Forced cross-version update to "Liquid Glass" OS

Hello,

There is no reliable way to downgrade from iPadOS 26.

If you don't like the look of Liquid Glass, you can turn down its effect by going into Settings -> Appearance -> Liquid Glass -> Select Tinted.

Hope this helps

• KaffeeCoffee

After you manually updated the OS 18 version, there is a screens that says "Software Update Complete", and on that screen it says future versions of iPad OS will be installed automatically unless you go back into Settings and turn off Automatic Updates. Apparently you ignored this message and simply tapped "Continue" on the bottom without reading it. Under the Continue button is also an option to Download Only, in case you don't want the new default setting to also install that update.

As for downgrading to a previous version, no that is not possible and never has been.

For reference, here is the screen I was referring to.

You can't downgrade. For the moment, you can see if anything here helps:

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

iOS 27, which is due to launch on Monday will give you more control over Liquid Glass. However, if you are averse to change, I wouldn't update to it for a while. It may resolve that one problem for you but introduce others. Watch what people are saying here about it.

np318 wrote:

"A bug is not “something that I think should work differently”. "

Why does everyone think that I don't know what a bug is everyone just thinks my problem is just with the UI.. ahhhhhh and you've also completely missed the main point of my post, which was about the *forced cross version update without my consent and no way to undo* - that is the main point! but I am glad that on your device it's working bug free!! :)

I don't think anyone really missed the point. You were given an explanation for how this probably happened. Hopefully, you'll be able to avoid the issue in the future. And then people moved on because what's done is done. The reason people originally thought your problem was with the UI was because that's what you said your problem was. "Liquid Glass" is the UI. The OS is iPadOS 26.x.

Lots of people, especially, it seems, people posting here, think that anything that goes wrong with their device is a "bug." 99.99% of the time, it's not. It's always worth doing some basic troubleshooting even if you think it's a bug. If it's not a bug, you may fix things. If it is a bug, you're not any worse off than you were before. It's certainly more likely to be effective than hoping Apple will "fix" it in the next version.

You have two choices now: learn to use iPadOS 26 and figure out what's causing your issues (they're not that common) or do nothing and be grumpy about it. If you want to do the former, people here will be very happy to help. For the latter, you're on your own.

np318 wrote:

1. The forced/extremely sneaky and cunning nature of the upgrade by auto toggling a switch I had OFF to ON!

You were given a credible explanation for that.

2. No way to roll back to previous version! WHY! It's still supported! Cmon!

There's nothing anyone here in this user-to-user forum can do about that. Apple has never provided a downgrade path. It seems unlikely that they ever will.

I think everyone is getting a bit bogged down in the fact that they may prefer Liquid Glass and I don't,

No one has gotten bogged down over your preferences regarding Liquid Glass. We were talking about how iPadOS 26.x works.

iPadOS 26.x ≠ Liquid Glass

np318 wrote:

Liquid Glass is full of bugs for me at the moment which is making it really hard to use. Do you think they will have fixed the issues in Liquid Glass in the next update, or just introduce lots more new bugs and random UI changes just because?

While it is difficult to determine what is making it hard to use for you or any bugs you are referring to, Apple has announced additional controls for Liquid Glass in OS 27, but you will need to wait a bit longer for it to be officially released.

For me, Liquid Glass is pretty bug free as it has been refined for a year now. Certainly it looks different, but that would not be a bug.

np318 wrote:

Liquid Glass is full of bugs for me at the moment which is making it really hard to use. Do you think they will have fixed the issues in Liquid Glass in the next update, or just introduce lots more new bugs and random UI changes just because?

Liquid Glass is just the way things look, kind of like the paint job on a car. It doesn't have a lot of effect on how things actually work. There were certainly a lot of changes from iPadOS 18 to iPadOS 26. It's understandable that some of it would be confusing and perhaps seem like "bugs" if you weren't clear what had changed. If you explain what problems you're actually having with your iPad, perhaps someone can give you concrete suggestions on how to resolve the issues.

iPadOS 26.x is quite stable. iPadOS 27, though it has gone through a lot of beta testing, may have issues. We won't know until Monday. Based on what I saw on the video of the Apple Event yesterday, it doesn't look much different, though. Apple doesn't usually do major UI change two years in a row, more like every four or five years.

It took a while for me to get used to iPadOS 26, longer than it did to get used to iOS 26 but that was a me problem not a bug.

np318 wrote:

When I say bugs, I am referring to bugs, not UI changes. The bugs I am encountering are glitching/flickering text / in the middle of the screen, a black square appearing after a video has been in that space even after the video has been closed, and apps that need to be exited and reopened after pressing a UI button in the app (such as in Revolute after transferring money) that were working just fine on iOS 18, and have since had all these bugs. To be clear, I'm not a fan of the UI. But when I say bug, I mean bug, not the UI changes which are the least of my problems!

What troubleshooting steps have you taken? The first, simplest thing to do after a major update is to force restart your phone. Have you done that?

Force restart iPhone - Apple Support

Second, make sure that all of those apps are up-to-date.

np318 wrote:

When I say bugs, I am referring to bugs, not UI changes. The bugs I am encountering are glitching/flickering text / in the middle of the screen, a black square appearing after a video has been in that space even after the video has been closed, and apps that need to be exited and reopened after pressing a UI button in the app (such as in Revolute after transferring money) that were working just fine on iOS 18, and have since had all these bugs.

If possible, provide a screenshot of what you are seeing as long as it does not reveal any personal information.

Since this was released about a year ago, certainly glitching/flickering text in the middle of the screen would have been widely reported by now. Certainly a condition that required you to close/open an app after pressing a UI button due to iOS 26 would be filling this Support Site long before now.

If this update occurred less than 4 days ago, it is likely that background processes are still being performed to index files. Since this is done in the background while you are using the device, you may see a bit of UI lag, along with some increased battery drain, but that goes away after it has completed, which as stated usually takes about 4 days.

About Apple software updates - Apple Support

np318 wrote:

Liquid Glass is full of bugs for me at the moment which is making it really hard to use. Do you think they will have fixed the issues in Liquid Glass in the next update, or just introduce lots more new bugs and random UI changes just because?

A “bug” is something that doesn’t work as the designer or implementers intended. In my experience there have been no identifiable bugs in Liquid Glass, and I have been using it for 18 months. A bug is not “something that I think should work differently”.