Basically, it’s workable for me when it is set to Dark Mode, Contrast and Reduced Transparency turned on, and Dark icons are used (the actual frosted effect of the UI without a lot of these mitigators is just a readability/usability nightmare though). There is some irony in this; part of this re-opaquing of the UI (via some setting changes) harkens back to the pre-iOS 7 days (iOS 7 is when the skeuomorphism and more defined borders were removed/flattened in order to achieve a more “flatter” look/lighter color palette).
For myself, I did like the borders that folders had pre-iOS 7; the above changes with dark icons re-introduce a thinner border to folders. As for re-introducing realistic icons again (as is the case of the camera icon; one of the only Apple apps that is done that way), it looks out of place. I think one of the worst icon changes is with the clock app though. But it is what it is (I suppose someone had to justify their graphics artist position at the company).
The above is a comparison of my iOS 18 and iOS 26 home screens (my iPad also uses the same scheme). Similarly, macOS 26 Tahoe (currently on my MacBook Pro M3 Pro and Mac mini M4 Pro) also uses this setup. I will probably upgrade my 2019 Mac Pro in the next week or so (I have a copy of Monterey running with my existing settings in a VMWare virtual machine).
It’s serviceable. At the same time, decisions like this highlights how even further the companies original user interface guidelines (aka Human Interface Guidelines) continues being changed for the worst where inconsistencies are common. As much as I don’t care for certain cliches, “it is what it is” is how I feel about the current (in recent years) Apple with these forced yearly upgrade cycles where “change for the sake of change” creeps into the process. In the earlier years when this type of touch based form factors were new, that pace was fine. But in a market that has matured, it’s a forced cycle that also promotes faster obsolescence
Sure, Apple does generate a significant amount of their revenues/profits from this iPhone upgrade cycle (and that in turn has been a benefit to me as a longtime shareholder). But most of us know how things can come crumbling down when a market is disrupted by something else (like what happened with Blackberry, Motorola, Nokia, Kodak, Polaroid, etc). The Mac is still important (if not lower revenues by comparison) but the company (since Jobs’ passing) hasn’t really found that next thing past the iPhone.
For someone like myself (who is realistically now heading “over that proverbial hill” in this human life timescale), I am now heading into divesting and looking to further enjoy the fruits of that in various ways. Thus I’m no longer concerned about Apple’s longer term prospects when it comes to myself. That doesn’t mean I don’t have concerns for much younger investors with that longer term horizon (where I will on occasion express those). All I see with current Apple is the inertia from the prior decade slowly running out of steam (something Wall Street is always very eagar to hone in on with how they’ve judged the company).
