iOS 26 liquid glass: Here’s why Windows Vista jokes are trending

Apple brings ‘Liquid Glass’ UI across all its platforms, including iOS 26, macOS 26, and more but people are comparing it to Windows Vista. Here’s why.

WWDC 2025: One of the standout announcements from Apple's WWDC 2025 keynote yesterday was the 'Liquid Glass' design language, introduced across its entire ecosystem, including iOS 26, macOS 26, iPadOS 26, and watchOS 26. The new aesthetic is already proving to be polarising; while many find its real-time light refraction visually appealing, it has drawn mixed reactions from the public.

iOS 26 has sparked a meme fest on the internet.(Apple)

Apple has positioned the change as a “pretty big” update, describing it as a "once-per-decade" project and noting that the last major design overhaul was iOS 7. The company explained that the power of modern devices has set the stage for this new UI, which aims to blur the line between hardware and software. However, despite this forward-looking pitch, an uncanny comparison has quickly spread online, with users drawing direct parallels between the 'Liquid Glass' UI and Microsoft's much older Windows Vista.

Now, why is this? Why are people comparing a brand new design language introduced in 2025 to something that was launched more than a decade ago and something that many people used while growing up? Let us explain.

Windows Vista and iOS 26: What's the similarity?

So, if you watched the WWDC 2025 keynote, you would have noticed the all-new clear look that Apple has built, which extends to the iOS app icons, the Control Center, and even the Dock in macOS, widgets, and more. Apple says that it responds in real-time to content and behaves like glass in the real world, which can certainly be observed in all the demos that Apple has shown so far in videos. However, while a lot of this is new, including how the light refracts and the attention to detail, one can't ignore the similarity that exists between this and Windows Vista's Aero Glass design.

It first debuted with Windows Vista and was then subsequently carried forward to Windows 7, before finally being discontinued for the Metro design in Windows 8. The Aero design featured translucent bits and glass-like window borders. The UI, in general, felt very airy and open due to the glass-like look.

Now, this, coupled with the fact that many people have used Windows Vista and actually themed their operating systems like Windows Vista, has given rise to the comparison with iOS 26, wherein the UI elements look similar in their transparency. Of course, it's not a one-to-one comparison. There are multiple differences, especially in the way the UI bits like buttons and more interact, and how refined the current implementation is for the time it is being released. But of course, the internet is the internet and people love creating memes.

Accessibility woes?

Another common criticism that we noticed people pointing out on platforms like X was the fact that the new UI and the new OS are not particularly optimised from an accessibility standpoint, wherein people can have trouble reading text, especially if they have set a light-coloured background. In this situation, things like notifications, especially with white text, can be hard to read due to the lack of contrast.

So, it remains to be seen how Apple responds to this criticism and whether it sticks to this design language moving forward. Because we have seen in the past that when Apple does something, it polarises, and it starts to grow on people over time.

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