Sven
Federico Viticci 
7 chapters. 3 months of research.
A (controversial?) deep dive into Liquid Glass. A whole new iPadOS.
My iOS and iPadOS 26 review is here.
Enjoy ☕️
https://www.macstories.net/stories/ios-and-ipados-26-the-macstories-review/
The Design chapter is the largest one of this review. And I have a…different angle than most.
We’ve spent the summer obsessing over the Glass, and we haven’t considered the Liquid part enough.
It’s not perfect, but I ended up loving Liquid Glass.
Here’s why: https://www.macstories.net/stories/ios-and-ipados-26-the-macstories-review/2/#design
There are *a lot* of perks for Club members:
$5/month tier: eBook versions and extensive ‘Making Of’ coming this week about how I used Notion, Drafts, and various LLMs for research and note organization
$10-12/month tier: Drafts actions and advanced Apple Intelligence shortcuts next week.
Details: https://www.macstories.net/news/ios-26-review-extras-club/
Chris Wood@viticci this is the first year I’m a subscriber when the OS releases drop. Will the ebook versions be sent in a link or email, or should I go to the website to find them?
@justchriswood you can download them here https://macstories.memberful.com/account/downloads
David Levine@viticci Congratulations! Can’t wait to enjoy your hard work. 😊
Cleatus Fetus@viticci I also love Liquid Glass. Am I also in the minority? I think a lot of people think it’s cool and nifty but don’t vocalize it.
The ones I’ve seen with the most hate are developers because they have to upend their apps. I’d be pissed too but that shouldn’t be a critique of the overall design.
Nick Heer@viticci I am both impressed with your nuanced take and livid that you got there first. I blame my dog.
And here it is:
My in-depth 'Behind the Scenes' article about the iOS and iPadOS 26 review.
This is the story of how I used Notion for the whole thing and built my own army of AI Review Assistants.
Have fun: https://club.macstories.net/posts/behind-the-scenes-of-my-ios-and-ipados-26-review
Paul Stockton@viticci hitting the gym and then hibernating with this thank you ☺️
Cesare Forelli@viticci Congratulations on shipping! It’s way more work than an app!
Gregatron5@viticci The real question is: How much “AI”?
@gregatron5 There's a chapter about Apple Intelligence. As for writing, 0% AI – all manual, human work.
@viticci 🙏🏻 and thank goodness. I’ve cancelled so many newsletter subs because they’ve become overwhelmingly written by “AI,” and I maintain the stance “if you didn’t bother write it, why should I bother to read it?”
Scotty Trees@viticci I've got an iPhone 14 Pro, should I take the plunge into iOS 26 today? I'm on the east coast, so it's going to be released in less than two hours!
Philip Mallegol-Hansen@viticci Excited to give it a thorough read, but immediately off the bat I have to say: Kodus to you all at @macstories for having a website that just *works*. In today’s web, that’s remarkable in its own right. Scrolling through your stories is always a pleasure and a breeze, how the web should be.
OlympusEdge@viticci Fantastic read! Need to go through it again later today.
Can you link to the Awake app mentioned in the Alarmkit section? I was unable to find it in the App Store (If it’s out yet)
Awake: Smart Alarm Clock
Tired of alarms that let you snooze your way back to sleep? Awake is more than just a clock—it’s your personal morning assistant that helps you start your day fully awake, energized, and in control. Wake Up with Missions. Our unique missions make sure you’re really awake: - Physical Missions: Ta…
@viticci thank you! Looks like it just hadn’t hit the App Store yet haha
John Cleary@viticci Still reading, but jumped ahead. The lack of slideover is why my iPad is staying on 18.7 for now.
“I can’t help but feel that the removal of Slide Over is a misstep on Apple’s part. There’s really no great way to replicate the versatility of Slide Over with the iPad’s new windowing. Making a bunch of windows extra small and stacked on the side of the screen would require a lot of manual resizing and repositioning; at that point, you’re just using a worse version of classic windowing.”
John Appleseed@viticci
Me: “Can Federico top last year’s review?”
Federico: “as also seen with Alan Dye’s glass toys”
Me: “This one may never be topped”
Love this review.