How to disable liquid glass in iOS 26?

No.

This has nothing to do with the operating system.

WRONG

There are 9+ pages of replies in this thread that all explain that it is not possible to "turn off" Liquid Glass.

There are also replies that provide instructions on how to minimize the effects.

I suggest that you read through this thread.

Bluestar725 wrote:

All material to disable Liquid Glass only minimizes it, not completely disables it. I need a solution to disable the feature as I am visually impaired and the Liquid Glass effect is making it impossible to read on my Iphone. Please help make this an optional feature.

As has been pointed out repeatedly in this thread, you cannot disable or remove the feature. You can only ameliorate it using the settings in Accessibility that have already been outlined.

No one here in the user-to-user forum can change anything. You can, however, let Apple know your thoughts here:

Product Feedback - Apple

DanielleMarie89 wrote:

Please allow the option to disable the Liquid Glass feature, the flashes of lights when clicking on things is causing me to get severe migraines. None of the settings I have tried have made a difference. I’m very sensitive to changes in lights and/or flashes of lights :(

It is not a feature it IS the operating system

You can turn on Reduce Transparency and Increase Contrast in Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size

abeness wrote:

"If you don't like change, technology is likely not for you. Every year, things change. That's not going to stop."

This isn't a productive comment, lobsterghost1. We've all been using technology for years, successfully. It's not a matter of liking change or not, it's a matter of humans being wired differently. To each their own: it's great that Liquid Glass works for you.

I work in school theater, and we are sensitive to the use of strobe in the context of epileptic triggers, for example. Yeah, it might be great to use a strobe for a particular show, but if an actor suffers from epilepsy triggered by strobe lighting, would it be reasonable to suggest that the actor sit out that show to avoid a seizure?

We've all purchased Apple products and many of us have been loyal customers for many years. It seems unreasonable to roll out an update like this without an off switch for those that really can't function with this huge visual change, as seems clear from this long thread. I hope Apple hears us and implements Accessibility features to allow us to advance to iOS 26 without visual distraction that makes it harder for us to use their technology. Reduce Motion and Reduce Transparency are incomplete in 26.0.

It's fine you don't think it's a productive comment. It is a factual comment. Last year, when iOS 18 was released, just as many people came to this forum and complained about the changes. And now we have iOS 26 and people are complaining about the changes. Next year, we'll get iOS 27 and people will complain about the changes. Apple is darned if they do and darned if they don't. If nothing changes, Apple will be criticized for becoming stagnant. If too much changes, Apple is criticized for making too many changes. I stand by my comment that when it comes to software, change is inevitable. Whether someone can adapt to it or not is another topic.

Whether I like Liquid Glass and anyone else doesn't like it however, isn't going to get changed or addressed in any way by posting you don't like something here. This is strictly a user to user only forum, which Apple neither participates, nor reads for user feedback.

If you want Apple to hear you, you need to provide feedback where someone from Apple will actually read it. It's been posted a number of times in this thread, but here is the link again --> Product Feedback - Apple

AaronLea wrote:

There is a fundamental problem with Liquid Glass that goes beyond “people don’t like change”. It’s a total failure of UX accessibility and ADA compliance. It’s born out of privilege. As a designer who also is embedded in assisting the atypical community in my spare time, I assure you, many people are not liking the change do to cognitive issues and not because of its aesthetic.

Tell Apple:

Product Feedback - Apple

Encourage all of these other folks you presume to speak for to do the same.

Emi055 wrote:

I agree. I hate the glass and want it gone now. It’s so difficult for me to even see the time because I’m half blind.

please Apple, take the glass away! I’m so serious that I would consider an android at this point,

You aren't speaking with Apple here. This is a user to user only forum. And no one here works for Apple.

If you don't like Liquid Glass and you feel an Android will be better for you, by all means go buy one. As users only, it doesn't matter to any of us what phone you choose.

But if you want to perhaps take the time to adjust what you can adjust in Liquid Glass to better meet your needs, I wrote this, which you might want to read --> Liquid Glass - Love It Or Hate It - It's … - Apple Community

Leilabano wrote:

My screen flickers on the top when changing to another screen after updating to iOS 26. This hurts my eyes, so since updating I don’t want to spend time on my iPhone as i find it very uncomfortable to work with, i get headaches.

Open Settings > Accessibility > Motion - make sure Reduce Motion is turned off and see if that helps.

The reduce transparency worked well for me. I had to change my wallpaper to a darker one because I couldn’t read anything on the screen with Liquid Glass, it’s terrible! Looks like a cheap third party UI 😖

JockoSr65 wrote:

Most everyone that I spoke with ( family, friends & coworkers) aren’t crazy about it. They can live with it but they’d like the option to be able to toggle it off as would I. I’ve made the adjustments in my settings but I’m still not completely satisfied. Apple really should’ve given us the right to choose for those who aren’t interested. The one feature that I’m glad that they did think ahead about was giving us the option to make the time solid.

Many mistakenly think Liquid Glass is a simple skin, which should have an on or off switch. It's not. It's a fundamental part of the UI in iOS. While it might sound such a simple thing to do, it's not. It IS the iOS and as with all operating systems, users don't get to pick and choose the parts of the operating system they want.

And telling your fellow users on this user to user only forum what you think Apple should have done, won't be read by anyone at Apple. They don't participate here, nor read for user feedback. You can if you like, provide your thoughts to Apple here --> Product Feedback - Apple

I truly don't think what people are suggesting is something they're going to get, but it never hurts to provide feedback anyway.

Five_bells wrote:

They’re just asking for the option to disable Liquid Glass, period, regardless of how you define “feature.” (And I know, this isn’t the forum for that, but please cut DanielleMarie89 and the rest of us whose devices have now become less usable some slack.) Reducing transparency doesn’t affect the flashes of light they were referring to—I’m betting that’s one of the settings they mentioned trying unsuccessfully.

You're right. If people actually read the terms of use they agreed to when they joined this forum, they already know Apple doesn't participate here, nor read here for user feedback. So posting how someone wants to remove Liquid Glass, which can't be removed to other users on this user to user only forum won't get anyone anywhere. People also don't read past the first post. So we get a lot of me too posters here, which becomes rather annoying when it's been explained what options are available to people.

Vaibhavtiwari wrote:

It is a request, please remove liquid glass

That is not possible here and if you want Apple to see your request, then you will have to send feedback to them where it will be read. This is a support site made up of mostly other users like you where none of us have a backdoor communication channel to let Apple know how you feel.

Product Feedback - Apple

T-MobileAWFUL wrote:

A security update should not affect the appearance of the phone. The white lines and white bubbles around everything are appalling. Especially in dark mode.

You seem a bit confused. iOS 18.7 was a security and bug fix update for iOS 18. iOS 26 is the new for 2025 iOS version, which most definitely was intended to change how things look and in some cases how things work.

Read this --> OS - iOS 26 - Apple

If you installed iOS 26, you get a new look and feel and it was quite intentional. In an earlier post, you suggested there was no warning. There was plenty of advance notice on what iOS 26 was bringing to our phones. For months, Apple showed off iOS 26 on their website. There were as there ALWAYS are with every iOS update, release notes on the update page on your iPhone. You didn't have to read them, but then that's really on you, if you didn't. YouTube had literally hundreds if not thousands of videos about iOS 26 before it was released. If you didn't do any research at all before you upgraded, that's really not Apple's fault.

George_Lampropoulos wrote:

Guys I got it:

I managed to clear it completely :

I went in a shop, bought a new iPhone 16. Disabled auto update on settings.

Now my phone is amazing again.

(I am being serious unfortunately)

There's an old saying........."Don't cut off your nose to spite your face." So, you'll never ever update again, right? That's not really sustainable, and you'll ultimately wind up with a device which is vulnerable to security issues. And you'll wind up with apps at some point, which will no longer be supported on the iOS version you intend to freeze yourself at. But if this is the right solution for you, good for you.