Heres How I Made iOS 26 Look More Like iOS 18

iOS 26 is out now as a free upgrade for compatible iPhones, and with it comes Apple's new Liquid Glass aesthetic. So what if you don't like what Apple has done with your iPhone?

Thankfully, some of these changes can be reversed. Here's how to make iOS 26 look a little more iOS 18.

Is iOS 26 Really That Bad?

Apple made a big song and dance about its new Liquid Glass aesthetic at WWDC 25, announcing that the design would be coming to the iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch, and Apple TV. But this has proved to be a somewhat divisive move, largely due to teething issues with Apple's betas that brought readability and usability problems to the surface.

Since then, Apple has scaled things back somewhat. Some have called for a Liquid Glass slider so that the effect can be tuned to a user's personal preference, but this never materialized. Others think that Liquid Glass makes sense on the Mac , on account of the effect being more distracting on smaller screens where interface elements tend to already get in the way.

The version of Liquid Glass that arrived with the official iOS 26 release retains the fancy refractions that morph interface elements and content like web pages, while still emphasizing usability. It certainly helps that most of the controls you'll use on a daily basis are still in the same place.

But there is more to the iOS 26 redesign than first meets the eye, with apps like Safari and Phone seeing big changes. Even the lock screen isn't quite the same as it was last time around. Here's how to undo some changes, and a few settings you'll want to avoid altogether.

Make Liquid Glass Opaque

If you're not particularly fond of how much the Liquid Glass design relies on transparency, this is the setting for you. Head to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and toggle "Reduce Transparency" on. The glassy interface will now appear to have a frosted, iOS 7-like appearance that still allows light and color to bleed through while removing the illusion of everything being made from glass.

You'll notice that things still look somewhat glassy, and there's not a lot you can do about that. Apple has made some big changes to the way that icons, controls, and widgets appear, and now they have a 3D look that's here to stay.

That said, the Control Center controls that were previously transparent now look frosted. Notifications that appear on your lockscreen no longer have a clear background or refraction effects. The Messages app has a solid background behind the keyboard and in the dead zone at the top of the screen.

It's even possible that on older devices, you could see improved performance. I haven't been able to test this since Liquid Glass performs perfectly well on my old iPhone 13 Pro, but this setting has been in iOS ever since Apple started messing with transparency, and it has persisted as an old trick to speed up devices that feel sluggish.

Try the Increase Contrast Setting

One thing that you might not notice until you dip into a few apps is how washed out iOS 26 can look. This is especially evident in the Messages app, where blue and green message bubbles look lighter than they did in iOS 18. This makes sense given that glass is meant to let light through, but you'd be forgiven for wanting to turn up the contrast slider a bit.

Fortunately, you can! Head to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and turn on the "Increase Contrast" setting to get an instant boost to contrast across the entire operating system. You'll notice that this even dulls the effect of Liquid Glass elements like the buttons and sliders in Control Center. With the setting enabled, they appear flat with a solid outline; an effect that really makes them jump off the screen.

This might be more effective than the Reduce Transparency toggle in making iOS 26 more usable, and you can even leave transparency on if you want to enjoy some eye-candy. Alternatively, you might only want to enable this for certain apps like Messages.

You can do this with per-app accessibility settings by heading to Settings > Accessibility and scrolling right down to the bottom of the list, where you'll find "Per-App Settings." From here, tap "Add App" and add the app you want to change. You'll then be able to flag the Increase Contrast setting for apps of your choice.

Ditch Safari's Compact URL Bar

Apple has decided to hide some less-used controls within iOS 26, with Safari arguably taking the biggest hit. Apple's browser now only displays a back button, URL tab bar, and the "…" ellipsis button for accessing every other feature. While minimalists will love it, some of you might be wondering where the forward and bookmarks buttons have gone.

Fortunately, you can reinstate many of these under Settings > Apps > Safari. Under the "Tabs" section, pick "Bottom" to restore Safari to something that vaguely resembles iOS 18. This change will show the backwards, forwards, share, bookmarks, and tabs buttons plus the URL tab bar.

The interface will still shrink whenever you scroll down a page (there's nothing you can do about that), but it pops right back up when you move in the opposite direction or tap it.

Get the Classic Phone App Look Back

The Phone app has also seen a big change in iOS 26, with the arrival of a new "Unified" layout. You'll be asked if you want to try this out when you first launch the Phone app after upgrading, but it's easy to forget you made any sort of decision and get stuck with the new design.

Apple seems to have learned from last year's messy Photos redesign and given everyone the option of choosing between the new look or a classic look. To switch between them, tap the "three lines" menu button in the top-right corner of the screen and choose "Classic" or "Unified."

Unified has a few benefits, like displaying your favorite contacts at the top of the page, but it feels like a lot of wasted space. If you add both FaceTime and regular phone numbers for a contact, that contact will show up twice. If you don't have decent photos for your contacts, half the screen is taken up with dull gray initials.

Some may appreciate the way that voicemail is integrated into the unified interface alongside your outgoing, incoming, and missed calls; but I'd rather collect voicemails from a dedicated tab. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Make the Lock Screen Clock Use a Fixed Size and Style

Apple has also made some changes to the lock screen in iOS 26, with a new clock style that can be resized to fill some of the dead space. To me, this looks a bit Android (and that's not a bad thing). I've noticed that on my iPhone 13 Pro, the effect doesn't necessarily work on older lock screens you designed in iOS 18 and prior, but will automatically expand on newer lock screens as you create them.

Fortunately, you can manually resize the clock to a size of your liking. First, bring up the lock screen gallery by accessing your lock screen, tapping and holding your background, and waiting for the switcher to appear. Now either hit "Customize" to edit an existing lock screen or the "+" plus button to add a new one (then select a photo).

From here, you'll notice that the clock has a rounded glass grab point in the lower-right corner. Tap and drag this to resize the clock. If you want the clock to stay the size it always has been, drag it to the highest position and release.

While you're here, you should also know that you can get rid of the Liquid Glass effect on the clock itself. To do this, tap on the time to bring up the Font & Color switcher, then tap on "Solid" at the bottom. This will instantly give you an iOS 18 look.

Stick With the Standard Icon Style Instead of Clear

This "tip" is one of inaction, but it's worth pointing out anyway. The icons in iOS 26 have been redesigned to use the new Liquid Glass material design, and there's no escaping that. Your icons will look different now, but there's another option you'll probably want to stay away from altogether: clear icons.

You'll find this option next to the home screen customization options that were introduced with iOS 18 . Just tap and hold a blank space on your Home screen, tap Edit > Customize, and you'll see icon options appear for Default, Dark, Clear, and Tinted. Truth be told, even the tinted look is different in iOS 26, with a lot more transparency if you leave it enabled in the Accessibility menu.

Get Rid of Chat Wallpapers

Lastly, you can now make your chats look a little more lively with WhatsApp-style chat backgrounds. Though this feels like a bit of harmless fun, you might want to keep your iPhone chats plain and boring to distinguish them from other apps. With group chats, anyone can change the background at any time, so you might not like whatever it is your friends have decided to use (and may inadvertently start a wallpaper war).

You can get rid of the background by tapping the name of the contact or group at the top of the screen while you're viewing a chat. Here, you'll see some backgrounds, tap "None" to remove the background and go back to your default appearance.

Another reason you might want to do this is that these backgrounds don't respect your light and dark theme rules. So a light background won't dim in the dark, and vice versa. Hopefully, Apple fixes that in a future release.

---

Just upgraded your iPhone? Check out the best hidden iOS 26 features you might have missed .