Hello if you have updated your ios device to iOS 26 and feels annoying with the feel, look and UI and want to turn off that Liquid glass feature, In this blog i will guide how it happens and how to reduce its impact without using third party apps, by just using the build in iOS settings.
What is liquid glass effect?
Do you know what is Liquid Glass? Its an Apple updated UI that has translucent and blurred visual style that add depth to background and UI elements. It looks slick and cool but not for everyone or every device. It can be visually annoying for some users/people because its harder to read text, or it reduce the performance and battery life.
Why disable liquid glass?
While the liquid glass looks interesting and slicky, but not for every users. Many users want to get rid of that UI. Here are the several valid reason to turn off or disable liquid glass.
Distraction: The constant moment on the screen can annoy and distract focus away from the important tasks they need to do. So some users like to disable it and want it to be stable visual experience or in old style.
Battery Life: Dynamic visual effects and elements consumes more processing power that lead to increased battery drain. By turning off or disabling liquid glass help iOS device to long last the battery. This is mainly helpful for older iPhone models.
Performance: Heavy animations slow down your phone and it also start lagging. This is specially noticed in older models (below iPhone X). Disabling the liquid glass can free some system resources which will slightly make your iPhone faster and responsive.
Cleaner Look: Many users like a older look and feel of iPhone (iOS 18 or below). They want a simpler version of screen so turning off the liquid glass make a cleaner look or traditional iOS 18 looks and feel of iPhone. It removes added animations.
Accessibility: There are some users who feel discomfort and affect their focus power due to moving visuals. So disabling liquid glass removes the negative effect of this and enhance user experience.
You need to think about your daily use and consumption of phone. If yo want to have your battery life longer disabling liquid glass is a best way for iOS 26 users. It removes unwanted visual and animations that enhance performance of full system. If you want older look, feel and UI in your iPhone you can do or achieve by turning off Liquid glass.
How to turn off liquid glass?
If you want to completely or partially disable the liquid glass in iOS 26, Here is the simple and step by step process that remove annoying animation and UI effects from your iPhone.
1. Open settings
First launch the settings app on your iPhone. You can search in your apps library if you can’t find in home screen. Or use Spotlight Search by swiping down on your home screen and type “settings” in the search bar.
2.Go to accessibility
After you opened the settings app in iPhone scroll down a little bit and find the option labelled “Accessibility”. Now tap on it and open Accessibility settings. You can find different visuals and interactive options here.
3.Choose display & text size
Inside the accessibility options you can find many options. Scroll down and find for the option called “Display & Text Size”. Tap on that option, Now from here you can customize how text and visuals appear on your screen.
4.Find and enable “Reduce transparency”
In the Display & Text Size section you will find a list of settings. Now scroll down a little bit and find for a settings called “Reduce Transparency”. This is the main settings where you can disable liquid glass.
When you see the option for the first time, by default it likely turned off. You need to enable or toggle this option. Tap on the switch next to the text “Reduce Transparency” it will now enable reduce transparency option.
After you have enabled “Reduce Transparency” your will notice a change in your iPhone immediately. It will replace the transparent and translucent elements with solid colors (old style). This also disable or remove the liquid glass effect. From now system will not show shimmering animations. This make the UI more simpler opaque. Now when you check your home screen, Notifications and other visual elements it will also appear differently.
What happens if you turn off Liquid glass?
By turning off liquid glass through the “Reduce Transparency” settings your iPhone look will be changed. It removes all the shimmering effects and visuals form iPhone. Now you will see a static screen or wallpaper with reduced glass effect.
Here are some specific changes you notice:
Backgrounds Become Solid: All the transparent background become more solid and clear. It means less see-through elements, eg. your dock will go from translucent to more solid color.
Reduced Animations: While Liquid Glass is the main effect turned off, other subtle transparency effects might also lessen. This leads to a generally more subdued animation experience across iOS.
Improved Clarity: Some people feels easier to read text in solid background. Text in solid background colors can be more clear than a text over a translucent background or areas.
Potential Performance Boost: As soon you disabled liquid glass you will feel your iPhone running smoother than before. It removes animations which lessen the consumption of iPhone processor. This helps for smoother scrolling and faster app loading. This specially help for older iPhone models.
Better Battery Life: Less visual processing means less power consumption. So it also reduce the consumption of the battery. This helps longer life of the battery before you charge your phone next time.
When you turn off the liquid glass its not permanent. You can always go to your settings and revert the process to turn it back on again. Simply disable “Reduce Transparency” and the glass effect will return.
Further customization tips for iOS 26
You can also customize you iPhone feel and look by just not using Liquid Glass. You can also use other ways to enhance the feel and visuals of your iPhone. Here are the settings that can improve your daily experience.
Reduce motion
The another settings found in Accessibility is “Reduce Motion”, which is useful if you want to minimizes the motion of the user interface. It can change how apps open and close. In place of zoom effect it can be changed to fade in out like so. This is helpful for peoples who are sensitive to screen moment. It can slightly also improve the performance of iPhone and Battery life.
Find it in Settings > Accessibility > Motion
Adjust text size and boldness
For better reading experience you can also adjust the text on your iPhone. In Display and Text Size yo can choose larger text. You can customize how text looks (eg. make font bigger, make font bolder, sharpen text etc.). These simple changes make a big difference of your eyes.
Dark mode
If you enable a dark mode it will fully change your iPhone interface to a dark color scheme. It’s easier for the eyes specially in low light. It can also saves the battery life on iPhones those with OLED screens. You can turn on dark mode in Settings > Display & Brightness. You can also set automatic mode for dark mode in night time.
Customizing home screen and lock screen
In iOS 26 you have a more control over your home screen and lock screen. You can set different wallpapers and also customize a widgets for your home/lock screen for quick information. Widgets let you to see weather, calendar events or news at a same time. Long press on your home screen or lock screen to start customizing it. Then you can edit as your preference.
Conclusion
It looks like a small change when you turned off the liquid glass in iOS 26 but its very impactful change. It gives you more control and customization over your iPhone visual style. If you are seeking for better boosted device performance, longer battery life or a cleaner look this is the settings that can do this. Its the good example of how customizing your device can improve your daily use.
Always take in mind that your personal iPhone is your own so adjusting it according to your match is a better way. You can explore the Accessibility and Display settings to find ways to make your iPhone work best for you. For more tips and guides related to iOS you can always visit this site.
Keep your iPhone running smoothly and looking exactly how you want it to be.
