Slideshow chrome below iOS 26: no material behind the controls, legibility over bright photos unproven (FR-300-34)

[kipp-ing]

Found: 2026-09-14 while settling product fact LOOK-03 against the code. Matters directly for the real frame: Framepad runs iOS 17.7, the deployment floor.

Spec: FR-300-34 — chrome controls MUST stay legible regardless of the photo's brightness, including near-white and near-black images.

Today:

• iOS 26+: real Liquid Glass (OwnFrame/Slideshow/View+Compat.swift:14-32,45-57) — fine.
• Below iOS 26, glassButtonStyle falls back to .bordered — a tinted fill with no material/blur (View+Compat.swift:26-31). Only cards (photo info, clock, new-photos card) get ultraThinMaterial.
• Legibility rests on two fixed 45%-to-clear black edge gradients (SlideshowChrome.swift:56-71). No test or capture checks FR-300-34.
• The design record already names the problem: docs/design/quiet-glass-2026-07-18.html (≈:706-712) calls the iOS 17 fallback "washed-out" and specifies a softGlass tier — the ultraThinMaterial fallback with a baked-in dark tint (≈ black 20%) — plus eased four-stop scrims. Neither is in the code.
• Sibling symptom: New-photos arrival card is illegible over a bright photo #60 (the new-photos glass card is illegible over a bright photo).

Todo

• Implement the quiet-glass softGlass tier for iOS 17–25 (iOS 26 paths untouched) and the eased scrims, as the design record specifies.
• Verify by capture: chrome over a near-white and a near-black photo on an iOS 17/18 simulator and an iOS 26 simulator; eyeball on Framepad.
• Update product fact LOOK-03 (mismatch → verified) in the same commit.
• Coordinate with New-photos arrival card is illegible over a bright photo #60 (same glass helpers).

[kipp-ing]

Landed in 76d3e7f: soft-glass tier below iOS 26 (ultraThinMaterial plus the design record's rgba(24,24,27,.38) tint) and eased four-stop edge scrims. Captures over near-white/near-black on iOS 17.5 and 26.5 sims read. Stays open for the real-device eyeball on Framepad (iOS 17.7.10), specs/300-slideshow/tasks.md T010.