Introducing FabBar: The Liquid Glass Tab Bar I Wish Apple Made

In response to my previous blog post, My Beef with the iOS 26 Tab Bar, someone suggested a solution I hadn't considered: using a segmented control (aka segmented picker) as the foundation for emulating the tab bar. They linked me to a video by Kavsoft which demonstrated the idea. Segmented controls offer the same bubbly, interactive glass effect on touch down that tab bars have. And unlike tab bars, segmented controls can be customized more easily, particularly with regards to layout and positioning.

After many hours of polishing and tweaking, I had a solution I was happy with: a custom Liquid Glass tab bar with an integrated, tinted floating action button. I shipped it to my customers in the most recent update, and the response has been universally positive. A few people online have asked me how I did it.

So I'm open sourcing the solution: https://github.com/ryanashcraft/FabBar

It's definitely hacky and it has a few limitations, but this is one of those scenarios where I think it's worth it. And if things break in a future OS, I'll try to keep it maintained. Check out the README for more information and known limitations.

Hope it's useful to others facing the same problem. (And I hope one day it won't be needed!)