One of the biggest pain points for Apple’s new “Liquid Design” aesthetic, introduced with iOS 26, was that it wasn’t customizable. Many users thought the Liquid Design toolbars did not provide enough contrast or opacity, making labels and buttons almost illegible. Over the last year, Apple has tweaked the design slowly, but in iOS 27, Apple is finally letting users adjust the settings to their preferences.
On stage at WWDC 2026, Apple announced that in iOS 27, the Liquid Glass will now be less transparent by default. There will also be a slider that lets you increase or decrease the transparency. When the slider is all the way to the far end, it’s possible to essentially disable Liquid Glass, making the toolbar opaque.
On the macOS front, Apple said that it’s “reincorporating” elements of macOS design back into Liquid Glass. I don’t have details on that yet, but as I install the betas, I’ll report back. In the keynote, Apple gave a couple of examples: First, color is back to sidebar icons, making them easier to spot. Apple is also going to force all apps to have the same rounded corners now, even if the developer hasn’t updated the code.
Apple is also changing how app icons are rendered. Apple’s own icons will be layered with elements of Liquid Glass between objects or elements. This will add more depth to the icons, and it will be supported even when the app icons are in Tinted mode or Clear mode. Third-party developers will be able to take advantage of this new system as well.
