iOS 26: What's Changed With the iPhone's Home Screen

[MacRumors]

Apple's new Liquid Glass design is noticeable on the Home Screen right when you unlock your iPhone, though the degree of change is customizable. We've rounded up everything that's changed with the iPhone's main interface.

Liquid Glass Design

By default, app icons have a layered look with subtle depth, essentially appearing as multiple sheets of glass stacked on one another to create a glass-like translucent look.

Apple created Liquid Glass app icons for apps like Safari, Maps, Photos, the App Store, Mail and more. Third-party app icons are adopting the same aesthetic, and for apps with a simple design on a solid background, no update is needed. Icons like this already have a Liquid Glass look.

The dock is transparent and blends into the background behind it, and the same goes for the search button. App folders have a frosted glass design that also changes tint based on your wallpaper. When you edit your Home Screen, the buttons that you interact with are also transparent.

Interface elements like the dock, folders, and the search button have a lighting effect that changes when you move your iPhone, making them look like real glass.

Light, Dark and Tinted Modes

The Liquid Glass effect is apparent in both Light Mode and Dark Mode, with icons continuing to feature the same stacked glass look, just with a lighter or darker background.

Apple technically changed Light Mode to "Default Mode" in the customization settings where you can adjust color (long press on the display and tap on customize).

There are new "Always" and "Auto" toggles for enabling permanent Light or Dark styles or adjusting them based on time, and the Small and Large buttons for changing icon size have been relocated to the upper right of the customization interface.

Tinted mode looks different in iOS 26 than it did in iOS 18. Rather than icons featuring a black background with colored graphics, icons adopt the full color that you select with white graphics in Light Mode. In Dark Mode, backgrounds are a much darker shade of the color you choose, but aren't entirely black.

With Tinted icons, the layered glass look isn't as obvious, but it's still present.

Clear Icons

Apple added a "Clear" icon option in iOS 26 that's available alongside Default, Dark, and Tinted. As the name suggests, Clear has a dramatic Liquid Glass look with icons that are entirely transparent. The icons adopt the color of your wallpaper, with white text and designs.

There are Light and Dark options for the Clear setting. Light looks like frosted glass, while Dark looks like tinted glass. If you want to go all-in on Liquid Glass and have your iPhone look notably different, Clear is the option to choose.

Widgets

Widgets have some of the same aesthetic as icons, but on the whole, they don't look too much different from how they looked in iOS 18 in the Default mode.

With the Clear option turned on, widgets are transparent and have a more cohesive design that matches with your wallpaper.

Wallpaper

You can edit your wallpaper directly from the Home Screen in iOS 26. Long press on the display and then tap on the new "Edit Wallpaper" option.

The wallpaper interface lets you change the image that you're using on the Home Screen, but it doesn't affect the Lock Screen. If you have a photo set as a wallpaper, for example, you can change the color, select a gradient, or choose a photo, plus you can turn blurring for images off or on.

Wallpaper takes a starring role in iOS 26 because it affects the color of the dock, folders, and icons, depending on your settings.

Control Center

Control Center adopts Liquid Glass, so while the functionality is the same, the general look is different. Compared to the iOS 18 Control Center, the iOS 26 version has depth for the icons with the Liquid Glass shifting light effect.

The icons are tinted to look like frosted glass, and some of the underlying buttons for adjusting Control Center have been tweaked with the updated look. Icons are a little larger, and some of the bar-shaped icons for volume, brightness, and other settings are rounder.

Other Home Screen Elements

The Dynamic Island, Notification Center, long press gestures, and App Library have not changed beyond aesthetics. App Library folders are translucent and the search bar is rounded, and for widgets, there is a glass look of varying intensity depending on your icon color choice.

App Library icons are also slightly larger, with less padding between them.

Web Apps

When you add a website to your Home Screen in iOS 26, it always opens as a web app. Web apps were available on the Home Screen in iOS 18, but web developers needed to configure them to operate as web apps.

If websites weren't configured properly, they would open in Safari when added to the Home Screen. Now a website will open as a dedicated web app, even if it hasn't been explicitly set up to work that way.

There is an Open as Web App option that can be toggled off when adding a website to a Home Screen if you prefer that websites open up in Safari.

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Article Link: iOS 26: What's Changed With the iPhone's Home Screen

 

[antonrg]

It's absolutely mind-blowing to me that there are people who think that the Clear option is useable. It's an absolute insanity to me. And I don't have any issues with my eyesight, thank God.

 

[jz0309]

appreciate the screenshots and sure looks that I will be utilizing the Accessibility functions heavily.
While I will still have to see it in person on my own phone, the screenshots most certainly show that readability is going to be a big issue for a lot of users ...

 

[klasma]

Looking at the screenshots, they should rename the “Clear” option to “Ghost”.

 

[Donkey Man]

Apple is completely lost in the woods - they have basically dumped their hitherto pioneering UI guidelines into the trash. Tim Spindler has to go.

 

[Sputman99]

Please have an option to turn off the Windows Aero Liquid Glass please

 

[pdaholic]

I used clear icons for a few hours, then questioned why I wanted to make life harder for myself.

 

[axantas]

It's absolutely mind-blowing to me that there are people who think that the Clear option is useable. It's an absolute insanity to me. And I don't have any issues with my eyesight, thank God.

regarding hat "clear" option: I think I remember having seen similar things on jailbroken iPhones....
So, if not you, but others might appreciate it. Besides that: You do not have to use it.

regarding the screenshots in general: do not judgde based on screenshots. I am testing iOS 26 on an iPhone and iPad. It is simply not the same as a screenshot.

 

[CharlesShaw]

To me, Liquid Glass does for the Home Screen what LED does for Christmas lights.

To paraphrase what my favorite YT host (TechnologyConnections) said of LED Christmas lights, "this is not what Christmas looks like, it's what a vape shop looks like."

 

[profdraper]

Once again, seems to be built for doomscrolling, phone & social media addicts. The OS spends the majority of time simply bugging you with endless notifications and suggestions about garbage. Needs quite a bit on unnecessary fiddling to turn all this junk off ...

The main issue is despite all this needlass eye candy, long-standing bugs and poor operation are still there, eg:

- touch screen text editing is still hopeless & near impossible to postion the cursor correctly if say you wanted to correct a typo or add a word in a search string; takes forever, works very badly & often is easier just to write the whole thing again. This is in stark contrast to say Android or Win 11 touch.

- It insists on changing user settings for no good reason, eg, like standby mode where nearly every time is not as you left it.

- not least: after sw updates, the phone more often than not refuses to aswer calls, or picks up to no sound etc - despite any number of time-wasting 'fixes' (focus settings etc etc etc); basically, the phone is too often incapable of serving its most basic fuction - answer a call. These nitwits have truly lost the plot.

Is not in any way 'better', is far more annoying than anything else.

 

[macjaffa]

Surely Im not the only one who primarily identifies icons by their colour?

 

[Flamingdeathbolts]

Translucent app folder is cool. Was never a fan of the grey app sized cut out. I am not on beta so it would be cool to find out if there are certain features that can be used from Liquid Design update and keeping the rest to old (current) style

 

[vegetassj4]

What’s New with iOS 26 Home Screen
Spoiler: Not a whole lot.

Same Old Grid of Icons
Get ready for the future… of 2010! iOS 26 proudly continues Apple’s time-honored tradition of absolutely refusing to change the basic grid of app icons. Want to move apps around? You still can. Want to resize them, customize shapes, or have an actually interactive layout? LOL. No. But hey—you can now nudge them 0.0001 pixels to the left. Progress!

Widgets? Yeah, Those Are Still a Thing
Widgets still exist. They’re still… fine? You can pin a weather box or a calendar to your screen and stare at it forever. Don’t expect any groundbreaking functionality though—they mostly sit there, looking decorative. Like a digital succulent you’ll forget is even there.

Wow, the Dock Is Still There
The Dock is back! And by “back,” we mean it never left, because Apple is emotionally attached to it. Still the same row of apps, still unmovable, still docked like it’s 2007. If it ain’t broke, don’t innovate, apparently.

Liquid Glass Design™
Oh, you didn’t hear? The app icons now sit on a new “liquid glass” background, which Apple describes as “visually fluid, emotionally resonant, and molecularly advanced.” Translation: it’s just extra shiny and maybe a bit more translucent. It’s the same grid, but wetter. Slippery with innovation. So wet, in fact, that you may accidentally slide into another year of iCloud+ without noticing.

Dynamic Home Screen? Not Really
Apple teased “dynamic personalization,” which basically means your wallpaper can now very slightly change hue based on your focus mode and… that’s it. Don’t expect anything as wild as, say, animated live tiles. That’s crazy talk.

New Feature: Rearrangement Suggestion Mode
A new "AI-powered" feature suggests a better layout of your home screen apps. It then shuffles them slightly and tells you it’s revolutionary. You’ll move them back manually within 3 minutes.

Final Drip
So yes, iOS 26 now has liquid glass, slightly less dry widgets, and home screen rearrangement anxiety. At this rate, iOS 27 will introduce “Evaporative Mode,” where your apps literally fade into mist when not in use. Can’t wait.

---

Let me know if you want the Apple keynote script next—complete with phrases like “reimagined translucency” and “fluid identity architecture.”

 

[baconcat_8964]

I always dream about a clear mode. iOS7 showed what a system without colour could looks like, and now the final form arrived.

 

[Reason077]

Some of these screenshots just look so awful from a readability and accessibility perspective. Cringey design, poor contrast, barely readable text.

Oh well, at least its customisable, I guess. 🤷‍♂️

 

[eifelbube]

… ”Apple added a "Clear" icon option in iOS 26 that's available alongside Default, Dark, and Tinted. As the name suggests, Clear has a dramatic Liquid Glass look with icons that are entirely transparent.”

Why not also "Outline" (thin white) and "Invisible" options? Could be a memory game. Tapping an (intended) icon brings up the dialog "Trying to open [ app name ] ? YES <> NO" . You get a daily score report. Monthly callenges too. Correct "Invisible" icon guesses earn double points. Apple Intelligence based cheating detection. Both options off by default. To activate, go to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and toggle on "Memory Playground".

 

[superarijit]

What an incredibly stupid design by Apple which hasn't come up any real innovations since Jobs died. This is what happens when Tim runs out of Steve's ideas.

 

[kkillam]

I wish i could have the transparent widgets without also having to have transparent icons. Having colorless icons makes it very difficult to be able to differentiate between apps, but the liquid glass widgets look great. Wish i could have one without the other…

 

[lanomds1]

I tried today iPadOS 26 on my iPad Pro and got back to 18.5 hours after using it. This design is a mistake, it’s heavy on the battery, so many fancy ‘glass like’ animations that my iPad was struggling to process. The clear icons are horrible, your iPad looks dead and cold. I will not be upgrading any of my devices to the 26 versions and that’s the first time in years of using Apple products. Steve Jobs would laugh at what they’re delivering to us now. Even the new Android version looks more modern, light (even with the new animations) and alive. What is going on with this design team at Apple? I’m so disappointed.

 

[Warped9]

I'll be customizing this crap as close as I can to the way I have it presently. I'm not at all impressed with Liquid Glass.

 

[bLackjackj]

So pretty much NOTHING has changed 🙄🤦‍♂️

 

[fatTribble]

I feel like a lot of people are reading about Liquid Glass and thinking it’s the clear glass option

 

[wbeasley]

for a company that has long championed accessibility, I'm not seeing much on offer so far that enhances things.

it's all clear, low contrast stuff.
sure you might be able to adjust it but the default needs to be easy to read for the majority of users.

anyone with vision issues is not going to love it.

i'm sure there is some very clever software running to make these effects.
so i guess wait and see it when released...

 

[applefan8254]

This is cool and all. But can we please get multiple users? Thank you.

 

[sKurt]

No No No NO, my eyes can't even do dark mode, if the images presented are 'default' I'm going to have to spend lots of time adjusting' them to look like they did before.

hopefully they learn their lesson and remove it for iOS 27 otherwise I'm stuck on whatever i'm on until then

Apple Glass? More like Apple Glass...


EDIT: macrumors newbie? I've had an account since '22. How long does 'freshman' class last around here?