iOS 26/27 introduces Liquid Glass, a new design language that separates apps into a UI layer (navigation, tab bars, toolbars) and a content layer (scroll views, imagery, color). This architecture lets brand color and content breathe edge-to-edge while native controls float above and dynamically pick up brand colors.
โข Moving brand color into the scroll view content area (rather than solid toolbar backgrounds) lets Liquid Glass controls dynamically reflect your palette while keeping native familiarity
โข Custom components still work but should be reserved for high-impact, brand-defining moments โ standard components like context menus, sheets with concentric edges, and SwiftUI Zoom Transitions are now more expressive than ever
โข Supporting Dark Mode, Dynamic Type with custom fonts, and accent/tint color intentionally are now table-stakes for brand integrity on iOS 27
Demonstrates the iOS 27 Liquid Glass layering pattern: brand color lives in the scrollable content area while native tab bar and toolbar float above, dynamically picking up the accent color.
import SwiftUI
struct BrandedContentView: View {
// Brand accent color โ used for tint, not toolbar backgrounds
let brandColor = Color(red: 0.45, green: 0.25, blue: 0.85)
var body: some View {
TabView {
Tab("Home", systemImage: "house.fill") {
HomeContentView(brandColor: brandColor)
}
Tab("Explore", systemImage: "magnifyingglass") {
Text("Explore")
}
Tab("Profile", systemImage: "person.fill") {
Text("Profile")
}
}
// Tint applies to tab bar selection and toolbar buttons
// Liquid Glass picks up this color dynamically
.tint(brandColor)
}
}
struct HomeContentView: View {
let brandColor: Color
@State private var showingDetail = false
var body: some View {
NavigationStack {
ScrollView {
VStack(spacing: 0) {
// Brand color lives HERE โ in the content layer
// It scrolls beneath the Liquid Glass toolbar
LinearGradient(
colors: [brandColor, brandColor.opacity(0.6), Color(.systemBackground)],
startPoint: .top,
endPoint: .bottom
)
.frame(height: 260)
.overlay(alignment: .bottom) {
VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 4) {
Text("This Week's Feature")
.font(.caption)
.foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.8))
Text("Midnight Bloom")
.font(.largeTitle.bold())
.foregroundStyle(.white)
}
.frame(maxWidth: .infinity, alignment: .leading)
.padding(.horizontal, 20)
.padding(.bottom, 20)
}
// Standard content below the hero
LazyVStack(spacing: 16) {
ForEach(0..<8, id: \.self) { index in
ContentCard(index: index, accentColor: brandColor)
}
}
.padding()
}
}
.ignoresSafeArea(edges: .top) // Lets content extend under Liquid Glass toolbar
.navigationTitle("Discover")
.navigationBarTitleDisplayMode(.inline)
.toolbar {
ToolbarItem(placement: .topBarTrailing) {
// Context menu instead of custom toolbar component
Menu {
Button("Sort by Date", systemImage: "calendar") { }
Button("Sort by Name", systemImage: "textformat") { }
Divider()
Button("Settings", systemImage: "gear") { }
} label: {
Image(systemName: "ellipsis.circle")
}
}
}
}
}
}
struct ContentCard: View {
let index: Int
let accentColor: Color
var body: some View {
HStack(spacing: 12) {
RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 10)
.fill(accentColor.opacity(0.15))
.frame(width: 56, height: 56)
.overlay {
Image(systemName: "star.fill")
.foregroundStyle(accentColor)
}
VStack(alignment: .leading, spacing: 2) {
// Custom font with scalable Dynamic Type support
Text("Item \(index + 1)")
.font(.system(.headline, design: .rounded, weight: .semibold))
Text("Supporting detail text")
.font(.subheadline)
.foregroundStyle(.secondary)
}
Spacer()
}
.padding()
.background(.regularMaterial, in: RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 14))
}
}
#Preview {
BrandedContentView()
}Liquid Glass is Apple's new material and visual design language introduced in iOS 27, bringing translucent, refractive glass-like surfaces to system and custom UI elements. It replaces the frosted vibrancy aesthetic with a more dynamic, depth-aware material that responds to content beneath it.
PaperKit is Apple's full-featured canvas framework โ previously internal-only โ now publicly available in iOS/macOS/visionOS 27. It powers the drawing and markup experience in Notes, Preview, and Freeform, giving developers access to a complete pencil, shapes, images, and text canvas with a rich data model.
Xcode 27 introduces a fully customizable toolbar and theme system, untitled scratch projects, coding agent integration directly in the editor, and the new Device Hub for evaluating apps across simulators and physical devices side-by-side.
In-depth guide
SwiftUI & Liquid Glass in iOS 27 โCustom fonts must manually implement Dynamic Type scaling โ Apple's system fonts get this for free. Moving color off toolbars into scroll views is a design paradigm shift that may require layout refactors. Solid background colors on tab bars and top toolbars are now discouraged and will look visually inconsistent with the Liquid Glass system.
Liquid Glass material rendering is optimized for devices supporting ProMotion and Metal; older devices may see reduced fidelity
iOS 27 introduces new SwiftUI drag and drop APIs including reorderable, reorderContainer, dragContainer, and configuration modifiers that enable reordering within and across collections, multi-item drag, and fine-grained control over how data is transferred during drag and drop operations.