Apple’s new Liquid Glass user interface design was one of the most noticeable and divisive features of its major software updates this year. It added additional fluidity and translucency throughout iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and Apple’s other operating systems, and as we noted in our reviews, the default settings weren’t always great for readability.
The upcoming 26.1 update for all of those OSes is taking a step toward addressing some of the complaints, though not by changing things about the default look of Liquid Glass. Rather, the update is adding a new toggle that will let users choose between a Clear and Tinted look for Liquid Glass, with Clear representing the default look and Tinted cranking up the opacity and contrast.
The default glassy look of the notifications in iOS 26.
Andrew Cunningham
The Tinted toggle fogs up the glass, preserving a hint of translucency.
Andrew Cunningham
The default glassy look of the notifications in iOS 26.
The Tinted toggle fogs up the glass, preserving a hint of translucency.
Andrew Cunningham
Andrew Cunningham
The toggle behaved less consistently in macOS 26.1, but here’s an example of the glassy look in the Photos app.
Andrew Cunningham
Andrew Cunningham
And the same UI with the Tinted toggle turned on.
Andrew Cunningham
The toggle behaved less consistently in macOS 26.1, but here’s an example of the glassy look in the Photos app.
Andrew Cunningham
And the same UI with the Tinted toggle turned on.
Andrew Cunningham
The new toggle adds a half-step in between the default visual settings and the “reduce transparency” setting, which aside from changing a bunch of other things about the look and feel of the operating system is buried further down inside the Accessibility options. The Tinted toggle does make colors and vague shapes visible beneath the glass panes, preserving the general look of Liquid Glass while also erring on the side of contrast and visibility, where the “reduce transparency” setting is more of an all-or-nothing blunt instrument.