How to Customize the Liquid Glass Look on Your iPhone in iOS 27

Liquid Glass is one of the biggest visual changes on the iPhone, with transparent menus, buttons and interface elements that let more of your wallpaper and content show through. It was introduced with iOS 26 in 2025.

But did you know that you can actually change how transparent Liquid Glass looks on your iPhone?

In iOS 27, Apple added a Liquid Glass slider that lets you adjust the look from Clear to Tinted. Clear gives you a more transparent, glassy effect, while moving towards Tinted adds more opacity and contrast.

So if you love the glassy look, you can keep it very clear. And if you find some parts of iOS a little difficult to read, the Tinted option might be a better choice.

Here’s how to change it.

How to change the Liquid Glass appearance in iOS 27

1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

2. Tap Appearance.

3. Tap Liquid Glass.

4. You’ll now see a Welcome to Apple Park preview with a slider underneath.

5. Move the slider to the right for a more tinted look, or to the left for a clearer, more transparent Liquid Glass effect.

6. Use the Welcome to Apple Park preview to see how your changes will look as you adjust the slider.

7. Once you’ve found the look you prefer, you’re done. The change is applied automatically.

What does Clear do?

Choose Clear if you want to see more of the original Liquid Glass effect.

This gives interface elements a more transparent appearance, allowing more of the colors and content underneath to shine through.

If you like the very glassy and modern look of iOS 27, this is probably the setting you’ll want to use.

I personally think Clear shows off the Liquid Glass design at its best, especially when you're using a colorful wallpaper.

What does Tinted do?

Choose Tinted if you want Liquid Glass to be a little less transparent.

Tinted increases the opacity and contrast of interface elements, which can make buttons, menus and text easier to see against busy backgrounds.

You still get the Liquid Glass design, but the background doesn't show through as strongly.

This can be especially useful if you like Liquid Glass but sometimes find the Clear appearance a little too transparent.

Clear vs. Tinted

The easiest way to think about the difference is:

• Clear = more transparent and more glassy

• Tinted = less transparent and more contrast

There isn't really a right or wrong choice here. It all depends on which look you prefer.

And because the change happens instantly, I definitely recommend switching between both options and comparing them yourself.

Want to turn off the Liquid Glass effect? Do this instead

There’s an important difference between the new Liquid Glass slider and the transparency options in Accessibility.

The Liquid Glass slider lets you customize how clear or tinted the Liquid Glass effect looks. It doesn’t turn Liquid Glass off completely.

However, iOS 27 also has an Accessibility setting called Reduce Transparency. This option is also available in iOS 26. When you turn this on, iOS reduces the transparent and glass-like effects throughout the interface. Because of that, the Liquid Glass slider is still available, but adjusting it won’t make a visible difference. Reduce Transparency overrides the Liquid Glass effect, so you’ll need to turn Reduce Transparency off before you can see the changes you make with the slider.

How to check Reduce Transparency

1. Open Settings.

2. Tap Accessibility.

3. Tap Display & Text Size.

4. Look for Reduce Transparency.

5. Turn Reduce Transparency off if you want to use and see the effects of the new Liquid Glass slider. Turn Reduce Transparency on if you prefer to reduce the transparent Liquid Glass effects throughout iOS.

6. Go back to Settings → Appearance → Liquid Glass.

7. You should now be able to adjust the Liquid Glass effect with the slider.

So there are really two different settings:

• Liquid Glass slider → lets you choose how clear or tinted you want the Liquid Glass effect to be.

• Reduce Transparency → reduces the transparent Liquid Glass effect across iOS and overrides the Liquid Glass slider.

If you simply want Liquid Glass to be a little less transparent, use the Liquid Glass slider. If you want to significantly reduce the transparent glass effect throughout iOS, Reduce Transparency is the setting to use.

A small setting that can make iOS 27 look very different

I really like that Apple gives us a choice here. Liquid Glass is used throughout iOS, so switching between Clear and Tinted can actually make your iPhone feel quite different.

If you want the full transparent Liquid Glass experience, go with Clear.

If you prefer a little more contrast and readability, try Tinted.

And because it only takes a few seconds to change, this is definitely one of those iOS 27 settings worth trying for yourself.

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