How to reduce the Liquid Glass effect on an iPhone

By Saadat Rafiq · 2 min read · 5 steps · Updated 6 October 2026

What changed: rewritten for iOS 27 with our own screenshots. New Liquid Glass slider, from Clear to Tinted.

Device

iPhone

Shown on

iOS 27.0.1 (iPhone 14 Pro)

App

Settings

Path

Settings › Appearance › Liquid Glass

Real screenshots

5 of 5 steps

Checked

October 2026

Sources

1 official, linked below

Step by step

1. 

   Open Settings and tap Appearance

   On iOS 27 Appearance is in the main Settings list, below Accessibility.

   Done

2. 

   Tap Liquid Glass

   It is below Light, Dark and Automatic. The row shows the current setting: More Clear on our phone.

   Done

3. 

   Drag the slider towards Tinted

   The icon on the right stands for tinted. The further right, the more opaque buttons and bars become. The preview above the slider changes as you drag.

   Done

4. 

   Or drag it back towards Clear

   All the way left is the clearest, most see-through look. Pick any point in between.

   Done

5. 

   Still hard to read? Turn on Reduce Transparency

   Go back to Settings, tap Accessibility, then Display & Text Size, and switch on Reduce Transparency. It makes many backgrounds solid. Increase Contrast on the same page darkens text and borders.

   Done

If you do not see this option

• Your iPhone may run a different version. The screenshots here show iOS 27.0.1 (iPhone 14 Pro). On another version a setting can have a different name or sit in a different place. See your version under Settings, General, About. Update under Settings, General, Software Update; back up first, plug in and use Wi-Fi. Source: Find the software version on your iPhone Source: Update your iPhone or iPad
• Search for it. Open Settings, tap the search field, type the name of the setting and tap the result. Apple notes that the sections in Settings depend on the iPhone model. Source: Find settings on iPhone
• It is greyed out. Screen Time restrictions can lock settings; Apple gives this as the reason when the Apple Account row is greyed out. Check Settings, Screen Time, Content & Privacy Restrictions. Source: If you can't sign out due to restrictions, or your Apple Account is grayed out in Settings

About this guide

Liquid Glass is the see-through look of buttons, menus and bars that arrived with iOS 26. Over a busy photo or web page it can make text hard to read. You cannot switch it off, but you can make it much more solid.

The screenshots are our own, taken on an iPhone 14 Pro running iOS 27.0.1. On iOS 27 the setting is a slider on the new Appearance page. On iOS 26.1 to 26.x it was a choice between Clear and Tinted.

Good to know

On iOS 26.1 and later versions of iOS 26, the setting is under Settings, Display & Brightness, Liquid Glass, with two choices: Clear, the default, and Tinted.

On iOS 26.0 there is no Liquid Glass setting. Update the iPhone, or use Reduce Transparency: how to update an iPhone.

Reduce Motion also tones down the moving effects of Liquid Glass: how to turn on Reduce Motion on an iPhone.

The setting changes how the whole system looks, not one app. Apps that draw their own menus may look the same.

In short: iOS 27: Settings, Appearance, Liquid Glass, slider towards Tinted. iOS 26.1+: Display & Brightness, Liquid Glass, Tinted.