I downloaded it last night. Besides the back-and-forth-and-back-again of the amount of “glass” and transparency, I haven’t seen a noticeable change in any of the betas until this one.
Fast. This one is a massive jump in speed and responsiveness, at least for me. It makes me wonder if they don’t care (or purposefully don’t include) the performance optimizations they know they can attain until the very end. It’s like they flipped a switch and my phone is new again.
Yeah, it seems to have hit its stride, as it were. I thought the last one was a lot more reliable but this is the first one that feels like it’s finished. Technically I’m on the public beta for iOS, but same one, I think.
I think it was developer beta 8 of iPadOS that finally sorted my Apple Pencil Pro problem (it would always disconnect after about 10 seconds of use).
Performance optimizations can make debugging harder, so they always wait until the end. That’s also why battery life suffers on the betas.
Updated to the latest public beta on my iPad last night and the performance difference in safari is night and day vs. previous betas. I was starting to worry that iOS 26 would ruin my iPad but this update has alleviated most of those fears.
Guessing this is very close to gold master, given the event is on Tuesday
It’s still ruined on iPad without slideover 
(But I like it on phone, for the most part.)
I’m most worried about the iPhone. I’m not interested in trading battery life for eye candy.
Can’t help you there. I don’t prioritize battery life the way I hear others doing. I’m in my car enough that it gets several “top offs” throughout the day and when I’m traveling (which is frequent), I do so by habit on the plane or rental car. I’ve been on the beta all summer and have no idea if it’s been good/bad/indifferent for battery life.
I know in MY code, speed optimization makes it harder to spot errors and/or correct the underlying algorithms. It’s a bit of a truism to make it right and only THEN make it fast.
So yes, they purposefully don’t include performance optimizations until they’re sure they aren’t delaying a correct update. And I endorse that approach
It is also safe to assume that most betas have more data/log collection to help with finding/fixing issues turned on which also takes a toll on the device.
What I really want to know is this:
When will the Touch ID pop-up on my iPad get the text centered again? It looks so amateurish left-justified.
When will the Touch ID pop-up on my iPad get the text centered again?
When Apple fires Alan Dye?
Installed iOS 26 RC last night and I immediately regretted that; Liquid Glass is so ugly…
Maybe you’ll get used to it?
Other than Safari - where I made lots of changes - I don’t mind it much. I’ve had it on my phone for a few months and I don’t think it’s a net negative.
That would be a welcome move. The keynote mentioned “Design is how it works”, but this is not reflected in current software designs that unnecessarily hides functionality. And I believe that Alan plays a big role in that trend.
I don’t know him and couldn’t find much about him online except that he oversaw the watchOS and VisionOS interface decisions. I think both of those are overall pretty good. Do you have an article or something you can link to where he talks about his design philosophy?
I recently found this:
The Vision Behind iOS 26’s Liquid Glass - A Conversation with Apple’s VP of Design, Alan Dye
At this point I may try iPadOS 26 on my iPad for the new Files feature, but I have no plans to install Liquid Glass on my iPhone or Mac.
I tried, I really did. I couldn’t take his interviewer for more than 3 minutes,
“Tap state? Cool!”
I said I found it, not that I recommended it. 
I don’t have a link, but the last few months I have seen many posts from developers (with screenshots) complaining about Liquid Glass and specifically mentioning this person, because he is in charge.
Gotcha. I don’t see anything in the final beta that I’d fire someone for. Maybe my standards are too low for design or too high for ending someone’s employment.