I have an iPhone 16 and I just upgraded to iOS 26. My homescreen wallpaper is persistently blurred. I do not have blur turned on in the customize settings. The only other help I found online was to turn off the blurred setting on "Always On" functionality but the iPhone 16 does not have that functionality.
iPhone 16, iOS 26
They real solution is to go into Edit homescreen (by long pressing any app), then use top-left menu to select Edit Wallpaper. Then turn blur on, save (click Done). Then repeat and turn Blur off again. (You can also do similar by using Settings app for wallpaper.)
I believe people have been confusing Lock Screen with Wallpaper. There is a bug which causes the wallpaper to become blurred all the time, even with that setting off. I believe this is what the OP referred to. It’s the issue I came here for.
Just tried enabling "Reduce Transparency" and now the home screen is just a solid color
Home screen wallpaper blur persistent on iPhone 16 and iOS 26
