The release of Apple’s newest working machine, iOS 26, presented a new design language known as Liquid Glass. The interface makeover, one among Apple’s biggest because the shift from skeumorphic to flat design in 2013, provides a translucent, glass-like subject matter to Apple’s device. That is used throughout iOS components, like buttons, sliders, media controls, switches, notifications, tab bars, app sidebars, and in machine studies just like the Regulate Middle, House Display screen, Lock Display screen, and extra.
The design itself is encouraged through mixed-reality (AR/VR) units just like the Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional and is doubtlessly gearing up for a long run the place the OS does, if truth be told, need to run on good glasses — like the ones Apple is reportedly development.
Within the intervening time, the adjustments open the door to new techniques to customise your maximum non-public software, your iPhone, with improve for such things as transparent icons, glassy widgets, a glassy typeface for the Lock Display screen with 3-D pictures, and extra.
Under is a number of pointers and tips to help you get began customizing your iPhone to make the most of the brand new Liquid Glass design.
Liquid Glass icons
Probably the most largest changes you’ll be able to make in your House Display screen is to modify your icons’ taste. Ever because the creation of iOS 14, which presented widgets, customers were actively personalizing their House Display screen with customized icons. Generally, this used to be carried out through making a shortcut to a given app the usage of Apple’s Shortcuts app, then importing the customized icon there sooner than including the shortcut in your House Display screen. A number of iOS theming apps had been additionally up to date to make the most of this capability, which made the tedious procedure slightly more uncomplicated through permitting you to make a choice which apps you sought after to customise in bulk. Those had been then put in for you by way of a downloadable profile.
For many who didn’t wish to bounce thru as many hoops, iOS 18 added the talent to modify your whole icons to a brand new colour scheme by way of a integrated instrument. Plus, it is advisable set your icons to show somewhat better through disposing of the textual content label beneath.
With iOS 26, customization has been up to date once more with icons that may seem as gentle or darkish glass, tinted glass, and even as transparent icons.
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Whilst there have been some consumer lawsuits about tinted icons in iOS 18, the function has progressed with the Liquid Glass design; the tint feels extra delicate now. You’ll be able to additionally use the eyedropper instrument to pick out the precise colour out of your wallpaper to compare your icons and modify sliders to additional tweak the colour or its opacity.
In case you’d moderately simply skip this customization however nonetheless desire a glassy appearance, you’ll be able to merely set your icons to “Transparent” as a substitute.
The way to use it: Press and cling to your House Display screen and faucet on “Customise” to go into customization mode. Faucet the more than a few choices to make a choice whether or not you need a gentle, darkish, or mechanically adjusting background, massive or small icons, and whether or not you need your icons to look as darkish, transparent, tinted, or with their default colours. Faucet to your House Display screen once more when your customizations are whole.
Matched icons
In case you pass caseless or use a transparent telephone case, chances are you’ll like the brand new strategy to fit your iPhone’s icons in your software or case. That is to be had during the “matched icons” function in iOS 26.
iOS 26 is aware of your iPhone’s SKU, which comprises data that informs it of your fashion and colour. However if you wish to fit your case, it’s a must to use the authentic Apple MagSafe circumstances.
The way to use it: To check your icons in your telephone, press and cling to your iPhone House Display screen to enter jiggle mode, faucet “Edit,” “Customise,” then “Tinted.” Beneath the colour and opacity sliders, faucet the button that appears like slightly iPhone at the some distance left. To check the case as a substitute, press the following button to the fitting.
House display screen wallpaper and format
Your Lock Display screen wallpaper and your House Display screen wallpaper don’t have to compare, supplying you with all kinds of choices for House Display screen customizations. However sooner than you pass to set your canine or cat as your background once more, take a second to browse the internet for some glassier inspirations.
Pinterest stays a excellent useful resource at no cost concepts, the place you’ll be able to search for wallpapers with seek phrases like “Liquid Glass wallpaper” or “iOS 26 wallpaper,” for example.
An alternative choice is to make use of third-party iOS theming apps. There are lots of those at the App Retailer, however be warned that those apps are nearly all the time subscription-based or overloaded with commercials, if there’s a loose model. In case you’re new to this international, some that I frequently go back to (or even pay for now and then) come with Brass, Colour Topics, Screenkit, Themify, Wallaroo, and Widgetsmith.
House display screen customization may be a great time to improve a favourite artist. Many artists be offering wallpaper packs on the market thru their Patreon or advertise their downloads on their social media. In search of “iOS wallpaper” and comparable phrases on websites like X and Threads may just level you to a couple concepts. In a similar way, customers incessantly blow their own horns their designs on visible mediums like Instagram and TikTok. (I’m recently obsessive about those vivid, colourful, and watery flower prints!)
Take note additionally that iOS 18 presented a approach to put your icons and widgets any place you need at the House Display screen, permitting you to depart clean areas in between them. This can also be helpful, particularly should you don’t wish to difficult to understand some a part of your wallpaper. Then again, the icons will nonetheless be locked to an invisible grid machine to stay the display screen having a look orderly.
The way to use it: To switch your wallpaper, press and cling to your House Display screen till the icons jiggle, then faucet “Edit,” and “Edit Wallpaper” from the menu that looks. You’ll be able to additionally trade your wallpaper from its personal phase throughout the settings app. To transport icons, press and cling to your House Display screen till they wiggle, then drag and drop them the place you need them to sit down.
Whilst widgets themselves aren’t new, iOS 26 provides them a glassy look-and-feel, which would possibly encourage you to provide your House Display screen a makeover.
As a substitute of the usage of your apps’ integrated widgets, now glassified, you’ll be able to additionally flip to third-party assets to seek out widgets. Brass, Colour Topics, Screenkit, Themify, Widgetsmith, and Launcher are amongst the ones on my iPhone.
I additionally just like the widget apps from the developer MD Studio — particularly the person who places slightly vinyl document participant to your House Display screen. For a extra fashionable appearance, No longer Dull additionally makes its personal possible choices to the iPhone’s default apps, like the ones for the digital camera, calculator, climate, timer, and extra, which include their very own widgets. Song app Airbuds has a amusing widget as neatly.
A extra lately well-liked pick out is Dynamic-Lyrics, which places reside lyrics to your Lock Display screen, Dynamic Island, or House Display screen.
You’ll be able to additionally make a choice to create and customise widgets of your personal with Widgy. The app is without doubt one of the larger assets in the market for widget customization, but even so the opposite theming apps connected above. With Widgy, someone, even the ones with out design talents, can create their very own customized widget through including components, converting the colours and results, connecting an information supply, and extra.
You’ll be able to additionally flick thru widgets others have made for inspiration after which import them on your personal use.
Some designers additionally promote Widgy widget collections from their very own web pages. It will get slightly trickier on account of the additional steps concerned, however the finish end result can also be definitely worth the effort. For instance, I simply purchased this “glass shiny” Widgy widget assortment so as to add some distinctive customized widgets to my House Display screen. However except you’re accustomed to how theming apps paintings, it is usually a bit intimidating to get began.
The way to use: First, you’ll wish to obtain the bought widget zip document to the Apple Recordsdata folder to your iPhone or your iCloud Pressure. (This could be more uncomplicated to do if you’re making the acquisition out of your iPhone.) Faucet to unzip the app if it’s compressed.
Open the Widgy app you’ve already put in from the App Retailer and pass to the primary tab, “Create.” Right here you’ll faucet “Import,” then the strategy to “import .widgy Report from Recordsdata.” (Except you stored the document within the Widgy folder that’s created to your telephone, you’ll need to browse to anyplace you at the beginning downloaded the information.) After you to find the document or folder you need to import, faucet on it to tug it into Widgy.
From Widgy’s “Organize” tab, you’ll faucet at the to be had widgets integrated along with your obtain. To have it fit your wallpaper, faucet “Arrange Transparency” and add screenshots of your wallpaper in gentle and darkish mode snapped from a clean web page of the House Display screen itself. Each and every widget can then be additional custom designed on this phase. Whilst you faucet on a person widget to customise it, you’ll additionally need to arrange the widget place (that means the place at the House Display screen it sits).
After the widget is stored, you upload it in your House Display screen the usage of the traditional procedure: faucet and cling House Display screen to go into jiggle mode, faucet “Edit,” “Upload Widget,” Widgy, after which scroll during the choices and pick out the widget you created.
Liquid Glass Lock Display screen
At the iPhone’s Lock Display screen, Liquid Glass will now display the time in a glassy, San Francisco typeface that can dynamically adapt its weight, width, and peak relying at the symbol at the display screen and your notifications to stay your picture’s matter in view.
Then again, the most efficient section could also be the Lock Display screen’s new Spatial Scenes, which offer your iPhone’s wallpaper a 3-D impact. This selection leverages pc imaginative and prescient ways operating on a neural engine to show your 2D pictures right into a 3-D symbol. You’ll be able to do that on older footage or the ones taken on different cameras, too — you don’t wish to purchase the brand new iPhone 17 to make the most of the addition.
The way to use it: Press and cling at the Lock Display screen, then faucet Customise. Browse your pictures till you to find a picture you prefer on your wallpaper. After including it, you should definitely faucet at the new Spatial Scene button to allow the 3-D impact. That is at the proper aspect of the Lock Display screen’s customization web page. The button to the fitting of it additionally allows you to additional configure your Lock Display screen’s wallpaper settings, like having it shuffle thru other pictures on a time table or with a faucet.
