What Liquid Glass Is and How the New Slider Changes It
Liquid Glass is Apple’s translucent interface style that makes menus, buttons, and controls look like frosted glass, blending with your wallpaper and content while adding lighting and motion effects that can either look elegant or make text hard to read, depending on your preferences and lighting conditions. Introduced with iOS 26, it spans icons, folders, widgets, and panels across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch. After strong feedback about readability, Apple refined the default look and added customization options such as Clear and Tinted modes and accessibility toggles. With iOS 27, Apple is adding a dedicated Liquid Glass slider so you can adjust transparency more precisely instead of choosing between only two presets. According to BGR, the new translucency slider in iOS 27 “finally brings the Liquid Glass fix iOS 26 needed from the start.”
Use iOS 27’s Liquid Glass Slider to Adjust Transparency
In iOS 27, the standout control is the new Liquid Glass slider, which lets you adjust transparency settings with much finer control. Instead of Clear versus Tinted, you drag a slider from ultra-clear to heavily tinted, choosing the exact level that keeps menus and buttons readable for your eyes. Apple says it has also “tuned Liquid Glass so it diffuses complex content behind it much more effectively, while also creating more depth and separation,” which should improve readability even at more transparent settings. Expect this slider in Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass on iPhone and iPad, alongside the existing Clear and Tinted labels. Similar options are set to arrive across the Apple ecosystem, including Mac and Apple Watch, as the same system-wide transparency engine powers their interfaces.
Tone Down Liquid Glass Today: Reduce Transparency, Brightness, and Motion
You do not need to wait for iOS 27 to regain control over Liquid Glass. On iPhone and iPad, open Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and turn on Reduce Transparency to replace translucent backgrounds with more opaque ones. On Mac, go to System Settings > Accessibility > Display and enable Reduce Transparency; icons, the Dock, menu bar, and widgets become less see-through. On Apple Watch, use the Watch app on your iPhone (My Watch > Accessibility > Reduce Transparency) or go straight to Settings > Accessibility on the watch. To reduce brightness iPhone effects specifically, iOS 26.4 adds Reduce Brightness in Display & Text Size, dimming the glowing highlights of Liquid Glass. For motion sensitivity, Settings > Accessibility > Motion > Reduce Motion now also tones down some Liquid Glass motion effects.
Fine-Tune Clarity with Clear/Tinted, Dark Mode, and Home Screen Tweaks
Beyond the main slider and accessibility toggles, several design options help you customize Liquid Glass. Starting from iOS 26.1, Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass lets you select Clear (more transparent) or Tinted (more opaque). Choosing Tinted, then using Dark Mode, is a strong combination if you want higher contrast without giving up the style. Enable Dark Mode under Settings > Display & Brightness on iPhone or iPad, or System Settings > Appearance > Dark on Mac. On iPhone, long-press the Home Screen, tap Edit, then Customize to change icon and widget color and brightness; this can make text on Liquid Glass panels easier to read, especially with lighter wallpapers. These tweaks work alongside Reduce Brightness and Reduce Transparency, giving you layered control over how bold or subtle the interface appears.
What You Can and Cannot Change on Liquid Glass
Even with iOS 27’s Liquid Glass slider, you cannot turn Liquid Glass off entirely, but you can dial it back enough that it feels close to opaque in daily use. The new slider, Clear/Tinted options, Reduce Transparency, Reduce Brightness, Dark Mode, and motion controls all stack together, letting you balance aesthetics, comfort, and readability. The same underlying transparency system shapes interfaces across iPhone, iPad, Mac, and Apple Watch, so similar settings on each device produce a consistent feel. If translucent buttons and menus have been hard to read or distracting, start with Reduce Transparency and Tinted mode, then add Reduce Brightness and motion reductions. Once iOS 27 arrives on your devices, the Liquid Glass slider will give you a final level of fine-tuning, so every screen in your Apple setup matches your preferences.
