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.
⢠System controls like tab bars, navigation bars, and toolbars automatically adopt Liquid Glass, giving apps an updated look with zero code changes
⢠SwiftUI exposes a new `.glassEffect()` modifier so custom views can opt into the same material, letting developers build surfaces that visually integrate with the new design system
⢠The material adapts to light/dark mode, wallpapers, and underlying content dynamically, reducing the need for manual tinting or transparency management
A SwiftUI card list where each card uses the new .glassEffect() modifier to render a refractive glass surface over a colorful gradient background, demonstrating the core Liquid Glass material API.
import SwiftUI
struct LiquidGlassDemoView: View {
let items = ["Spatial Audio", "Adaptive Lenses", "Neural Engine", "ProMotion Display", "Always-On Sensor"]
var body: some View {
ZStack {
// Vivid background so the glass refraction is visible
LinearGradient(
colors: [.purple, .indigo, .cyan, .mint],
startPoint: .topLeading,
endPoint: .bottomTrailing
)
.ignoresSafeArea()
ScrollView {
VStack(spacing: 16) {
ForEach(items, id: \.self) { item in
GlassCard(title: item)
}
}
.padding()
}
}
}
}
struct GlassCard: View {
let title: String
var body: some View {
HStack {
Image(systemName: "sparkles")
.font(.title2)
.foregroundStyle(.white)
Text(title)
.font(.headline)
.foregroundStyle(.white)
Spacer()
Image(systemName: "chevron.right")
.foregroundStyle(.white.opacity(0.7))
}
.padding()
// iOS 27: apply Liquid Glass material to a custom view
.glassEffect()
.clipShape(RoundedRectangle(cornerRadius: 16))
}
}
#Preview {
LiquidGlassDemoView()
}PaperKit is Apple's full-featured canvas framework ā previously internal-only ā 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.
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.
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 āOverusing .glassEffect() on many overlapping views can cause compositing performance issues; avoid stacking multiple glass layers on low-contrast backgrounds as legibility can suffer; system bars adopt Liquid Glass automatically so double-applying the modifier to nav bar content creates visual conflicts
Full visual fidelity requires devices capable of rendering real-time compositing; older devices may receive a simplified fallback material
iOS 27 enforces stricter adaptivity requirements for UIKit apps, making iPhone apps fully resizable in iPhone Mirroring and on iPad, while introducing new navigation bar minimization controls, sidebar opt-in for iPhone tab bars, and prominent tab customization.