*OS26 - Liquid Glass

I upgraded all my Apple devices to its respective 26 - macOS 26, ipadOS 26, iOS 26, watchOS 26.

Liquid Glass

The concept and look is great when it works well. But it is still liquid in parts.

Exhibit A:

You can see that the address bar isn’t super legible. This is just one instance but there more such instances where the legibility takes a hit. But with any new software change it takes time to iron out the quirks so not super concerned.

iOS26

• Notification animation

  It is pleasing to see how notifications pops-up. The animation is well done and I dont remember the last time I was excited to see notification pop-up.

• Spatial Scene

  The feature brings photos to life by adding a 3D effect. Look for hex shaped icon in the right above the photo, click it and in few seconds it would render a 3D

• Call screening

  Since Google first introduced it on the Android phone, I wanted to try it. But sadly my circle was filled with blue bubbles so never really got to experience it. After upgrading to ios26 the call screen was called into action only once and that wasn’t sufficient for me to form an opinion about it.

• Alarm Clock bug - still there

  

  This is probably not a big deal but also something that you can’t unsee once you know about it. If you are unfamiliar

  • Open clock app in iphone.
  • Add an alarm and scroll the hours and minutes, it will automatically stop at 4:39. Instead of an infinite cycle it seems like it is a long list. A list that the devs hoped no one would find the ceiling to. And in all fairness, who TF scrolls infintely to find the ceiling of the hour list.

MacOS26

• Launchpad change

  Launchpad is gone or is integrated into spotlight. Pressing CMD + 1 in spotlight now shows all the applications, CMD + 2 for files, CMD + 3 for actions and CMD + 4 for all the clipboard items. I quiet like this change, I seldom used the launchpad to look for/open applications. Integrating into spotlight bar seems like the right way to go.

• Export to Markdown in notes

  I was excited about this feature because it gives me the ability to create/edit/compile my blogposts in notes app(across devices) and then when I am ready move it into my blog folder to push it to the server.

• Phone app

  I haven’t been in the habit of taking/making calls on my Mac. Maybe I might start now that it is a standalone app.

• Journal app

  This was inevitable! And has gotten be back into journaling :) ## WatchOS26

• Notes.app

  I was very excited to learn that watchos 26 was finally getting notes.app. But I really don’t turn to my watch to view or take notes as much as I thought I would.

• Sleep score

  I got back into using my Apple watch because of sleep score.

• Fitness tracking

  One of the things I had been hoping for was to receive notifications or updates about my workout through my AirPods. I’m not sure if it’s thanks to iOS 26 or watchOS 26, but I’m really glad that now, during a workout session, the notifications come through—even when I’m listening on my AirPods.

ipadOS26

• Multitasking

  Stage manager and windowed apps are now available in ipad mini. Previously, it was available only on the pro models. After using it on the mini for a short period in beta version of the ipad os 26 I decided that it wasn’t for the mini. I went back to full screen apps because the window icons “close”, “maximize”, “minimize” are too big and sometimes inconvenient to press.

• Preview app

  For some odd reason people online were very happy about a standalone preview app landing on ipados26 and ios26. While I like a standalone app, I didn’t mind going into files app to open my documents/files. Probably a useful feature for those having to deal with a lot of documents on their on the go devices.