You can finally tone down Liquid Glass on your iPhone
Apple’s recent iOS 26 update introduced a striking new aesthetic known as the Liquid Glass interface, which transformed the look of icons, dialogs, and menus across iPhones, iPads, and Macs. This design choice, characterized by rounded and translucent elements, quickly garnered a fanbase drawn to its modern and sleek appearance. However, not all users were enamored with the change; some found the transparency distracting or difficult to navigate. In response, Apple rolled out iOS 26.1, which included a feature allowing users to tone down the Liquid Glass effect significantly.
To adjust the Liquid Glass interface, users can navigate to the Settings menu, select Display & Brightness, and then access the Liquid Glass option. Here, they can choose between two settings: “Clear,” which retains the original Liquid Glass look, and “Tinted,” which introduces a more solid background to menus and dialogs. While the change is immediately visible in the preview window, its impact varies across different apps. For instance, in the Photos app, users can notice the difference when scrolling through their libraries, as the floating bar at the bottom adjusts accordingly. However, the Tinted option does not currently allow users to select specific colors, as it automatically shifts between light and dark shades based on the content displayed.
Looking ahead, Apple is also testing iOS 26.2, which promises further enhancements to the Liquid Glass experience, particularly on the lock screen. Users will be able to customize the transparency of the Liquid Glass effect on their lock screens, with options to switch between “Glass” and “Solid” modes. This adjustment could improve legibility, especially when users have busy wallpapers. Additionally, iOS 26 offers various accessibility features that can further enhance usability, such as reducing transparency, increasing text size, and adjusting contrast. These customization options allow users to tailor their experience, ensuring that the aesthetic appeal of Liquid Glass does not compromise functionality. Overall, Apple’s updates reflect a commitment to user preferences, balancing style with practicality in their interface design.
One of the biggest changes introduced
with iOS 26
was noticeable as soon as you rebooted your iPhone. The revamped Liquid Glass interface made icons, dialogs, and menus look a lot more rounded and translucent, and the same look expanded across iPadOS and macOS.
While Liquid Glass immediately won a lot of fans, not everyone is thrilled—and with the rollout of iOS 26.1, Apple has given users a way to tone down the Liquid Glass effect quite dramatically.
Reduce the Liquid Glass effect
iOS 26 now lets you partly disable Liquid Glass.
Screenshot: Apple
There’s one main switch for this, which you can find by opening up the main iOS Settings menu, then tapping
Display & Brightness
, and
Liquid Glass
. You’ve then got two options to choose between:
Clear
(the original Liquid Glass look) and
Tinted
(which adds more of a solid background to on-screen elements).
Your choice is applied immediately, and you can see the change in the preview window. However, the difference isn’t as pronounced as you might expect across every part of iOS. One place you can see it is in the Photos app: Try scrolling up and down through your photo and video library and look at the floating bar at the bottom.
With
Tinted
selected, there’s no way to choose the color of the tint behind dialogs and menus—at least not yet. You’ll find that it switches from a light shade to a dark shade depending on what’s currently on screen. You’ll see the effect best in Apple’s own apps, including Photos, which have all been updated to match the new iOS 26 look.
There’s more in iOS 26.2
Further tweaks are heading to the lock screen.
Screenshot: Apple
At the time of writing, Apple is still testing iOS 26.2, but it may have rolled out to the masses by the time you’re reading this. Assuming that all the features included in the iOS 26.2 beta make it to the final release, you’ll get another way of tweaking the look of Liquid Glass on your iPhone.
Specifically, you get the ability to adjust Liquid Glass on the lock screen too—where it can make text and icons a little illegible, depending on the wallpaper you’ve chosen. To find the option, long press on the lock screen, then choose
Customize
underneath the preview of the current lock screen.
Tap on the lock screen clock, and you’re able to switch between
Glass
(Liquid Glass) and
Solid
(no transparency). Even if you keep Liquid Glass in place, you get a slider underneath the color and font options, which lets you adjust the transparency of the effect. When you’re happy with how it looks, tap outside the pop-up dialog, then tap
Done
.
Other iOS 26 customization options
There are long-standing settings in iOS that can help too.
Screenshot: Apple
There are a few other tweaks you can make to the interface in iOS 26, which don’t specifically refer to the Liquid Glass look, but still affect it. If you open up Settings on your iPhone then tap
Accessibility > Display & Text Size
, you’ll find a
Reduce Transparency
toggle switch that dials down the Liquid Glass effect somewhat.
There are a few more entries on the same
Display & Text Size
menu that can be useful:
Bold Text
and
Larger Text
for making text on screen easier to read (even if Liquid Glass is enabled), and
Increase Contrast
for making it easier to pick out the foreground elements from the background on iOS.
Another option you might want to use can be found in the home screen customization options. Long press on a blank area of any home screen, then tap
Edit > Customize
. The panel that pops up lets you darken home screen icons, darken the background, and increase icon size—all of which can improve readability.
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You can finally tone down Liquid Glass on your iPhone
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