Liquid Glass in iOS 26: Apple allows reduction of transparency
If Apple's new iPhone user interface is too glassy, you can reduce the effect. It's initially meant for the visually impaired, but it's available to everyone.
iOS 26 with different icon types: It doesn't get any clearer than this.
(Image: Apple)
Apple will give its operating systems a new look in the fall. “Liquid Glass” is intended to modernize the design of iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS. However, the revised design does not only have fans: users of the developer beta report, among other things, that various UI elements are difficult to read and some (fortunately optional) innovations such as completely transparent icons are rather pointless. It now appears that Apple is well aware of the problem, as Liquid Glass could also reduce accessibility.
Fixed background, frozen glass
The company has therefore hidden a feature in the system settings that can be used to reduce the “glassiness”. This makes backgrounds significantly less transparent in some cases, which increases contrast. Although this is still not perfect, it is certainly helpful. The function can be found in the “Accessibility” section under “Display & text size”. Here, you select “Reduce transparency” using the switch. The contrast can also be increased here to make app elements stand out better. The change is particularly noticeable in the control center.
In the default setting of the first developer beta of iOS 26, this is barely visible or distinguishable, depending on the background. With “Reduce transparency”, a dark image background is always placed so that all elements can be read without errors. The same applies to the bar with the different areas of an app (tabs), which are available in Apple Music or the App Store, for example. Here, too, everything is easier to read because fewer app areas show through.
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Accessibility shortcut for quick switching
If you want, you can set the reduction in transparency to a shortcut. This can then be accessed at the touch of a button or via the control center. This can be particularly helpful when getting started with the new interface.
Otherwise, Apple still has a few betas to improve the look of Liquid Glass. Usually, the company reacts to user feedback and then fixes the worst flaws. If you want to help here, a public beta of iOS 26 will be available from July. Incidentally, functions to reduce transparency are also available on iPadOS and macOS.
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