The fact they added it already means their analytics show a lot of people don’t like the default Liquid Glass.
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iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Lets Users Control Liquid Glass Transparency with New Toggle
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The new setting can be found on iOS and iPadOS by going to Settings > Display and Brightness, or System Settings > Appearance on the Mac.
Imagine! I think some people wouldn't be happy until everything was that transparent all you would see is the wallpaper 😂
Note- Just two options available to adjust Liquid Glass. Clear or Tinted. I was really hoping for a Slider.
Uhmmm… not sure if all of you are assuming this is a slider instead of just an on-off toggle… I mean, in the post, MacRumors is mentioning a simple toggle: Crystal clear (default) or frosted. The choice is yours, but I’m not sure this will be much different from the “reduce transparency” option.
Just in case, don’t get your hopes high too soon.
Aaaand… this is what I was meaning.
What I haven’t seemed to be able to get an answer on, is this actually a *new* toggle?
From all descriptions, what it seems to more accurately be is simply the “reduced transparency” option moved out of accessibility and into the display and brightness settings panel and given a new fancy name.
So can someone confirm, is there anything actually new here?
From all descriptions, what it seems to more accurately be is simply the “reduced transparency” option moved out of accessibility and into the display and brightness settings panel and given a new fancy name.
So can someone confirm, is there anything actually new here?
He has a point, this is a way to fix something they broke.
It isn’t broke for the people that actually like this new refreshing design. If you don’t like it, you have an option now
Sounds like it's just a toggle - so it's either a clear look (what we already have) vs frosted (reduced transparency).
You can't make it any more glassier, so keep your expectations in check.
You can't make it any more glassier, so keep your expectations in check.
I don't see how Apple thought this UI was ideal. Although it's a cool effect, Liquid Glass is not a good UI design because the contrast is poor. My only guess is that because Liquid Glass is designed with 3d properties, there might be some future 3d UI integration with Macs/ iPhones/ iPads.
... or Apple might have just made a bad decision but I don't think so.
... or Apple might have just made a bad decision but I don't think so.
It's not about look, from a design point it is a huge mess.It isn’t broke for the people that actually like this new refreshing design. If you don’t like it, you have an option now
Android with Material Expressive 3 nailed this time, it works, it is readable, it is functional and...not gimmick.
Refreshing is not the vibes I get from Looking glass, it actually look like Vista, so very little refreshing.
Is it cool? May be, practical ....no. Some people can actually evaluate things not by how they look, but how they actually work.
Any designer with some salt in their head would tell you it's a mess, it's not an opinion.
You like it? I get it, but it's a mess, some people like mess and there's nothing wring with that.
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yet most of these manufactures that use android is adopting a Liquid Glass design rather than googles material 3..
Apple finally learned to add an option similar to Windows Vista (Aero) and Windows Vista Basic. Or Windows 7 (Aero) and Windows 7 Basic. It should have been there when iOS 26.0 was released to the public.
Not yet upgraded.
I do hope this is exactly what "Reduce Transparency" under Accessibility -> Display & Text Size already does.
If not, why didn't that setting mean this?
In general this is what happens when one favors secrecy over usability studies...
Or releases Betas that are really more like early release candidates and not intended for actual feedback and changes.
-R
I do hope this is exactly what "Reduce Transparency" under Accessibility -> Display & Text Size already does.
If not, why didn't that setting mean this?
In general this is what happens when one favors secrecy over usability studies...
Or releases Betas that are really more like early release candidates and not intended for actual feedback and changes.
-R
they puked out a design, but changed the necessary layout to accommodate it, now let you walk it back while still needing to keep the wasted space, etc.
And every developer who spent the summer working on their app now gets to do it all over again to make sure it looks good both ways.
I think Liquid Glass has been a mixed design, it's often not the transparency that causes issues, on Tahoe at least, it's the general lack of contrast, endless white panes with dark text and no contrast between side bars and main panel (music app), or moving elements as part of a redesign for its own sake, such a moving the main controls from the top of the screen and shoving them on a random island floating in the content (music app), or basically just...the music app.
Reduce transparency makes it completely opaque. This frosted look keeps some color and transparency like iOS 18
Oh that's not for what you think they are doing it, they mimic apple because it is the "cool thing" not because it is the best.
