How to disable liquid glass in iOS 26?

Catzeye00 wrote:

Seeing the background move distortedly messes with my motion sickness, I either get dizzy or slightly nauseous. When I select the tinted option it does not look like anything changes. Please give us the option to turn it off, I don’t want to feel sick every time I use my phone.

Read this ALL the way through --> Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

I suspect you're having an issue with Animations, which can be toned down considerably by opening Settings > Accessibility > Motion

ronniefromma wrote:

Someone just gave me a great tip. There’s a new liquid glass setting. Go to display & brightness. Then liquid glass. Change the setting to tinted. That’s the best solution I’ve seen yet.

Yup, you probably read it here in this very thread, where it has been mentioned several times.

Adambagley wrote:

I echo the sentiment here, it is a very un appealing and any efficient design it has created plenty of issues for me personally.

Apple’s iOS 26 “Liquid Glass” redesign is a bad decision not because it looks different, but because it cuts directly against what Apple does best.

Apple’s core promise has always been effortless clarity. You pick up an iPhone and everything is immediately readable, calm, and obvious. Liquid Glass—by design—adds translucency, refraction, motion, and visual noise to core interface elements. That’s spectacle layered on top of information, and it makes the OS harder to read, not easier.

This is especially dangerous for accessibility. Translucent UI over dynamic backgrounds is notoriously bad for contrast, low-vision users, and people sensitive to motion. The fact that Apple has already had to tone it down and add controls to reduce the effect proves this isn’t a polish issue—it’s a fundamental design conflict.

It also introduces unnecessary performance and perception risk. Effects-heavy interfaces make users worry about battery life and older devices, even if Apple optimizes them. Apple upgrades work because users trust that updates improve stability, not just visuals. This redesign weakens that trust.

Then there’s the ecosystem cost. When Apple changes its visual language this dramatically, developers feel pressure to redesign their apps just to keep up—absorbing time and expense with no guarantee users actually want the look.

Most importantly, Liquid Glass sends the wrong signal. Apple wins by being practical, restrained, and human-centered. A flashy, polarizing UI suggests Apple is prioritizing visual novelty over usability at exactly the moment users want reliability and substance.

Apple shouldn’t need an OS you have to “dial back.” If users want to turn it off, it shouldn’t be the future of iOS.

You're sharing this with only other users. Perhaps cathartic to do so, but you're not sharing anything with Apple on this user to user only forum. Users, by the way, none of whom had anything to do with iOS 26 or Liquid Glass.

I wrote this, which explains why you will likely never get a turn off option with Liquid Glass. So yes, you need to make adjustments which better meet your needs, but get rid of Liquid Glass completely is pretty much guaranteed to never happen --> Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

Tell Apple what you think --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Perhaps users can get a preview of iOS updates? They did. Apple opened Beta Testing for iOS 26 in June, before rolling it out to the public in September. It was widely reported on in the press. In blogs. In YouTube and just about everywhere tech oriented. I don't beta test myself, but I was more than well aware of what iOS 26 was all about long before it was updated on my iPhone.

As to your issue with seeing the time, I'd recommend choosing a wallpaper with a dark background. This is really no different than it was in iOS 18. The time on your home screen has always been white.

And you of course do have several options in terms of adjusting Liquid Glass. This has been posted many times throughout this thread. Read it ALL the way through and try the options --> Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

rogemcdoge wrote:

This issue needs to be fixed, asap. All this advice about changing all these settings just to get it to look halfway decent again is not a solution.

This is user to user only forum. We can't fix anything. And in my opinion, nothing is broken. If you don't like Liquid Glass, you can make settings adjustments as detailed in this link --> Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community Those are the only options you have available to you.

If this is not acceptable to you, tell Apple what in your opinion needs to be fixed --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple

You have to fix this and let us take off Liquid Glass.

1. There is nothing to fix.

2. This is a user to user forum, Apple is not here

There are 29 pages of answers which you obviously didn't read before posting another "me too" answer so I'll make it easy for you. Read the following information to help with your issue -

Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

If you still want to let Apple know, go here -

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

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

Tony_Pistilli wrote:

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

Switch to Samsung. We don't care. We're all users here like you on this user to user only forum. But please look before you leap. Samsung, which uses Googles Android OS is also employing many of the design characteristics you seem so desperate to escape and it's called Material Design 3.

Or you can read this ALL the way through and try the various options, which will likely help you --> Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

LeoLee10 wrote:

I wish you could have the option to turn OFF the Liquid Glass completely.

Let Apple know. "Wishing" for something is not a good strategy and they won't read your post here.

Feedback - iPhone - Apple

Tony_Pistilli wrote:

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

Hello~ We are your fellow forum members and not Apple. We don’t really care what brand of phone you choose. One bit of information though …you’re likely to find variations of this type of view on most phones now. Read thru this…

Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

Let Apple know your thoughts as they get paid to listen to complaints whereas we volunteers don’t. Have a nice day!!

Product Feedback - Apple

~Katana-San~

My iPhone 16 just updated to IOS26 - oh dear wish I could reverse out, however we have to keep with the security updates.

1) I had the universe (night sky with stars) Home Screen wallpaper prior to IOS upgrade, if I keep it I can't change the liquid glass time display font to how it used to be - I get error message "Failed to load Asset". I have to use one of the new available wallpapers then I can change the font to be solid and similar to as it was before.

2) Lots of my other text fonts changed - especially reading emails - luckily worked out how to change back to something resembling sensible font and contrast.

3) Why have searches been moved from the top to the bottom of the screen?

4) Selecting text from within WhatsApp message - used to be able to do straight away, now tap on text and get menu options, have to then release and tap again to be able to copy the text. Just another unnecessary change.

In summary - over-engineering comes to mind, and/or artistic beyond supporting prime function. Should be an option to turn liquid glass on or off -- so those who just want to get on and use their phone without esoteric text effects can do so.

5) When in Contacts and looking at an address the screen turns off far too quickly so I have to tap the screen to stop the App exiting...whilst I'm attempting to write the address on an envelope...I don't recall it being so quick to exit in the past. Frustrating when doing my Xmas cards.

The more unnecessarily complex a system gets the more risk of bugs. Also harder for the user to manage the device with unwanted features with settings buried in settings somewhere. I wonder if you try these new features out on "average people in the street" who are not experts in iPhone menu options!! Best to put the effort where it's needed - verification & validation. Adopt the KISS principle for best UX.

1. seems like you have limited options with a wallpaper that is not from your photos. Maybe try all the other options from this person's post. failed to load asset popup once I tap on … - Apple Community
2. seems like you fixed it. this is not a place to provide feedback to apple
3. for better reachability. you will get used to it but you are unable to change it
4. this is a problem with whatsapp as it is not in other apps. please contact their support teem

summary - as discussed already, liquid glass IS the ui, just as the flat design was. you couldn't switch back to skeumorphic design in ios 7 just like now. you have options to partially disable it which has been said throughout this thread.

5 - you have been able to change this for a long time. navigate to settings > display & brightness > auto-lock and configure it to your liking. also ensure that low power mode is turned off.

again, your feedback on the KISS principle and "average people" is not going to be read by apple. i'm sure apple is aware of this. that said, simplicity is valuable but does not make a unique look for an operating system that users may enjoy.

i disagree with this. the amount of blurred elements is extremely small in materials design 3 in comparison to liquid glass. can't even find that many photos of it that show any sort of blur. in the future they probably will though

If you want to turn of app Liquid Glass you simply have to hold down on the Home Screen to get the app to wobble or whatever they do and if you look to the very top left of the screen there is a edit button. Pressing that and then pressing customise will show app icon designs press either default or dark and they will no longer be liquidy

XD_Puppet43 wrote:

If you want to turn of app Liquid Glass you simply have to hold down on the Home Screen to get the app to wobble or whatever they do and if you look to the very top left of the screen there is a edit button. Pressing that and then pressing customise will show app icon designs press either default or dark and they will no longer be liquidy

You should check the date of a post before you reply. You do realize you've provided information, which has been shared multiple times over and over and to the original post written in September.