(Credit: Apple)
Apple gave iOS a big overhaul in 2025, switching up the naming convention and rolling out Liquid Glass, which gives your icons, toolbars, menus, and other elements a translucent appearance, as if you’re looking through glass. The problem? Not everyone loves the new look.
I’ll confess that I’ve been on the fence about it. I like some aspects, such as how it renders icons and folders, but I don’t like how it sometimes obscures menu items and controls. Some people have even complained that it makes them feel sick in dark mode. Unfortunately, you can't turn off Liquid Glass, but Apple has released a few OS updates to tone down the transparency, most recently in iOS 26.4. Here are your options.
Reduce Transparency on Liquid Glass
If you want to tone down the effect on an iPhone or iPad, open Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and enable Reduce Transparency. Now, when you look back at the folders and menus on your Home screen, you should see that the translucent look has been replaced by a more opaque one.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)To do this on a Mac, go to System Settings > Accessibility > Display and turn on the switch next to Reduce Transparency. You'll notice that the icons, folders, menu bar, dock, and widgets are now less transparent than before.
(Credit: Lance Whitney / Apple)To adjust Liquid Glass on an Apple Watch, open the Watch app on your iPhone and go to My Watch > Accessibility> Reduce Transparency. To do this directly on the watch, try Settings > Accessibility and turn on Reduce Transparency. Looking at the watch screen before and after the change makes the differences stand out. The Notification panels and Control Center are good examples, since you can clearly see the difference with transparency reduced.
(Credit: Lance Whitney / Apple)Enable Dark Mode
Beyond reducing transparency, I've found that Liquid Glass looks better in dark mode instead of light mode because it hides much of the new design. To do this on an iPhone or iPad, go to Settings > Display & Brightness and set the appearance to Dark. You can do the same on a Mac by going to System Settings > Appearance > Dark.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)Customize the Look of Liquid Glass
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)Apple first introduced greater control over the look and feel of the Liquid Glass design with iOS 26.1. Head to Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass, then choose between Clear (more transparent) and Tinted (more opaque). The latter option is recommended if you want more contrast. You can also pair this with Dark Mode for better readability.
Reduce Bright Effects
As of iOS 26.4, you now have the ability to tone down some of the lighting effects that come with the Liquid Glass redesign. Head to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size, then enable Reduce Brightness to make the change. It's a subtle difference, but one that might help make the theme more tolerable. It's also worth noting that Apple has enhanced its Reduce Motion option to incorporate Liquid Glass effects. Just go to Settings > Accessibility > Motion and enable Reduce Motion.
Customize the Home Screen
Thanks to the Home screen customization options introduced with iOS 18, you can also make changes to the color and lighting of icons and widgets that may improve readability. To do this, press down on any open area of the Home screen, tap the Edit button at the top, and then select Customize. Now, you have several options for adjusting the screen's appearance.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)Tap the small sun icon on the left side of the bottom pane to switch the screen and widgets between light and dark modes. Tap the square icon on the right of the page to increase the size of the icons and folders. The only drawback with the larger size is that the names disappear.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)Looking at the bottom of the pane, tap the Dark icon to paint the Home screen with a darker tone. You can also switch the option from Always to Auto, in which case the icons and widgets take on a dark appearance at night and a light appearance during the day.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)Tap the Clear icon to give Home screen icons and widgets a clear look similar to Liquid Glass, but without color. Here, you can also switch from Light to Dark to give the screen a darker look, or to Auto to make it dark at night and light during the day.
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)Tap the Tinted icon to open multiple sliders that let you tweak the screen's appearance. By moving the first slider left or right, you can change the tint color. By moving the second slider, you can modify the lightness of the tint. Under the sliders, you can pick specific colors (including those from your wallpaper).
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)Jason Cohen contributed to this story.