New system apparently broke icon resolution. They seem out of focus now, very low quality. It happens for default icons only. Dark icons or tinted looks fine. Is this intentional? It looks like a design mistake or a bug.
iPad Air, iPadOS 26
Many users are having difficulties with the new "glass" UI introduced with iOS/iPadOS 26. You are definitely not alone.
While many are happy with the new look, some find difficulty. There are three Accessibility settings which may help with the appearance - each can be used singly or together.
The two principal settings are:
Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size >
The third Accessibility setting, which may help, is found here:
Settings > Accessibility > Motion > Reduce Motion - set to ON
This third setting removes some of the UI cosmetic motion effects, such as parallax and the lensing effect of the background/wallpaper. After many hours of testing, I have found that enabling this setting in isolation improves the clarity significantly - without introducing additional contrast artefacts or visual issues.
This setting provides additional benefit, in particular for older models of iPad and iPhone, in reducing CPU/GPU loading - resulting in smoother scrolling without visible jitter. In reducing CPU/GPU overheads, you may also see benefit in reduced battery utilisation.
If there are specific aspects of the new appearance and user-interface over which you would like to see change, or more configuration control, you would be best advised to submit constructive comment and feedback to Apple using the Product Feedback portal. For iPad and iPadOS:
[Edited by Moderator]
Many users are having difficulties with the new "glass" UI introduced with iOS/iPadOS 26. You are definitely not alone.
While many are happy with the new look, some find difficulty. There are three Accessibility settings which may help with the appearance - each can be used singly or together.
The two principal settings are:
Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size >
The third Accessibility setting, which may help, is found here:
Settings > Accessibility > Motion > Reduce Motion - set to ON
This third setting removes some of the UI cosmetic motion effects, such as parallax and the lensing effect of the background/wallpaper. After many hours of testing, I have found that enabling this setting in isolation improves the clarity significantly - without introducing additional contrast artefacts or visual issues.
This setting provides additional benefit, in particular for older models of iPad and iPhone, in reducing CPU/GPU loading - resulting in smoother scrolling without visible jitter. In reducing CPU/GPU overheads, you may also see benefit in reduced battery utilisation.
If there are specific aspects of the new appearance and user-interface over which you would like to see change, or more configuration control, you would be best advised to submit constructive comment and feedback to Apple using the Product Feedback portal. For iPad and iPadOS:
[Edited by Moderator]
I have seen this issue with app icons on iOS26 devices and based on some experimentation I believe it is related to the DPI of the app icons, not specifically to any end-user settings for liquid glass.
I have 1024x1024 PNG app icons at 72dpi with dark text on a colored background and the new UI attempts to apply a glass-effect bevel to the individual glyphs, effectively blurring them since you don't really see the detail. Increasing the resolution to 400dpi results in the icons being rendered flat (as desired) with only the top left and bottom right corner bevel effect being imposed by iOS.
I'm unclear why they would be messing with the actual icon content at all - it may just be a bug. If it's intentional I haven't found any documentation to explain the implications or rationale.
LJels wrote:
I regret updating to iOS26. I have low vision and now everything is blurry. I’ve typed all the fixes noted, and just want the clear icons back. Can I revert the iOS or is this being fixed in the software?
Rolling-back to an earlier version of iOS/iPadOS is not possible. All System Updates are digitally signed by Apple - and can only be installed whilst the digital signatures remain valid. After release of a new iOS/iPadOS version, the digital signatures of the preceding version are revoked within days, preventing reinstallation of the earlier version.
iOS/iPadOS 26.1 introduced a new setting that subtly charges the appearance of Liquid Glass:
Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass - select Clear or Tinted
Sadly, for iPad, this new setting makes very little difference for those that struggle with both the appearance and overlapping screen elements introduced with Liquid Glass - an issue that is often not understood by those that don't have or regularly use an iPad. While iOS for iPhone and iPadOS for iPad are closely related, some features can have substantial differences in how they appear on related devices.
If you are experiencing difficulty with the new Liquid Glass UI, there are other settings that can significantly improve the appearance and suppress the majority of unwanted effects:
Each if these settings can be used individually, or in combination. Setting Reduce Transparency alone (1) will likely suppress the majority of your issues. The Reduce Motion setting (3), if used, will eliminate the "lensing" effects of the Liquid Glass UI. Experiment; you should find a combination that works for you.
I suggest that you begin with setting Reduce Transparency to ON - and then, if needed, experiment with additional use of one or more of the other options. Items #1 (Reduce Transparency) and #3 (Reduce Motion) together should resolve visibility/clarity of Home Screen App and folder icons.
NB: The new Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass setting can only be changed/toggled while Reduce Transparency is set to OFF. You might find that setting Liquid Glass to Clear, prior to enabling Reduced Transparency to ON, may give the best result.
Apple does invite submission of constructive feedback, comments and feature requests via its Product Feedback portal. If you have any feedback to offer, or changes that you might like to see in a future update of PadOS 26, this would be the most appropriate channel through which to communicate your thoughts to Apple:
The Photos, Messenger and Google Maps icon do look a bit softer now, but I believe that is by design. Not a bug.
You can always offer Apple feedback if you want sharper looking icons.
click here ➜ Feedback - iPad - Apple
here they new icons are shown beside the older ones
New iOS 26 icons: Here's how all the new app icons look on your iPhone home screen - 9to5Mac
I believe what most view as a bug is as stated by others by design.
Glamzar wrote:
Third-party apps? Oh I’m sorry I didn’t realize that the photos and camera apps were not by Apple. You know, the baseline features that are default and unable to be removed? Those are third-party? This also includes Messages, FaceTime, iTunes, music, and the App Store.
These are the apps you specifically mentioned in your post: "For the Huntington app, the black logo looks faded and not bold, crisp like it did before IOS 26. Facebook messenger, Youtube/Youtube Music, Shazam and others simply look faded."
They are 3rd party apps. Regardless, if you're not pleased with how things look, tell Apple. This is a user to user only forum, so arguing with a fellow user won't be heard by anyone at Apple, who neither participates here, nor reads for user feedback. No one here had anything to do with iOS 26 in any way.
You are welcome to share your thoughts with Apple here --> Feedback - iPhone - Apple
Personally, I don't find the icons blurry or objectionable at all.
Abhi_Babu wrote:
17 pro max. Middle East version, apps icon looks discolored and blurry
Such as YouTube ,App Store ,Pinterest. Also out of the box. I got cycle count 1.
Update to iOS 26.1.
these forums are user helping other users like yourself, it's sort of going to a
physical apple store and asking other customers their advice
Another Barry wrote:
Why would they make them look deliberately out of alignment?
well apples design team never run their decisions by us...
you can let them know how you feel about the designs using their feedback channels
or reach out to their official support channels
And or
Contact - Official Apple Support
And or
Contact - How to Contact Us - Apple
Or
Genius Bar Reservation and Apple
Caute3 wrote:
I already have all the settings that can reduce transparency etc but I hate ios26. The screen is blurred - the keyboard is smaller - Apple clearly hates anyone who doesn’t have their top range model or whatever iOS 26 was introduced for. Why don’t they simply have a classic look toggle - end of problem. I wish I’d never updated. Apple doesn’t care About people’s vision
Apple does invite submission of constructive feedback, comments and feature requests via its Product Feedback portal. If you have any feedback to offer, or changes that you might like to see in a future update of PadOS 26, this would be the most appropriate channel through which to communicate your thoughts to Apple:
Apple have indicated that all submissions via this path are logged and forwarded to the relevant team(s) for consideration. If you haven't done so already, it really is in your best interests to do so.
Recommendation: Be polite and constructive when submitting comments. Those that read and analyse your comments are human - and will take greater notice of appropriate constructive language. Profane or offensive comments are unlikely to be effective in garnering positive change.
Can you post a screenshot?
Icons look fine here.
I tried to investigate the reason
1 the icons uses thin elemets and
2 are shadowed more to prev ios18 (I woud suggest to introduce equidistant option)
2 the frame arround the icon can not be switched off and it is in default dynamic based on iphone tilt (the animation can be switched off however)
i need an option with completely remooving the icon frames
White ones are blurry while looking at the screen. A screenshot can be misleading.
[Edited by Moderator]
nandha224 wrote:
I don’t like blurry icon images
Tell Apple:
I like the new look.
You do realize every app you mentioned is NOT an Apple app, right? Apple doesn't own 3rd party apps. And it's highly probably the 3rd party app developers need to tune up their app icons, which is not within Apple's control. Of course what you posted as your photo, is quite large and not representative of how they might look in their native, smaller look on an iPhone screen.
So, it's not the liquid glass effect making them look fuzzy, it's actually that they have redesigned them deliberately to look fuzzy. Is it the same with the borders of the icons? The feint white lines around the corners of them are by design? Surely not. Why would they make them look deliberately out of alignment?
iOS 26 icons are out of focus, blurry
