Apple’s liquid glass design is by far the most polarizing characteristic of iOS 26.
By making elements on the display of the semi-transparent iPhone, the new functionality of the operating system creates a cool and freezing look that really strikes what we have had. But transparency (even partial) can be harmful to visibility, and the liquid glass look can often be a little too much, especially if everything is launched as much as possible.
In iOS 26, Apple offers several ways to reduce the look. We have instructions on how to activate liquid glass for a maximum effect, so you can do the opposite if you want to get rid of some of them.
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However, part of the liquid glass design is not as easy to deactivate. Fortunately, in the new iOS 26 BETA 2 developer, Apple has made several modifications which reduce the transparency effect more than possible in the previous beta version. The company also reduced the effect in beta 3, to put only some of these changes in the public beta final which was released on July 24.
First of all, the control center now blurs the background much more than before, which facilitates the development of icons in the foreground. I love the liquid glass look, but it was a good Apple decision, because the idea behind the control center is to quickly present some of the key parameters of your iPhone – and these must be as visible as possible. The transparency effect is not completely gone, beware, it’s just much more moderate than before.
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It looks great, but it can be a little too much.
Credit: Apple
Apple also offers an option to reduce transparency on the entire user interface, under accessibility – Text display and size – Reduce transparency. This option was also there in iOS 26 beta 1, but now it makes it all even less transparent than before.
Finally, if you activate the high contrast mode (access the parameters – accessibility – display and size of the text – increase the contrast), some of the floating elements of the user interface (such as the search field in the settings) now have a border.
The changes are subtle, but when you add them, they make it more readable while keeping a suspicion of this look of glossy liquid glass.
The first public beta version was launched on July 24, which means that it is available for a much larger number of people. It’s always a beta version, so expect a few bugs until the iOS 26 is final in September.
Update: July 25, 2025, 3:25 p.m. The text was updated after the publication of the IOS 26 public version in July.
