in the power menu alongside the full volume menu.

While these are not official images and could have been doctored, reports suggest they belong to a very early version of Android 17, so the subsequent builds may have different effects.

Whether or not these changes to the user interface come is secondary. The main question is: do people want their phone’s operating system to look more translucent or blurred?

Case in point: iOS 26.

Since its release last year, around the iPhone 17 release, people have largely criticised the Liquid Glass design, going as far as to call it “absurd” because it follows the idea of ‘style over substance’. The initial releases triggered several complaints from not just new users but those who have used every iOS version since its inception. The translucent effect across menus and elements of iOS 26 has been reported to hinder the normal user flow. The subsequent iOS 26 updates alleviated the issue, with the company introducing a control to switch the Liquid Glass effect between “Clear” and “Tinted.”

Should Google decide to steal a page from Apple’s playbook, it must consider the backlash around making the user interface fancier than it needs to be, and maybe bring changes that do not mar the Android phone experience.

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