liquid-glass-design

name liquid-glass-design description iOS 26 Liquid Glass design system — dynamic glass material with blur, reflection, and interactive morphing for SwiftUI, UIKit, and WidgetKit. Use when building iOS 26 Liquid Glass UI in SwiftUI, UIKit, or WidgetKit. Liquid Glass Design System (iOS 26) Patterns for implementing Apple's Liquid Glass — a dynamic material that blurs content behind it, reflects color and light from surrounding content, and reacts to touch and pointer interactions. Covers SwiftUI, UIKit, and WidgetKit integration. When to Activate Building or updating apps for iOS 26+ with the new design language Implementing glass-style buttons, cards, toolbars, or containers Creating morphing transitions between glass elements Applying Liquid Glass effects to widgets Migrating existing blur/material effects to the new Liquid Glass API Core Pattern — SwiftUI Basic Glass Effect The simplest way to add Liquid Glass to any view: Text ( "Hello, World!" ) .font(.title) .padding() .glassEffect() // Default: regular variant, capsule shape Customizing Shape and Tint Text ( "Hello, World!" ) .font(.title) .padding() .glassEffect(.regular.tint(.orange).interactive(), in: .rect(cornerRadius: 16.0 )) Key customization options: .regular — standard glass effect .tint(Color) — add color tint for prominence .interactive() — react to touch and pointer interactions Shape: .capsule (default), .rect(cornerRadius:) , .circle Glass Button Styles Button ( "Click Me" ) { /* action */ } .buttonStyle(.glass) Button ( "Important" ) { /* action */ } .buttonStyle(.glassProminent) GlassEffectContainer for Multiple Elements Always wrap multiple glass views in a container for performance and morphing: GlassEffectContainer (spacing: 40.0 ) { HStack (spacing: 40.0 ) { Image (systemName: "scribble.variable" ) .frame(width: 80.0 , height: 80.0 ) .font(.system(size: 36 )) .glassEffect() Image (systemName: "eraser.fill" ) .frame(width: 80.0 , height: 80.0 ) .font(.system(size: 36 )) .glassEffect() } } The spacing parameter controls merge distance — closer elements blend their glass shapes together. Uniting Glass Effects Combine multiple views into a single glass shape with glassEffectUnion : @Namespace private var namespace GlassEffectContainer (spacing: 20.0 ) { HStack (spacing: 20.0 ) { ForEach (symbolSet.indices, id: \. self ) { item in Image (systemName: symbolSet[item]) .frame(width: 80.0 , height: 80.0 ) .glassEffect() .glassEffectUnion(id: item < 2 ? "group1" : "group2" , namespace: namespace) } } } Morphing Transitions Create smooth morphing when glass elements appear/disappear: @State private var isExpanded = false @Namespace private var namespace GlassEffectContainer (spacing: 40.0 ) { HStack (spacing: 40.0 ) { Image (systemName: "scribble.variable" ) .frame(width: 80.0 , height: 80.0 ) .glassEffect() .glassEffectID( "pencil" , in: namespace) if isExpanded { Image (systemName: "eraser.fill" ) .frame(width: 80.0 , height: 80.0 ) .glassEffect() .glassEffectID( "eraser" , in: namespace) } } } Button ( "Toggle" ) { withAnimation { isExpanded.toggle() } } .buttonStyle(.glass) Extending Horizontal Scrolling Under Sidebar To allow horizontal scroll content to extend under a sidebar or inspector, ensure the ScrollView content reaches the leading/trailing edges of the container. The system automatically handles the under-sidebar scrolling behavior when the layout extends to the edges — no additional modifier is needed. Core Pattern — UIKit Basic UIGlassEffect let glassEffect = UIGlassEffect () glassEffect.tintColor = UIColor .systemBlue.withAlphaComponent( 0.3 ) glassEffect.isInteractive = true let visualEffectView = UIVisualEffectView (effect: glassEffect) visualEffectView.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false visualEffectView.layer.cornerRadius = 20 visualEffectView.clipsToBounds = true view.addSubview(visualEffectView) NSLayoutConstraint .activate([ visualEffectView.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.centerXAnchor), visualEffectView.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: view.centerYAnchor), visualEffectView.widthAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 200 ), visualEffectView.heightAnchor.constraint(equalToConstant: 120 ) ]) // Add content to contentView let label = UILabel () label.text = "Liquid Glass" label.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = false visualEffectView.contentView.addSubview(label) NSLayoutConstraint .activate([ label.centerXAnchor.constraint(equalTo: visualEffectView.contentView.centerXAnchor), label.centerYAnchor.constraint(equalTo: visualEffectView.contentView.centerYAnchor) ]) UIGlassContainerEffect for Multiple Elements let containerEffect = UIGlassContainerEffect () containerEffect.spacing = 40.0 let containerView = UIVisualEffectView (effect: containerEffect) let firstGlass = UIVisualEffectView (effect: UIGlassEffect ()) let secondGlass = UIVisualEffectView (effect: UIGlassEffect ()) containerView.contentView.addSubview(firstGlass) containerView.contentView.addSubview(secondGlass) Scroll Edge Effects scrollView.topEdgeEffect.style = .automatic scrollView.bottomEdgeEffect.style = .hard scrollView.leftEdgeEffect.isHidden = true Toolbar Glass Integration let favoriteButton = UIBarButtonItem (image: UIImage (systemName: "heart" ), style: .plain, target: self , action: #selector (favoriteAction)) favoriteButton.hidesSharedBackground = true // Opt out of shared glass background Core Pattern — WidgetKit Rendering Mode Detection struct MyWidgetView : View { @Environment (\.widgetRenderingMode) var renderingMode var body: some View { if renderingMode == .accented { // Tinted mode: white-tinted, themed glass background } else { // Full color mode: standard appearance } } } Accent Groups for Visual Hierarchy HStack { VStack (alignment: .leading) { Text ( "Title" ) .widgetAccentable() // Accent group Text ( "Subtitle" ) // Primary group (default) } Image (systemName: "star.fill" ) .widgetAccentable() // Accent group } Image Rendering in Accented Mode Image ( "myImage" ) .widgetAccentedRenderingMode(.monochrome) Container Background VStack { /* content */ } .containerBackground(for: .widget) { Color .blue.opacity( 0.2 ) } Key Design Decisions Decision Rationale GlassEffectContainer wrapping Performance optimization, enables morphing between glass elements spacing parameter Controls merge distance — fine-tune how close elements must be to blend @Namespace + glassEffectID Enables smooth morphing transitions on view hierarchy changes interactive() modifier Explicit opt-in for touch/pointer reactions — not all glass should respond UIGlassContainerEffect in UIKit Same container pattern as SwiftUI for consistency Accented rendering mode in widgets System applies tinted glass when user selects tinted Home Screen Best Practices Always use GlassEffectContainer when applying glass to multiple sibling views — it enables morphing and improves rendering performance Apply .glassEffect() after other appearance modifiers (frame, font, padding) Use .interactive() only on elements that respond to user interaction (buttons, toggleable items) Choose spacing carefully in containers to control when glass effects merge Use withAnimation when changing view hierarchies to enable smooth morphing transitions Test across appearances — light mode, dark mode, and accented/tinted modes Ensure accessibility contrast — text on glass must remain readable Anti-Patterns to Avoid Using multiple standalone .glassEffect() views without a GlassEffectContainer Nesting too many glass effects — degrades performance and visual clarity Applying glass to every view — reserve for interactive elements, toolbars, and cards Forgetting clipsToBounds = true in UIKit when using corner radii Ignoring accented rendering mode in widgets — breaks tinted Home Screen appearance Using opaque backgrounds behind glass — defeats the translucency effect When to Use Navigation bars, toolbars, and tab bars with the new iOS 26 design Floating action buttons and card-style containers Interactive controls that need visual depth and touch feedback Widgets that should integrate with the system's Liquid Glass appearance Morphing transitions between related UI states