iOS 26.1 Beta 4 Adds Liquid Glass Appearance Toggle

My friend Stephen Hackett reported earlier this week Apple has, in iOS 26.1 Beta 4, added a new toggle for Liquid Glass which allows users to choose between two looks: Clear and Tinted. As Hackett writes, the former represents Liquid Glass in its default state, whereas the latter increases contrast and opacity levels. The setting is found in Settings > Display and Brightness on iOS, and System Settings > Appearance on macOS.

Hackett notes Apple’s placement of the Liquid Glass control is surprising as he believed “a control like this would land in Accessibility.” However a logical presumption, it’s not really a hardcore accessibility feature. Here’s the thing about accessibility features, on iOS or Android or anywhere else: they’re a discrete, specialized—and admittedly esoteric—suite of settings intended to meet highly specific needs. While it’s true “accessibility is for everyone” for the most part, the majority of the options under Accessibility are decidedly opinionated in their target demographic. Take the AssistiveTouch pointer, for instance. AssistiveTouch is itself a subset of specialized features aimed at aiding those with motor disabilities; as such, the pointer has been expressly designed to serve that greater purpose. This focus is why, as one anecdote, the response to the AssistiveTouch pointer rankled me a few years ago. Apple added it for a reason. Indeed, the company’s senior director of global accessibility policy and initiatives Sarah Herrlinger told me in an interview at the time it “isn’t your traditional pointer,” yet the iPadOS power users were so desperate for proper pointer support, many in the community appropriated the AssistiveTouch pointer and lamented how it doesn’t work like your aforementioned traditional pointer. But it wasn’t conceived to be conventional… my understanding is Apple’s Accessibility group “handed off” the AssistiveTouch functionality to the wider OS team to be further massaged into the mainstream pointer feature that exists today. I got pushback from a lot of people for explaining all of this under the notion AssistiveTouch isn’t perfect and warrants criticism… to which I still say, sure, but it isn’t meant for you and your nerdy whims.

Anyway, the fact the new Liquid Glass in iOS 26.1 Beta 4 is not a true accessibility feature is sensible in the same way the Display Zoom options (also under Display and Brightness) isn’t found in Accessibility. They’re more about personal preference than absolute necessities like, say, the PWM toggle for iPhone 17 models. If desired, it can disable “pulse width modulation,” which Apple says “[provides] a different way to dim the OLED display, which can create a smoother display output at low brightness levels.” It exists to help people who may perceive these changes in brightness, as the detection of flickering can be bothersome to some and can cause pain such as eye strain and headaches. By contrast, the advent of the Liquid Glass toggle really isn’t that serious, as the kids say. It’s more about a preferred aesthetic than it is about actual accessibility.

On that note, I’ve heard many on social media bemoan the arrival of this new setting because it telegraphs the message that Apple is capitulating to the criticism from the summer beta period and effectively abdicating their position on Liquid Glass. But that’s not right—a true abdication would entail scrapping Liquid Glass altogether and bringing back the iOS 18 design language. Adding a setting for choosing between Clear and Tinted is the company merely giving users the power to decide between the “full” Liquid Glass experience and something that’s slightly more “normalized” for lack of a better adjective. And for those who need the utmost contrast and visual fidelity, they can go into Accessibility and flip on Reduce Transparency to extend the Tinted look even further. As I wrote following the WWDC keynote, I sat with Herrlinger for a few minutes after the presentation, and while I didn’t conduct a full, on the record interview, I was able to attribute to her that the Accessibility team worked “closely” with the Design team to make Liquid Glass as visually accessible as possible. Reduce Transparency will always be there if you really and truly require the extra oomph it offers, she said to me.

Apple isn’t retreating from Liquid Glass—on the contrary, they’re refining it.

I’m no longer riding the beta train, but I enjoy Liquid Glass a lot. I anticipate not changing its appearance once iOS 26.1 ships. I like Liquid Glass so much—and use the Medium Display Zoom on my iPhone Air with larger text—that I don’t use Reduce Transparency because my eyes have acclimated to, and can bear, the default. Plus, I think Liquid Glass looks fucking cool as-is, and I want to use it with the creator’s intent.