iOS 27 lets users dial Liquid Glass from clear to tinted

iOS 27 Liquid Glass is no longer one fixed look. Since September 14, iPhone users can open Settings and move a slider that sets Liquid Glass anywhere from ultraclear to fully tinted, and Apple has made app icons sharper at the same time ^[2]. For anyone who designs iPhone apps, that means your interface now has to work across a range of glass appearances, not just the default one.

Below we cover what Apple changed, why it matters for contrast and readability, and how we are adjusting our design QA for iOS 27 projects.

What Apple changed in iOS 27 Liquid Glass

Liquid Glass arrived in June 2025 with iOS 26. Apple described it as a translucent material that “reflects and refracts its surroundings, while dynamically transforming to help bring greater focus to content” ^[4]. It spread across iOS, iPadOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS, and developers got updated SwiftUI, UIKit and AppKit APIs plus Icon Composer for building layered icons ^[4].

A year later, at WWDC on June 8, 2026, Apple announced a set of refinements rather than a new direction ^[1]. The main points:

• A new slider in Settings lets people personalize Liquid Glass, adjusting it from ultraclear to fully tinted ^{[1, 2]}.
• App icons are updated to be sharper and more defined ^{[1, 2]}.
• On the Mac, Apple brings back a more uniform toolbar across the top of apps, edge-to-edge sidebars and colored sidebar icons ^[1].
• Apple frames the refinements as delivering an even more focused and approachable experience across apps and platforms ^[2].

The release shipped to the public on September 14, 2026, together with iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 ^[2]. A few days later, on September 17, Apple published new iOS and iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 UI Kits for Figma with updated components, system colors and app icons ^[3].

Why a user setting changes the design job

Before iOS 27, a designer could check a tab bar or a floating button against one glass treatment and move on. Now the same control can sit on top of your content as almost fully transparent glass for one user and as a solid, tinted surface for another. Both are valid system states, and both will appear in reviews, screenshots and support tickets.

This mostly affects the places where your own content sits behind system material: navigation bars over hero images, tab bars over photo grids, sheets over maps and floating controls over video. At the ultraclear end, busy imagery behind a control competes with its label. At the tinted end, the control reads clearly but your content loses some of the depth the glass was meant to give.

The slider also tells you something about Apple’s own reading of the feedback. Instead of picking one level of transparency for everyone, Apple has handed that choice to the user ^[1]. For product teams, it is a reminder that visual preference is now part of the environment you design for, in the same way as Dark Mode or larger text sizes.

Icons, toolbars and the updated Figma kits

Two smaller changes deserve attention. First, Apple says app icons are sharper and more defined in this release ^[2]. If your client’s icon relied on soft glows or low-contrast layers to look good in the iOS 26 clear and tinted modes, it is worth reopening the source file and checking how it renders now.

Second, the Mac returns to a more uniform toolbar and edge-to-edge sidebars with colored icons ^[1]. For teams who ship the same product on iPad and Mac, that is a cue to review sidebar layouts rather than copying the iPad version across.

The new Figma UI Kits are the practical starting point ^[3]. They include updated components and system colors, so a team can rebuild key screens against the current system rather than against last year’s components. Apple has kept updating its guidance since then too: on October 13 it added widget guidance for Apple HomeView and new guidance for Live Activities in limited width layouts ^[3].

What this means for clients with an iPhone app

Most clients will not need a redesign. They will need a check. The questions we ask on an iOS 27 review are simple:

• Does every label on a floating control stay readable at the ultraclear setting over our real content, not placeholder images?
• Do brand colors that we placed inside glass controls still look intentional when the glass is fully tinted?
• Does the app icon hold up at small sizes after Apple’s sharper icon treatment?
• Are custom controls that imitate glass consistent with the system ones, or do they now look out of place next to the user’s chosen setting?

The last question matters more than it seems. Many apps built custom translucent panels to match iOS 26. Those panels do not follow the new slider unless they use the system material. If a user has chosen fully tinted glass and your custom panel stays clear, the mismatch is visible on every screen.

Key takeaways

• iOS 27 shipped on September 14, 2026 with a Settings slider that sets Liquid Glass from ultraclear to fully tinted ^[2].
• Apple also made app icons sharper and refined the Mac toolbar and sidebars ^{[1, 2]}.
• Design QA should now cover several glass states, in light and dark, wherever system controls float over content.
• Apple’s iOS 27 and macOS 27 UI Kits for Figma are available and are the right base for updated screens ^[3].
• Custom glass effects that ignore the system setting are the most likely source of visual bugs.

Quick answers on iOS 27 Liquid Glass

Is Liquid Glass going away? No. Apple refined it and added user control, but it remains the system design language in iOS 27 ^{[1, 2]}.

Do we have to redesign our app? Usually not. Start with a contrast and legibility check across the slider range, then fix the screens where system controls sit over busy imagery.

Where do designers get the new components? From Apple’s design resources page, which lists the iOS and iPadOS 27 and macOS 27 UI Kits for Figma released on September 17 ^[3].