One of the biggest update of iOS 26 (and by extension, several of Apple’s latest operating systems available this year) is the introduction of Liquid Glass design language, where many parts of the user interface has been replaced with a glass-like material for that extra levels of eye candy. However, this does introduce some legibility issues, so Apple has issued a new update to improve upon this feature.
Too Much Liquid Glass?
On the iOS 26.1 beta 4 update, 9to5Mac spotted a feature that allows user to toggle between two modes for Liquid Glass UI, under Settings > Display & Brightness (or System Settings > Appearance for Mac users): Clear and Tinted. The former is what you get on new Apple devices on iOS 26, iPadOS 26 and macOS 26, while the latter adds a shade of white (or black, depending on system theme) to improve text legibility over certain UI elements.
While that is an improvement, it’s still only a toggle – having a slider to further fine-tune the transparency could be a better option for some users. Regardless, the setting will apply across the board, including third-party apps that already implemented the Liquid Glass UI into their design. The setting is currently open to iOS 26.1 beta 4, iPadOS 26.1 beta 4 and macOS 26.1 beta 4 users, with public beta to be expected in the coming days.
Liquid Glass is the biggest design change Apple had made for its UI since the overhaul in 2013, which did away with skeuomorphic-based design for a flattened look that largely dominated user interface design in the 2010s.
Pokdepinion: Good improvement, although I do question the reason behind this rather major oversight.
