They’ve done enormous changes since 7 to improve it. 7 was absurd - buttons looked like simple text everywhere. I always had to toggle on a function where buttons became underlined so I could use the thing. There was huge criticism even in knowledgeable design circles (see Nielsen Norman who do usability studies) that it was really really objectively worst because it was so confusing. It’s a lot better now.
It's slightly better now in terms of usability. Aesthetically it’s as big of a disaster as when it first came out. There’s only so much polishing they could do to a turd.
Can you find a screenshot? When I just search iOS 7 in image search it looks 99% like iOS 12 to me. iOS 6 on the other hand with its drop shadows and reflections has aged super badly.
