I appreciate hearing this. ![]()
I don’t know if there are many Liquid Glass naysayers (like the AI naysayers lol) but I LOVE Liquid Glass and definitely want to see the basics implemented into Anytype, particularly on iOS. (It’s well-accepted that the macOS implementation is a little iffy and won’t get refined until macOS 27.)
Anytype 43.2 has a version of the header fading implemented, but it has a hard cut-off at the bottom of the fade so it’s not a proper Liquid Glass implementation.
The bottom taskbar (with home, new note, search) is just asking for a Liquid Glass update. It’s gonna look so good there.
The bottom fade can also be implemented beneath the taskbar, but perhaps it’s not necessary either. It would just match with the rest of the OS.
I use Apple Notes a lot for a different type of notes than which I use Anytype for (Notes = daily rapid use, Anytype = longterm references and deep thinking notes), and the dynamic/fluid edit bar is amazing. People complain there’s no useful or practical updates with Liquid Glass, but Liquid Glass is very dynamic, and the Notes edit bar is an example of super functional UI/UX dynamics. It slides around somewhat intelligently, based on what’s happening, like editing text vs selecting one row of text vs selecting multiple rows.
So for Anytype, it could be really cool if a similar dynamic text editor bar were implemented. Anytype has a lot of sub-menu functions, and if you’re able to devote some contemplation into the logic of when things should show up based on how the app is being used, you could create a really awesome dynamic edit bar that blows all the other note apps out of the water. I don’t believe any other app has maximized iOS 26 / Liquid Glass dynamic bar/menu functionality aside from Apple Notes.
And I’m gonna be honest, the /slash toolbar/menu/thing is the most annoying component of iOS Anytype for me. There’s a bug/suggestion report about the text attributes bar on desktop sticking around like it’s stuck, and for me I have the same negative experience with the iOS /slash bar. Once it’s opened, it doesn’t easily disappear. It’s expecting me to tap into it to complete a choice, but maybe I changed my mind and don’t want to.
Similarly with the “@” menu, I have some iOS/macOS/iCloud-synched keyboard shortcuts which use @, such as “@!” which grants me the
emoji symbol — but I basically cannot use these shortcuts in Anytype because it just brings up the “@” menu which then gets stuck on my screen for a long time. It’s expecting further input, but I don’t want to input anything. I rarely use the “@” menu. I’ve had to change some of my shortcuts to use other symbols to avoid bring up this menu.
So these 2-3 menus/bars could use some refinement, and I think iOS 26 Liquid Glass is the perfect opportunity. I really look forward to when you implement more Liquid Glass. And I hope you consider designing a deeply functional dynamic editor bar with revisions of the @ and / menus, which are so unique to Anytype’s function and which could be implemented in a more elegant manner.
If you need any inspiration, Apple Notes and Apple Journal are done really well. Some random apps like eBay and Kroger also have implemented it well, in a very basic way but it looks so minimal and nice. Telegram has some very elegant implementation for a chat app, and I think it works a little better than Apple Messages in some ways.
The Apple App Library when you swipe to the right of the Homescreen shows a different but elegant implementation of a search bar with nicer header fading than some of the other implementations (like Safari and Mail where the light-dark shifting is a bit strange). I think App Library works so well because the fade color is identical to the background color and it stays content as the apps slide beneath it — that constant color and strong blur seems to be the key to its success. I really like how the blur is implemented here, again a bit different than with app headers.
As I mentioned, I’m a Liquid Glass lover, and I’ve grown very tired of the third party apps which have remained on the old iOS 18 UI and even still have the iOS 18 keyboard, which is just so ugly at this point. Messenger and Amazon come to mind. How do these mega companies not stay up to date with design updates? They’re probably afraid of losing some part of their “brand identity,” since Apple basically decided to reclaim the overarching iOS design and institute common themes across all apps, something that hasn’t really existed since iOS 7 or even iOS 6’s blue header bar.
So, I’m very excited for when Anytype gets a design update. I’ll be happy to beta test it and provide any feedback about these nuances and opportunities which I have my eye on. I feel like deeper implementation could be difficult and require a lot of thought, but I think it could be really worth it to and set Anytype apart.
Also a random bug I just discovered: the built-in Apple Liquid Glass pop-up menu when you highlight text, and then expand it with the right-facing arrow, appears to be getting stuck on the app interface and will not close at all. I can’t tap away from it to close it, nor can I actually select any of its functions like Look Up or Translate. So in 43.2 it just seems to be broken for some reason.