I tested COSMIC’s new Frosted Glass effect, and it’s way better than MacOS’ Liquid Glass

Follow ZDNET: Add us as a preferred source on Google.

ZDNET's key takeaways

• COSMIC desktop has unleashed Frosted Glass.
• This effect is what Apple's Liquid Glass should have been.
• Anyone running Pop!_OS can enjoy this new look.

When you think about which desktop has the most beautiful UI, MacOS is probably the first one that comes to mind.

If you were a Linux user, you'd know better, thanks to KDE Plasma — which is gradually catching up to what Apple has to offer.

But then, you might also know about what's been cooking in the metaphorical labs at System76. Back in 2024, the company announced it was working on something called Frosted Glass. When I first heard about it, I'll admit I was moderately excited. After all, what System76 has done with COSMIC in such a short amount of time is mind-blowing. This relatively new Linux desktop environment (built from the ground up with Rust) has come a long way very quickly.

Also: ‘I'm not a programmer' anymore: Linus Torvalds on the only two tools he uses now

What I didn't realize was just how amazing Frosted Glass would turn out to be. In fact, I'll just state this here and now: COSMIC's Frosted Glass is what I thought MacOS's Liquid Glass was supposed to be.

Frosted Glass is gorgeous. 

Over the years, I've talked about how any number of Linux desktop environments could take the title of the most beautiful on the market. Well, that all changed the second I upgraded COSMIC and enabled Frosted Glass. Now, every desktop environment has taken a back seat to COSMIC.

Yes, the tables have turned. System76 has upped the ante so far that I cannot imagine another desktop environment catching up to COSMIC.  

What is Frosted Glass?

The new Frosted Glass feature in COSMIC desktop adds an elegantly soft, blurred transparency to windows and various UI components. If you've ever seen the blurred background effect used in login screens, the Android App Drawer, or certain menus in MacOS, you'll know what I'm talking about. 

Also: I swapped my favorite Linux desktop for System76's COSMIC alpha – and I have zero regrets

Take, for instance, the COSMIC terminal app. With Frosted Glass enabled, the entire terminal is treated to a softly blurred background. The same treatment is applied to various other apps, such as the COSMIC System Monitor, COSMIC File Manager, COSMIC Text Editor, and the COSMIC App Launcher.

This layered appearance is stunning, and I believe it is what Apple was aiming for with Liquid Glass.

How to get Frosted Glass?

Getting Frosted Glass is a simple matter of upgrading COSMIC desktop to the latest release. If you're running Pop!_OS 24.04, you can do this through the usual method of opening the COSMIC Store (which also gets the Frosted Glass treatment), clicking Updates, and then applying the upgrades. 

Once you've run the upgrade, reboot your machine and log back in.

Also: How to make Linux look like MacOS for free – with a few simple ZorinOS tweaks

To enable Frosted Glass, open Settings (which also gets the treatment) and navigate to Desktop > Style > Frosted Glass. In the sidebar, enable the feature for the elements of your choice, and then change the frost thickness and glass opacity to your liking.

It took me all of two minutes to have my desktop looking as elegant as I've ever seen an OS desktop look. I enabled Frosted Glass for every element, because I'm crazy for a good blur effect.

The end result is gorgeous.

Sorry about your luck, Apple

Apple had a perfect opportunity to take the desktop to new heights with Liquid Glass. I'm not saying its UI is ugly… it's not. I actually like Liquid Glass and have applied it to both my MacBook Pro and Apple Studio. However, now that I've seen what System76 has done with COSMIC, Liquid Glass looks drab and boring by comparison. 

Now that Frosted Glass has been unleashed, it looks like Apple's got a much higher bar to reach than it did just a few days ago. Even if the company goes back to the drawing board with Liquid Glass, I cannot imagine it will be better than what System76 has done.

Also: My 10 favorite Linux distributions of all time, ranked

To all of the designers and engineers at System76, I applaud the work you've done. Once again, you've proved that Linux is the ruler of the desktop, and that's not going to change any time soon.