How to disable liquid glass in iOS 26?

Go to settings, accessibility, display and text size, then hit “reduce transparency”

if you turn on your reduce transparency and increase contrast settings it pretty much eliminates the Liquid Glass look

LeoLee10 wrote:

I wish you could have the option to turn OFF the Liquid Glass completely.

Let Apple know. "Wishing" for something is not a good strategy and they won't read your post here.

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

The “reduce transparency” is actually a weak workaround. You can check it by recording screen and playback it in slow motion. You can see that the “glass” effect doesn’t go anywhere, there is just a black shade added at some animation step.

mrdattu1969 wrote:

why can't they just clearly allow you to only choose security updates or at least give you a clear and easy way to go back to at least the most recent screen display before the update. it's so frustrating and irritating when they do this. all the apps now have weird layouts and non-intuitive ways of doing things. i'm seriously rethinking the apple ecosystem.

[Edited by Moderator]

Well.....they did let you choose a security update. You could have only updated to iOS 18.7 as opposed to iOS 26. Liquid Glass has been perhaps the most widely discussed Apple update in years. There were like a zillion YouTube videos about it. Countless articles about it, too.

Personally, I LOVE Liquid Glass. And you can minimize its effects as has been mentioned on just about every page of this thread. But get rid of it, you can't. It's an integral part of iOS. So either get used to it or don't.

As to leaving the Apple Ecosystem, do as you please. It certainly makes no difference to anyone here on this user to user only forum. You should absolutely buy what suits you best.

I was able to get rid of the glass on the homepage time by going to settings>wallpaper> then select customize > the tap on the clock and it gives an option for glass or solid - hope this helps others - I literally just upgraded without knowing about this new glass interface

No.

This has nothing to do with the operating system.

WRONG

There are 9+ pages of replies in this thread that all explain that it is not possible to "turn off" Liquid Glass.

There are also replies that provide instructions on how to minimize the effects.

I suggest that you read through this thread.

Bluestar725 wrote:

All material to disable Liquid Glass only minimizes it, not completely disables it. I need a solution to disable the feature as I am visually impaired and the Liquid Glass effect is making it impossible to read on my Iphone. Please help make this an optional feature.

As has been pointed out repeatedly in this thread, you cannot disable or remove the feature. You can only ameliorate it using the settings in Accessibility that have already been outlined.

No one here in the user-to-user forum can change anything. You can, however, let Apple know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

Catzeye00 wrote:

Seeing the background move distortedly messes with my motion sickness, I either get dizzy or slightly nauseous. When I select the tinted option it does not look like anything changes. Please give us the option to turn it off, I don’t want to feel sick every time I use my phone.

Read this ALL the way through --> Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

I suspect you're having an issue with Animations, which can be toned down considerably by opening Settings > Accessibility > Motion

ronniefromma wrote:

Someone just gave me a great tip. There’s a new liquid glass setting. Go to display & brightness. Then liquid glass. Change the setting to tinted. That’s the best solution I’ve seen yet.

Yup, you probably read it here in this very thread, where it has been mentioned several times.

DanielleMarie89 wrote:

Please allow the option to disable the Liquid Glass feature, the flashes of lights when clicking on things is causing me to get severe migraines. None of the settings I have tried have made a difference. I’m very sensitive to changes in lights and/or flashes of lights :(

It is not a feature it IS the operating system

You can turn on Reduce Transparency and Increase Contrast in Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size

abeness wrote:

"If you don't like change, technology is likely not for you. Every year, things change. That's not going to stop."

This isn't a productive comment, lobsterghost1. We've all been using technology for years, successfully. It's not a matter of liking change or not, it's a matter of humans being wired differently. To each their own: it's great that Liquid Glass works for you.

I work in school theater, and we are sensitive to the use of strobe in the context of epileptic triggers, for example. Yeah, it might be great to use a strobe for a particular show, but if an actor suffers from epilepsy triggered by strobe lighting, would it be reasonable to suggest that the actor sit out that show to avoid a seizure?

We've all purchased Apple products and many of us have been loyal customers for many years. It seems unreasonable to roll out an update like this without an off switch for those that really can't function with this huge visual change, as seems clear from this long thread. I hope Apple hears us and implements Accessibility features to allow us to advance to iOS 26 without visual distraction that makes it harder for us to use their technology. Reduce Motion and Reduce Transparency are incomplete in 26.0.

It's fine you don't think it's a productive comment. It is a factual comment. Last year, when iOS 18 was released, just as many people came to this forum and complained about the changes. And now we have iOS 26 and people are complaining about the changes. Next year, we'll get iOS 27 and people will complain about the changes. Apple is darned if they do and darned if they don't. If nothing changes, Apple will be criticized for becoming stagnant. If too much changes, Apple is criticized for making too many changes. I stand by my comment that when it comes to software, change is inevitable. Whether someone can adapt to it or not is another topic.

Whether I like Liquid Glass and anyone else doesn't like it however, isn't going to get changed or addressed in any way by posting you don't like something here. This is strictly a user to user only forum, which Apple neither participates, nor reads for user feedback.

If you want Apple to hear you, you need to provide feedback where someone from Apple will actually read it. It's been posted a number of times in this thread, but here is the link again --> Product Feedback - Apple

AaronLea wrote:

There is a fundamental problem with Liquid Glass that goes beyond “people don’t like change”. It’s a total failure of UX accessibility and ADA compliance. It’s born out of privilege. As a designer who also is embedded in assisting the atypical community in my spare time, I assure you, many people are not liking the change do to cognitive issues and not because of its aesthetic.

Tell Apple:

Product Feedback - Apple

Encourage all of these other folks you presume to speak for to do the same.