Either hell froze over, or Apple finally listened to its users for once.

Following a wave of legibility complaints about Liquid Glass, the iPhone maker released an update that ditches the transparent layers for something much easier on the eyes. To get the Liquid Glass fix, all you need is your iPhone, the latest version of iOS 26.1, and a quick tweak to your display settings.

RIP Liquid Glass, 2025–2025. We won’t miss you.

We sounded the alarm on Liquid Glass when iOS 26 first landed in September. For reasons only Apple’s design team can understand, it launched with transparent layers that made text difficult to read, especially in the Notification Center and Control Center. Back then, the only fix was to “Reduce Transparency” via the Accessibility settings, a feature that was really only meant for folks with visual impairments, not for the masses.

One month later, a permanent fix is out, and you can try it right now.

The new setting comes with iOS 26.1, and it goes a step further than a simple transparency reduction, bringing back the old frosted glass layers of iOS 18 that you know and love. After you turn it on, your phone will look much more familiar, not to mention you won’t have to squint at your screen nearly as often.

How to disable Liquid Glass in iOS 26.1

The new feature is called Tinted Liquid Glass. To enable it, open the Settings app on your iPhone. Scroll down to Display & Brightness and tap into the next pane. From there, find the Liquid Glass section. The default option is Clear mode, but you can change it over to Tinted with a couple taps. Follow the red arrows:

Screenshots by Zach Laidlaw

That’s it! The transparent layers of Liquid Glass are now banished to the furthest reaches of your iPhone, never to be seen again — exactly the way it should be. RIP Liquid Glass, 2025–2025. We won’t miss you.

The iPhone isn’t the only Apple device that gets some relief. Tinted Liquid Glass is also available on iPads running iPadOS 26.1, and the steps to enable it are the same. Make sure you turn it on over there too for instant eye relief.

Pro tip: If you previously enabled “Reduce Transparency” in iOS 26 or iPadOS 26 last month, make sure you turn it off, otherwise you won’t see the full effect of the new Tinted Liquid Glass. Simply follow our step-by-step guide to undo it.

Liquid Glass isn’t dead dead

As fun as it would be to get rid of Liquid Glass entirely, you’ll still find pieces of it on your phone after the newest update. The Tinted setting removes those unsightly transparent panes that have tortured your eyes for the last month, but it doesn’t take away the other UI elements sprinkled throughout the operating system, like the liquid bubble icons, fancy light refractions, and bloopy animations. Those are all here to stay. Still, a win is a win, and it’s great to get back the frosted look from the previous iOS generation.

More changes to come?

The addition of a Tinted Liquid Glass option might not seem like a big deal on the surface, but it’s actually a huge shift in the way Apple does business. Historically, the company holds firm on its hardware and software decisions, a philosophy held by the late Steve Jobs, who once said, “People don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Rarely does Apple cave to user feedback.

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Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Tinted Liquid Glass is a silent admission that Apple was wrong to force such a polarizing design on its users. It’s also proof that Apple no longer discards fervent customer feedback like it has in the past. This new version of Apple can be swayed by public criticism, opening the door for future changes if and when it makes another design choice that doesn’t bode well with users.

Leave a comment below if there’s something you hate about iOS 26 or Liquid Glass. We’d love to hear about it.

Download iOS 26.1 now

Tinted Liquid Glass isn’t the only feature to look forward to in iOS 26.1. The latest update comes with some other notable changes and bug fixes, including improved alarm controls, song-switching gestures in Apple Music, and customizable workout plans in the Fitness app.

To grab the latest update, open the Settings app on your iPhone, tap on General, then dive into the Software Update section. Pull down on the page to refresh if the screen is blank, and install iOS 26.1. After that, circle back to the middle of this article and follow the steps to get rid of those transparent Liquid Glass layers for good. Your eyes will thank you.

​Tech, Apple, Liquid glass, Ios