IOS 26 System Data bloat linked to Tinted Home Screens?

I’ve found that the use of Tinted home screens can cause System Data bloat in IOS 26.

I have a lot of wallpapers and almost every one was using the “Tinted” Home Screen customization. My System Data was getting hammered when navigating between lock/home screens. When I deleted a lot of unused apps I noticed the System Data expansion rate decreased. It pointed to the number of app icons being a factor.

So after a few tests using the other non-Tinted options I changed all home screens to either Default/Dark or Clear/Dark and my System Data is now stable.

My theory is that all app icons are “pre-rendered” in Default and Clear, but Tinted icons get rendered on the fly and they get cached in System Data when switching between lock screens. It doesn’t seem to “clean-up” the previously cached Tinted icons when switching to many other lock screens.

Can anyone else confirm this? Simply view 10 different Tinted home screens and then do the same with 10 non-Tinted. Compare how System Data size reacts between the two tests.

All I know is I can now freely use my lock/home screen automations and focus modes without System Data bloat causing weekly resets. I’m staying far away from Tinted Home Screens until Apple implements better memory management for them.