Someone at Apple must have read my rant.
When iOS 26 rolled out last September, I reported on an optical illusion caused by the specular highlights in the corners of app icons, revamped with the reflective and shimmering properties of Liquid Glass, that made them look crooked.
The slanting icons have been bugging my eyes for nearly nine months, frustrating me every time I unlock my iPhone to the home screen. Countless Reddit users messaged and emailed me about the same problem. Clearly, I wasn’t the only one seeing things.
I just installed the iOS 27 developer beta that dropped after the WWDC 2026 keynote yesterday, and I’m happy to report that Apple has fixed the optical illusion. The specular highlights are gone and no longer glimmer as you rotate your iPhone and view it from different angles. App icons still have some highlights around the edges—now at the top and bottom—but they no longer make the icons lean toward the left. Sanity prevails.
At the top of this story, you can see how the icons look when they’re set to “Clear” and below you can find the icons set to the “Default.” See? No more tilting icons!
X user BetaProfiles shared a good video comparison showing the difference between iOS 26.5 and the iOS 27 developer beta:
iOS 27 removes the specular highlights that dynamically react to movement on the Home Screen and Control Center. pic.twitter.com/PiT6nwCXs7
— Beta Profiles (@BetaProfiles) June 9, 2026
The UI change is one of several subtle tweaks to Liquid Glass in iOS 27. The main improvement is a Liquid Glass slider within the Settings app that lets you adjust how clear or tinted you want the visual effect to look.
I’m elated to see the optical illusion fixed, but at the same time I should caution that this is only the first iOS 27 developer beta and Apple could change things over the course of the beta period before the final software is released in the fall.
Here’s to hoping. My eyes can’t stand any more tricks.
Read the full article here
