The biggest new Apple release is not a product, or even a feature, but what the company calls a material: Liquid Glass.
It is not a material in the traditional sense, and doesn’t actually physically exist. Instead, it is the idea behind a sweeping redesign of the software for all of its products, and will change how everything from the small screen of the Apple Watch to the big screen of a TV actually looks.
At its most simplistic, Liquid Glass is a new look for the software. Its central features are that it is more transparent and shiny than the existing look.
But the changes are coming right across the system. They will alter how the controls on its devices look as well as the app icons, and so will appear throughout using Apple products.
They are part of the new operating system updates revealed on Monday at Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference. They will be released to the public later this year, and come to the iPhone’s iOS, iPadOS, MacOS and tvOS.
The new look is inspired by the Vision Pro, the Apple headset that was first shown off two years ago. At launch, that device had a glassy and transparent look, which meant that it was possible to see windows through the transparent background of one that was placed in front of it, for instance.
But it goes further in the new software. The glass look itself can change as a result of the content around it, as well as movement, so that Apple claims it “behaves like glass in the real world”.
The first place the redesign will likely become clear is the new Lock Screen, which uses the glass look for the time on the screen and other parts of the display. But Apple has also redesigned its apps to use the new look.
Developers of third-party apps will also be able to use it. Apple said that it will make technology available so that they can easily adopt the new design, refreshing their apps to fit with the new look.
At the same time as introducing the new “material”, Apple also made the software easier to customise. That includes changing the colour of folders in MacOS, for instance, as well as new colour tints for the screen and a transparent menu bar.
Liquid Glass might also be a hint at the Apple devices that are to come, and Apple explicitly said that the new design sets the stage for a new generation of products. It is not clear exactly what that means, but might indicate that Apple is for instance preparing devices that will lean more heavily into the glass hardware they are built out of.
