Apple released the fifth public beta of iOS 26 on Aug. 25, and the beta brings a new Liquid Glass design to the iPhones of developers and beta testers, alongside other updates like call screening. But if you’re not a fan of the Liquid Glass design, I found a way to reduce its effects so background images aren’t bleeding through menus and making things hard to read.
When Apple released the developer beta of iOS 26, people were torn about the design. Some were excited about it, while others — myself included — were concerned about readability with the new design. Apple has tweaked Liquid Glass during the iOS 26 beta process to improve legibility by adding more of a frosted look, but you still might not be happy with the new design. Thankfully, you can adjust the Liquid Glass design in just a few steps, significantly reducing its transparency.
Here’s how to make the Liquid Glass design in iOS 26 more legible.
And don’t forget, iOS 26 is still in beta. That means the update might be buggy for you, and your device’s battery life may be affected, so it’s best to keep those troubles off your primary device. If you want to try the beta out, I recommend downloading it on a secondary device.
It’s also possible that Apple could adjust Liquid Glass, and other update features, before the final version of iOS 26 is released this fall.
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How to adjust Liquid Glass
1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Accessibility.
3. Tap Display & Text Size.
4. Tap the toggle for Reduce Transparency.
This will darken any menus or spaces affected by the Liquid Glass design, including in apps like Messages and your Control Center.
On the left, we see the Liquid Glass design in its full affect, and on the right the Reduce Transparency setting has been enabled.
In the Display & Text Size menu, you can also tap the toggle next to Increase Contrast to help set Liquid Glass elements apart. When I enabled this toggle, it gave a lot of those elements a white outline.
Increase Contrast adds outlines to elements throughout your iPhone.
If Apple continues to tweak Liquid Glass during the beta and you want to bring the design elements back to your device, follow the above steps again to disable Reduce Transparency.
Apple is set to bring iOS 26 and Liquid Glass to all compatible devices this fall — I’m guessing in a few weeks.
For more iOS news, here are my first impressions of the beta version of iOS 26, how to enable call screening in the beta and all the new features Apple said it will bring to your device later this year. You can get an early view of the upcoming iPhone features with our iOS 26 cheat sheet.
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