iOS 26: Reduce Transparency of Apple's Liquid Glass Design

Apple's iOS 26 update, currently in beta, introduces a striking visual overhaul with its new Liquid Glass design language. However, if the translucent elements are causing readability issues or you simply prefer a more opaque interface, there's a quick accessibility setting that can help tone things down.

The Liquid Glass design brings transparency effects throughout the system interface and stock apps. On the Home Screen, you'll notice the search bar, dock, and app folders all feature translucent backgrounds. App icons themselves now sport a new layered glass appearance that adds visual depth and dimension to your device – plus there's a new Clear appearance option that ups the ante even more.

While visually impressive, these transparency effects can sometimes interfere with readability, especially for anyone with certain visual needs. Fortunately, Apple has included accessibility options to make the interface more accessible.

How to Reduce Transparency

The quickest way to make iOS 26's interface more opaque is through the Reduce Transparency setting:

1. Open Settings on your iPhone.
2. Tap Accessibility.
3. Select Display & Text Size.
4. Toggle on Reduce Transparency.

This setting adds darker backgrounds to translucent areas like Control Center, app icons, and app folders, so you should see increased contrast between elements throughout the system.

Note that Reduce Transparency doesn't completely eliminate all translucent elements or change button shapes – it simply makes translucent areas more opaque while maintaining the overall iOS 26 aesthetic.

Add Reduce Transparency to Control Center

For quick access to this setting, you can add it to your Accessibility Shortcuts to get to it from the Control Center interface:

1. Go to Settings ➝ Accessibility.
2. Scroll down and tap Accessibility Shortcut.
3. Select Reduce Transparency in the list.

If you like, you can add the Accessibility Shortcut button to Control Center (long press a space between the interface's buttons, then tap Add Control). After you've done that, you can quickly toggle the setting on and off directly from Control Center, making it easy to switch between the full Liquid Glass experience and a more opaque interface as needed.

Additional Contrast Options

If you're still having legibility issues after enabling Reduce Transparency, return to Settings ➝ Accessibility ➝ Display & Text Size, then toggle on Increase Contrast. Note that enabling both Reduce Transparency and Increase Contrast will cause icons to lose most of their translucency.

The Liquid Glass design is still in beta, so Apple will likely continue refining the visual effects based on feedback. A wider official rollout of iOS 26 is expected sometime in September.