My impression was that they're doubling down on that horrid Liquid glass.

Apparently there's a new fancy slider for making it more (but not completely) opaque? Did I miss an option for turning it off?

[accessibility settings -> display -> reduce transparency] is the main option afaik. while you're in there, try "reduce motion" too, it's pretty nice imo.

Keep in mind Apple would never admit mistakes on Liquid Glass. But: Looks to me they're fixing some of the worst aspects. I'm on the fence.

The iOS 7 flat redesign was a UX disaster. But they got back up to speed in subsequent releases.

There IS something to be said for design resets with follow-up refits to accomodate for actual human beings. Most companies just add crap on top of crap.

Not saying what everything Apple does is perfect, even as a user/fanboy since '86.

What I most enjoyed about todays's annoucement that they're doing a Snow Leopard performance/bug reset, because that was expected and needed. And they started out with it, so they know their WWDC audience.

So: Both a technical and UX debt effort, with some privacy-focused AI on top.

I can't complain.

Have you tried the Accessibility setting "Reduce Transparency"? Apple tends to hide too many things there.

that's been available from the beginning