How to disable liquid glass in iOS 26?

T-MobileAWFUL wrote:

A security update should not affect the appearance of the phone. The white lines and white bubbles around everything are appalling. Especially in dark mode.

You seem a bit confused. iOS 18.7 was a security and bug fix update for iOS 18. iOS 26 is the new for 2025 iOS version, which most definitely was intended to change how things look and in some cases how things work.

Read this --> OS - iOS 26 - Apple

If you installed iOS 26, you get a new look and feel and it was quite intentional. In an earlier post, you suggested there was no warning. There was plenty of advance notice on what iOS 26 was bringing to our phones. For months, Apple showed off iOS 26 on their website. There were as there ALWAYS are with every iOS update, release notes on the update page on your iPhone. You didn't have to read them, but then that's really on you, if you didn't. YouTube had literally hundreds if not thousands of videos about iOS 26 before it was released. If you didn't do any research at all before you upgraded, that's really not Apple's fault.

George_Lampropoulos wrote:

Guys I got it:

I managed to clear it completely :

I went in a shop, bought a new iPhone 16. Disabled auto update on settings.

Now my phone is amazing again.

(I am being serious unfortunately)

There's an old saying........."Don't cut off your nose to spite your face." So, you'll never ever update again, right? That's not really sustainable, and you'll ultimately wind up with a device which is vulnerable to security issues. And you'll wind up with apps at some point, which will no longer be supported on the iOS version you intend to freeze yourself at. But if this is the right solution for you, good for you.

pocketpenguin04 wrote:

Agree, I can’t read any of my notifications with the liquid glass effect! Not sure why I would want a non-optional feature that makes basic functions of my phone unusable. Really appreciate all the suggestions to help people make this at least a little better.

Update your iPhone to iOS 26.1, which was released 2 days ago, then read this link and you'll see how you can change how your notifications are displayed --> Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

Spinoza_Ed wrote:

I think liquid glass is awful. Reducing transparency helped some but it is still awful. I am writing messages with another message showing up underneath. It is distracting and I think it is ugly. Asking Apple for a feature to completely disable what I think is a total mess.

You're not writing anyone at Apple, by posting here. This is a user to user only forum, which Apple neither participates nor reads for user feedback.

You can use this link to share your thoughts with Apple, but I wouldn't expect Apple to disable a key feature of iOS, which is hard coded throughout the entire operating system --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple

You might want to read this all the way through and make adjustments, which may better meet your needs --> Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

Mee369 wrote:

Here is the simplest answer… You Can’t. But if you have IOS 18 backup(s), you can open Time Machine on Mac and select an iOS 18 backup, with iPhone in recovery mode.

That will not restore iOS 18 to the phone. Backups do not contain the system software.

No off switch. Very upsetting I want an off switch so bad but apparently Apple said no cause Liquid Glass is “hard coded into the OS” like man… at least let us downgrade or something idk I’m just so desperate to get this thing gone. You don’t understand how close I am to switching to samsung

Easiest way to almost eliminate Liquid Glass is to enable a black background on your home screens.

Tell Apple:

Product Feedback - Apple

Press on your home screen until you see the edit button at the top left. Tap Edit, then move the Widget and voila, srsly, you will have fixed your nightmare.

Hello~ In addition to the link that *lobsterghost1* posted…let Apple know your thoughts as they won’t see them here in this forum.

Product Feedback - Apple

~Katana-San~

Tell Apple

Feedback - iPhoneAppleApple › feedback › iphone

You can turn on “Show Borders” (also in accessibility > display & text size) and it’s still not great but it does get rid of the worst part of the “glass” effect

nflutter wrote:

It’s so ugly, prescriptive and not clean

That doesn't even make sense. But it doesn't matter what I think. Tell Apple:

Product Feedback - Apple

This is a user to user forum, you are not addressing Apple here. Use the following link you send your feedback to Apple -

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

suppose you can let them know how you feed using their feedback channels

Product Feedback - Apple

or try to reach out to their support channels

Get

Support (apple.com)

And

or

Contact

- Official Apple Support

And

or

Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple

Or

Genius

Bar Reservation and Apple Support Options - Apple