Jony Ive’s long era of flat design is dead. At WWDC 2025 today, Apple ushered in “Liquid Glass,” a new interface for iOS 26 (all of Apple’s software platforms are jumping straight to “26”) modeled after the glassy, reflective, and translucent software design it first introduced for Vision Pro’s visionOS two years ago.

The new Liquid Glass visual refresh is Apple’s first major interface overhaul for the iPhone in 12 years. In 2013, former design chief Ive rebooted the iPhone’s operating system with iOS 7 (aka The Great Flattening)—a shift away from the skeuomorphic interface that Steve Jobs and former Apple software chief Scott Forstall had championed in favor of rounder and texture-free iconography, thinner fonts, and brighter colors and more negative space. iOS 7 was so jarring for so many iPhone users that Apple slowly undid the extreme redesign in subsequent iOS updates to make it more usable, though the general aesthetic of flat software remained flat.

Liquid Glass brings back depth with a modern twist. Instead of skeuomorphism—digital design that imitates real-world objects and textures—iOS 26 uses light reflections and shadows to make buttons and menu bars appear layered on top of content. Though Apple improved usability with thicker fonts and subtle gradients, it could still be difficult to identify what was a tappable element versus what is content. iOS 26 seems to merge the best of flat design (uncluttered minimalism) with just a smidge of skeuomorphism (glass and the way it reacts to lighting at different angles).

Beyond the fresh coat of paint, iOS 26 is mostly the same familiar iPhone software that more than 1 billion people use to connect with each other. That is to say, there won’t be a steep learning curve. Most of Apple’s own apps work largely as before. Some apps have been tweaked to be easier to use. For example, the camera app now has a more unified experience for shooting and the Photos app. Specifically, it’s easier to switch between video and still photo modes.

The Messages app is finally getting several features other chat apps like WhatsApp have had for years: polls and custom backgrounds for group chats. For the latter, you can use Apple Intelligence to generate a unique background. Group chats are also getting typing indicators.

The Phone app is getting a Hold Assist feature that automatically detects hold music and holds your place so you don’t need to sit there waiting. There’s also a live translation feature. The Music app has three new features: lyrics translations, lyrics pronunciations, and automix. There’s also a new Games app that centralizes Apple Arcade titles and achievements from within games.

This story is developing…