I thought the same thing but updated couple weeks back and actually really really enjoy the liquid glass. I don't recall what it was about the release that made me think I'd hate it, but I've half fallen in love with it, I was just thinking yesterday I wonder what all the fuss was about.
I believe it's changed a lot since it was initially debut'd via the betas.
And there was that Supabase post mocking it, where they made the whole UI glass, and that biased me a bit ha
I don’t like it on the iPhone, but it’s more a “sigh, I’ll live with it” downgrade than a catastrophic one (at least once you go into the Safari settings and turn off the huge useless address bar by putting it in compact mode). It’s on the Mac where it’s truly a shitshow.
>If it's really as bad as all that, they'll patch existing older releases.
They have patched existing releases of iOS 18... but then they artificially restricted those patches only to a couple of phone models that don't support iOS 26. So if you're on a vaguely modern iDevice and are still on 18 because you don't want the new UI and other fuckups you are not allowed to install the patched 18. It'd be one thing if you had a phone that simply never supported iOS 18 at all, or if Apple wasn't patching iOS 18 at all for anyone, but that they've gone to the effort to fix it but then also used it as another lever for force upgrades is really sucky.
To be fair, it would cost them more to fully test the iOS 18 patches on all devices, than what it cost them to test a few devices. So I wouldn't quite call it artificially holding the patches back. But yeah, it is probably mostly motivated by avoiding bad PR of letting slightly-older devices get hacked, and then forcing everyone else to be on the new release. (FWIW I'm running iOS 18 on an iPhone SE 2020, so probably going to have to embrace all the change and bugs in iOS 26.)
>Is it “you are not allowed,” or Cupertino isn’t going to bother developing and testing?
It is very firmly "you are not allowed". In fact you're not even allowed to switch back to iOS 18 at all. Only actively signed iOS IPSWs can be installed (barring historical cases where someone had saved signing tickets). You can see the current status at sites like https://ipsw.me and if you're on any iOS 26 supported iDevice currently only 26.3.1 is signed. The last iOS 18 version was 18.6.2 from August of last year. If you go back to the iPhone XS/XR, you'll see they're still updating iOS 18, with 18.7.6 released two weeks ago (March 4), but they've chosen to force anyone who wants security updates to move to iOS 26 instead.
The rollback provisions, granted. But I’m arguing the other stuff requires QC attention Apple may not want to provide to a legacy line. That isn’t not allowing something that can be done. It’s not building something they don’t want to.
>But I’m arguing the other stuff requires QC attention Apple may not want to provide to a legacy line.
Oh come on. This is HN, we know how development works, how modular an OS, how the patch process works and what that entails for testing in an incredibly restricted and limited hardware base. We know they have no issue doing retroactive updates for quite awhile on the same code base for Macs, which have enormously more hardware variance then iDevices. These are extremely high profit margin premium products. You really don't need to carry water for the multi-trillion dollar megacorp with absolute wide eyed credulity.
And on other systems, even if it wasn't supported, it'd be perfectly possible for hardware owners to patch various components or implement workarounds. It's only on iOS that Apple is utilizing technical controls to stop that dead.
>That isn’t not allowing something that can be done.
Yes, it is. They are 100% using their technical controls built into the underlying hardware and then on up for not allow something that can be done. They could trivially allow hardware owners, even if only as a buy-time option, to have the ability to add their own certificates to the iOS root of trust, and in turn install and modify any software they wished on their own to the extent of their abilities. Apple wouldn't have to do anything except not exert maximal artificial control.
They don't do that. They have the power. It's their responsibility in turn. It's pretty irritating anyone who has been around the block as much as you have would try to white wash that. FFS.
No. Apple already released the patch in February, and Apple chose not not patch older releases.
Apple of 2026 is not the same Apple of 2025. The people at Apple have held back iOS 18.7.3, iOS 18.7.4, iOS 18.7.5, or iOS 18.7.6 for most iPhones that support iOS 18.
These are dozens of CVEs patched in these updates, including numerous exploits as bad or worse than the one described in this one. (Article is paywalled so I couldn't read it, so I am getting the details from Google's post https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/dar...
Unfortunately, in iOS 26, there is a new bug where Lockdown Mode breaks call recording, which is something I rely on. Something to weigh for anyone on iOS 18 who is considering installing iOS 26.
Nope, call recording. Not sure how universal this is, but phone call recording immediately stops with the "This call is no longer being recorded" effect afterwards.
I thought the same thing but updated couple weeks back and actually really really enjoy the liquid glass. I don't recall what it was about the release that made me think I'd hate it, but I've half fallen in love with it, I was just thinking yesterday I wonder what all the fuss was about.
I believe it's changed a lot since it was initially debut'd via the betas. And there was that Supabase post mocking it, where they made the whole UI glass, and that biased me a bit ha
I don’t like it on the iPhone, but it’s more a “sigh, I’ll live with it” downgrade than a catastrophic one (at least once you go into the Safari settings and turn off the huge useless address bar by putting it in compact mode). It’s on the Mac where it’s truly a shitshow.
Apple is probably going to issue an update for 18. Heck they released a security update for coruna on 15.x last week. Same thing maybe?
No, they are not. Apple is choosing to only release the iOS 18 security patches for the XS and XR.
If it's really as bad as all that, they'll patch existing older releases.
>If it's really as bad as all that, they'll patch existing older releases.
They have patched existing releases of iOS 18... but then they artificially restricted those patches only to a couple of phone models that don't support iOS 26. So if you're on a vaguely modern iDevice and are still on 18 because you don't want the new UI and other fuckups you are not allowed to install the patched 18. It'd be one thing if you had a phone that simply never supported iOS 18 at all, or if Apple wasn't patching iOS 18 at all for anyone, but that they've gone to the effort to fix it but then also used it as another lever for force upgrades is really sucky.
To be fair, it would cost them more to fully test the iOS 18 patches on all devices, than what it cost them to test a few devices. So I wouldn't quite call it artificially holding the patches back. But yeah, it is probably mostly motivated by avoiding bad PR of letting slightly-older devices get hacked, and then forcing everyone else to be on the new release. (FWIW I'm running iOS 18 on an iPhone SE 2020, so probably going to have to embrace all the change and bugs in iOS 26.)
> you are not allowed to install the patched 18
Is it “you are not allowed,” or Cupertino isn’t going to bother developing and testing?
>Is it “you are not allowed,” or Cupertino isn’t going to bother developing and testing?
It is very firmly "you are not allowed". In fact you're not even allowed to switch back to iOS 18 at all. Only actively signed iOS IPSWs can be installed (barring historical cases where someone had saved signing tickets). You can see the current status at sites like https://ipsw.me and if you're on any iOS 26 supported iDevice currently only 26.3.1 is signed. The last iOS 18 version was 18.6.2 from August of last year. If you go back to the iPhone XS/XR, you'll see they're still updating iOS 18, with 18.7.6 released two weeks ago (March 4), but they've chosen to force anyone who wants security updates to move to iOS 26 instead.
The rollback provisions, granted. But I’m arguing the other stuff requires QC attention Apple may not want to provide to a legacy line. That isn’t not allowing something that can be done. It’s not building something they don’t want to.
>But I’m arguing the other stuff requires QC attention Apple may not want to provide to a legacy line.
Oh come on. This is HN, we know how development works, how modular an OS, how the patch process works and what that entails for testing in an incredibly restricted and limited hardware base. We know they have no issue doing retroactive updates for quite awhile on the same code base for Macs, which have enormously more hardware variance then iDevices. These are extremely high profit margin premium products. You really don't need to carry water for the multi-trillion dollar megacorp with absolute wide eyed credulity.
And on other systems, even if it wasn't supported, it'd be perfectly possible for hardware owners to patch various components or implement workarounds. It's only on iOS that Apple is utilizing technical controls to stop that dead.
>That isn’t not allowing something that can be done.
Yes, it is. They are 100% using their technical controls built into the underlying hardware and then on up for not allow something that can be done. They could trivially allow hardware owners, even if only as a buy-time option, to have the ability to add their own certificates to the iOS root of trust, and in turn install and modify any software they wished on their own to the extent of their abilities. Apple wouldn't have to do anything except not exert maximal artificial control.
They don't do that. They have the power. It's their responsibility in turn. It's pretty irritating anyone who has been around the block as much as you have would try to white wash that. FFS.
No. Apple already released the patch in February, and Apple chose not not patch older releases.
Apple of 2026 is not the same Apple of 2025. The people at Apple have held back iOS 18.7.3, iOS 18.7.4, iOS 18.7.5, or iOS 18.7.6 for most iPhones that support iOS 18.
These are dozens of CVEs patched in these updates, including numerous exploits as bad or worse than the one described in this one. (Article is paywalled so I couldn't read it, so I am getting the details from Google's post https://cloud.google.com/blog/topics/threat-intelligence/dar...
- CVE-2025-43541, CVE-2025-43501 WebKit zero day https://www.theregister.com/2025/12/15/apple_follows_google_... (iOS 18.7.3)
- CVE-2025-43529 and CVE-2025-14174, mentioned in the article (iOS 18.7.3)
- The dyld exploit fixed in iOS 18.7.5, and the exploit in this article https://www.theregister.com/2026/02/12/apple_ios_263/ (iOS 18.7.5)
Unfortunately, in iOS 26, there is a new bug where Lockdown Mode breaks call recording, which is something I rely on. Something to weigh for anyone on iOS 18 who is considering installing iOS 26.
> Lockdown Mode breaks call recording
Do you mean screen recording? What are the symptoms of the bug?
Nope, call recording. Not sure how universal this is, but phone call recording immediately stops with the "This call is no longer being recorded" effect afterwards.
One can hope but I do not trust them.
Liquid glass isn’t too bad on the iPhone or even the iPad. It’s mostly on the Mac that it sucks.