Apple Will Finally Let You Control the Look of Liquid Glass.
For better or for worse, nothing defines iOS 26 like Liquid Glass . Apple’s new, distinctive design was met with both praise and criticism: some users were delighted with the updated look, while others complained about visibility issues and interface consistency.
Apple also seemed divided over the update, experimenting with the exact look of Liquid Glass throughout the iOS 26 beta period. The company seemed unable to find a balance between the glassy design effect, which can look very cool, and overall readability. For example, if buttons are too transparent, they let more background elements through, which can make them difficult to distinguish. But by weakening the glass effect too much by adding a tint to the backgrounds of icons and menus, Apple risks completely losing the design’s charm. (Some critics even nicknamed it “frosted glass” in comparison.)
While Apple appears to be continuing to refine Liquid Glass, the company has apparently decided that part of the problem lies in user preference. So, instead of sticking with a single design, Apple is now working on a customization option that will allow users to choose whether Liquid Glass is more transparent or more tinted.
To be clear or not to be clear
This new setting first appeared in the fourth beta of iOS 26.1 , as well as iPadOS 26.1 and macOS 26.1, which Apple released on Monday, October 20. The toggle, which beta testers can find in Settings > Display & Brightness (iOS and iPadOS) or System Preferences > Appearance on a Mac (macOS), gives users a simple choice of how Liquid Glass appears on their system: Transparent (more transparent, in keeping with Liquid Glass’s original intent) or Tinted (increases the opacity of menus and windows). You’ll likely be able to read these elements better, but you won’t see as much of the background light.
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Give the tester what he asked for (sort of)
During the preliminary beta testing, some users requested Apple add a slider for Liquid Glass in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. The idea was to allow users to fine-tune the appearance of Liquid Glass. Apple appears to have taken a different approach, offering only two transparency levels in the new control. While a slider (or at least more transparency options) would have been great, what we have is better than nothing for users who prefer a more opaque Liquid Glass look.
iOS 26.1 is still in beta, so it’s unclear (no pun intended) whether this feature will make it into the official update, and if so, whether it will still work.
How to fix liquid glass right now
But even without this dedicated settings page , there’s a way to “undo” the Liquid Glass effect : by enabling “Reduce Transparency” in Accessibility settings, you can achieve an effect similar to “Tinted.” However, I suspect “Tinted” will be more visually appealing, as Apple intentionally implemented this effect to work with Liquid Glass, while “Reduce Transparency” is simply a generic effect that disables transparency effects in iOS, iPadOS, and macOS.