Apple Liquid Glass: How top cross-platform frameworks Bring Glassmorphic UIs to Your Apps

Apple’s WWDC 2025 introduced Liquid Glass—a system-wide, frosted-glass UI material that dynamically blurs, refracts, and tints content behind every panel. This marks a major evolution of glassmorphism, the design trend built on transparency, soft shadows, and backdrop blurs. In this article, we’ll unpack what Liquid Glass is, trace its roots in glassmorphic design, and dive into how three leading cross-platform frameworks—Flutter, React Native, and Jetpack Compose Multiplatform—are equipped to bring these sleek, immersive UIs to your apps.

1. What Is Liquid Glass?

Liquid Glass is Apple’s new “material” layer across iOS 26, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS, and tvOS. Built on highly optimized shaders, it “reflects and refracts its surroundings,” changing tint, brightness, and blur in real time to keep focus on primary content while adding depth and context to UI chrome. Apple’s design lead describes it as merging the optical qualities of real glass with fluid, animated transitions inspired by visionOS spatial computing.

2. Glassmorphism’s Evolution

Glassmorphism leverages backdrop-filter blurs, semi-transparent panels, and subtle shadows to simulate frosted glass. Early examples include macOS Vibrancy (2014) and iOS 7’s Control Center (2013). Web designers embraced it via CSS filters, and product UIs experimented with translucent cards. Liquid Glass elevates this by applying it system-wide, using GPU-accelerated blurs and context-aware tinting informed by AR/VR research.

3. UX & Accessibility Considerations

Translucent interfaces can delight but pose legibility challenges. Early iOS 26 betas showed low-contrast text over heavy blurs, prompting feedback on readability. Best practices include:

• Maintaining minimum contrast ratios (WCAG AA) for text over frosted backgrounds.
• Adjusting blur radius and opacity based on context (e.g., stronger blur for busy backgrounds).
• Providing fallback solid backgrounds or increased text weight when accessibility settings are enabled.

Designers and developers must collaborate to balance aesthetics with usability, ensuring glassy UIs remain inclusive.

4. React Native & Native Blur APIs

React Native uses each platform’s native UI controls. On iOS, it bridges to UIBlurEffect; on Android, you use RenderScript or community packages like @react-native-community/blur. Pros and cons:

• Pros: True native blur, platform-specific fidelity, performance optimized by OS.
• Cons: Separate implementations for iOS vs Android, slight differences in blur strength and performance, reliance on third-party modules.

import { BlurView } from '@react-native-community/blur';


  Liquid Glass in React Native


const styles = StyleSheet.create({
  blurContainer: {
    borderRadius: 16,
    overflow: 'hidden',
    padding: 20,
    backgroundColor: 'rgba(255,255,255,0.2)',
  },
  text: {
    color: '#000',
    fontSize: 16,
  },
});

Tip: Adjust blurAmount and blurType per platform to match Apple’s Liquid Glass look.

5. Flutter & Custom Rendering

Flutter’s Skia engine (now accelerated by Impeller) draws every UI element on a canvas. Its BackdropFilter widget applies real-time Gaussian blurs completely in Dart:

BackdropFilter(
  filter: ImageFilter.blur(sigmaX: 20, sigmaY: 20),
  child: Container(
    decoration: BoxDecoration(
      color: Colors.white.withOpacity(0.2),
      borderRadius: BorderRadius.circular(16),
    ),
    padding: EdgeInsets.all(24),
    child: Text(
      'Welcome to Liquid Glass UI',
      style: TextStyle(color: Colors.white, fontSize: 18),
    ),
  ),
)

• Pros: Identical visuals everywhere; one codebase; hot reload for rapid design iteration.
• Cons: Custom rendering—must handle platform conventions manually (accessibility, scroll physics).

6. Jetpack Compose Multiplatform

Compose MP brings declarative UI to Android, desktop, and in preview, iOS. Blur support is emerging—on Android you use Modifier.blur(), while iOS interop can leverage UIKit’s blur via Kotlin/Native. Example:

@Composable
fun GlassCard(content: @Composable () -> Unit) {
  Box(
    modifier = Modifier
      .size(300.dp, 200.dp)
      .background(Color.White.copy(alpha = 0.2f), shape = RoundedCornerShape(16.dp))
      .blur(16.dp)
      .padding(20.dp)
  ) {
    content()
  }
}

Tip: For iOS, create a UIViewRepresentable blur component in Swift and integrate via Kotlin/Native.

7. Framework Comparison

Choosing the right cross-platform framework for glassmorphic UIs means balancing consistency, performance, developer productivity, and the degree to which you want “native” behavior. Below, we dive deeper into how Flutter, React Native, and Jetpack Compose Multiplatform compare across key dimensions.

a) Visual Consistency

Flutter: Pixel-perfect blur and tint everywhere via Skia/Impeller; one codebase.

React Native: Native UIBlurEffect & RenderScript—true OS fidelity with per-platform tuning.

Compose MP: Android Modifier.blur() + iOS UIKit interop; shared Kotlin UI reduces duplication.

b) Performance & Rendering Pipeline

Flutter: Single GPU-driven render pass at 60+ fps; minimal CPU–GPU sync.

React Native: Hermes JS + Fabric; recent improvements but heavy stacks may need native modules.

Compose MP: Host platform GPU; smooth on Android, evolving on iOS with Multiplatform runtime.

c) Developer Skillset & Ecosystem

Flutter (Dart): Great for widget-driven UIs and multi-target apps (mobile, web, desktop).

React Native (JS/TS): Leverage React skills; vast NPM libraries; native module when needed.

Compose MP (Kotlin): Kotlin-first; expanding to iOS/desktop; smaller but growing community.

d) Iteration Speed & Tooling

Flutter: Near-instant hot reload on large trees—ideal for tweaking blur parameters.

React Native: Fast Refresh for JS changes; native code tweaks require rebuild.

Compose MP: Live Preview in Android Studio; iOS previews improving.

e) Platform Fidelity & Native Feel

React Native: Best for true native controls and platform conventions out of the box.

Compose MP: Native Android components; iOS via interop—close to platform UX.

Flutter: Custom widgets—needs manual adaptation for native behaviors (text input, accessibility).

8. Business & Brand Impact

Glassmorphic UIs are more than eye candy—they convey modernity, depth, and brand polish. Cross-platform frameworks enable rapid rollout of these designs across your entire user base, reinforcing a consistent brand experience and reducing time-to-market for UI overhauls.

Whether you’re a startup seeking to impress investors with a cutting-edge mobile app or an enterprise updating a legacy dashboard, frameworks like Flutter and React Native let you adopt Liquid Glass styles without maintaining multiple native codebases.

Conclusion

Apple’s Liquid Glass heralds a new era of translucent, context-aware UIs. Developers can now bring glassmorphic effects to life on any platform—Flutter for pixel-perfect consistency, React Native for native blur performance, and Compose MP for a Kotlin-centric approach. The choice depends on your team’s expertise, performance needs, and desired fidelity.

Ready to elevate your app’s UI with Liquid Glass–style design? Contact Vagary today for expert guidance, implementation, and optimization across every device.