You Can ‘Fix’ Apple’s Transparent Liquid Glass Design
Change isn’t always easy. Case in point: “ Liquid glass .” Apple’s upcoming “26” updates to iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, Apple TV, and Vision Pro introduce this new design language that adds a clear, glassy look to icons, menus, and windows. Some people love it, while others hate it . And haters hate it .
I like the new look overall, though perhaps what I like most is that it’s consistent across all Apple products. It’s also nice to have a fresh look on Apple devices, especially the iPhone, for the first time in years. That said, I understand some of the criticism: in the right conditions, these icons and menus look great, but depending on the background, it can be very difficult to read text or see certain elements.
Unless you download Apple’s latest betas ( which I don’t recommend ), you won’t encounter these changes until the company releases official updates to the general public this fall. But if you decide to try out the updates at some point in the beta cycle, or install iOS 26 or macOS Tahoe this fall, and find that you really don’t like how transparent some of those windows are, there are some things you can do about it.
“Reduce transparency”
As it turns out, a setting that has existed on Apple devices for years is now responsible for limiting the effects of Liquid Glass’ most obvious design: “Reduce transparency.” It’s an accessibility feature present on most Apple devices that replaces the transparent effect of some UI elements with a solid background. The idea is to increase contrast and visibility for readers who have trouble seeing elements through the transparency effect, even before Liquid Glass was a concept.
According to users experimenting with the beta, enabling the Reduce Transparency feature significantly reduces the transparency of the Liquid Glass design. You can see it here : Before the setting was enabled, the menu bar would show through all the colors and graphics of the items underneath it. After enabling Reduce Transparency, the menu bar becomes much flatter, making the text inside it (especially the artist name) much easier to read.
If you’re drawn to the latter option, simply enable Reduce Transparency when you update your devices. On iOS and iPadOS, you’ll find this option under Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size . On macOS, you’ll find it under System Preferences > Accessibility > Display .
Since these OS updates are currently in beta, there’s no telling how things will change by the time Apple finally releases them to the public. As far as we know, the final version of Liquid Glass will be much more discriminating than it is now. But if you’re still having trouble using it or just don’t like it, this tweak should help.