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Liquid Glass

Apple's new material design system for iOS 26+. Comprehensive coverage of Liquid Glass visual properties, implementation patterns, and design principles.

When to use: Implementing Liquid Glass effects, reviewing UI for adoption, debugging visual artifacts, requesting expert review of implementations

Key Features

  • Expert Review Checklist – 7-section validation checklist for reviewing Liquid Glass implementations
    • Material appropriateness (navigation layer vs content layer)
    • Variant selection (Regular vs Clear decision criteria)
    • Legibility and contrast
    • Layering and hierarchy
    • Scroll edge effects
    • Accessibility (Reduced Transparency, Increased Contrast, Reduced Motion)
    • Performance considerations
  • Layered system architecture (highlights, shadows, glow, tinting)
  • Troubleshooting visual artifacts, dark mode issues, performance
  • Migration from UIBlurEffect/NSVisualEffectView
  • Complete API reference with working code examples

Requirements: iOS 26+, iPadOS 26+, macOS Tahoe+, visionOS 3+, Xcode 26+

Example Prompts

These are real questions developers ask that this skill answers:

  • "I just saw Liquid Glass in WWDC videos. How is it different from blur effects?" → Explains Liquid Glass as a lensing-based material (not blur), shows design philosophy and adoption criteria

  • "I'm implementing Liquid Glass but the lensing effect looks like regular blur." → Covers visual properties (lensing vs motion vs environment), Regular vs Clear variants, debugging artifacts

  • "Liquid Glass looks great on iPhone but odd on iPad." → Demonstrates adaptive patterns and platform-specific guidance (iOS 26+, macOS Tahoe+, visionOS 3+)

  • "I need Liquid Glass but text legibility is terrible." → Covers tinting strategies, adaptive colors, and opacity patterns for maintaining readability

  • "We want expert review of our Liquid Glass implementation." → Provides comprehensive review checklist and professional push-back frameworks for design reviews

WWDC References