Is iOS 26 an ‘Optical Nightmare’? Viral Reddit Thread Criticises Apple’s Liquid Glass Look

iOS 26 is Apple’s biggest redesign of the iPhone software in years. The crux of it is the new Liquid Glass design, encompassing a fluid, translucent flow in nearly every element of the interface. It is strikingly different from any of the previous iOS versions, so much so that it has polarised people. While some have praised Apple’s move, calling it bold by all means, a growing section of users has criticised it, calling the new design language an “optical nightmare.”

A Reddit user started a thread titled “I’m not usually one to complain about things but holy iOS 26 is trash,” stating issues with Liquid Glass UI, including blurry app icons, overlapping menus, jiggly animation, and overstimulation. Multiple users joined the discussion, echoing the same sentiment. According to them, the app icons look misaligned, while the dark mode looks like an “optical nightmare.” Some users even accused the new iPhone software of causing dizziness and uneasiness during prolonged usage.

“Not to mention search and text bars literally flickering as you scroll past content,” said one of the users, replying to the thread. “Blurry Home Screen icons, unnecessary borders, overlapping, and enlarged elements, extra presses to do most anything. Horrible UI update, makes using my phone an unenjoyable experience.”

One user said, “I feel like they changed little things just to advertise it, and left everything else unmarketable as a hot mess.” Another one demanded the person behind transparent notifications on the lock screen “to be fired,” saying that “having any coloured wallpaper makes reading the text difficult and scrolling thru [through] notifications and having the glass constantly shifting the blur of the background is stupidly annoying and hurts my eyes.”

The concerns are genuine, but Apple has a remedy. By diving into the settings, you can reduce this visual flair on your iPhone. Head to Settings > Accessibility > Display > Text Size, and then just toggle on Reduce Transparency. You can also downgrade to iOS 18.7 if you are comfortable missing out on some useful features, like Call Screening and Live Translation.

Read more: iPhone 18 Pro: Early Leaks Hint at Apple’s New Transparent Design and Chip Shift