Looking to Flee the Liquid Glass Phantom Zone

Tech Support
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Just updated to iOS 26 on my phone (standard iPhone 13). I was keen on getting some of the newer functionality and, although I knew I’d hate the liquid glass overhaul, I thought… “How bad can it really be?” After using it for a few hours, the answer is “bad”. I’ve spent a good 2hrs of my day looking into all the tweaks to tone it down and flatten it out (even was willing to have it permanently in low power mode and live with the loss of services if it had helped.) I hate it so, so, so very much.

So, a plea for help…

  1. Can someone point me to a reliable guide to downgrading back to iOS 18? I’ve found a bunch on YouTube but each is a little different, and none have been from people I implicitly trust (e.g. sparky). I’d be willing to lose all my data or take it to an Apple store if that’s what it takes.

  2. Any word on whether there will be an option to disable or customize around this anytime in the future? I know I’ll be forced to upgrade eventually, but I’d like to hold out as long as I possibly can.

I really like having all apple devices for the seamless interoperability. I’d hate to lose that, but today’s experience had me looking up android phone reviews on youtube.

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Related: Thankfully, I have not upgraded my mac yet, but I’ve got the feeling I’m in the same bind there. Eventually the clock will run out on me and I’ll have to upgrade. Ditching my mac and going back to windows would be essentially impossible for me at this point, though, so I’ll have to learn to live with it.

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I tried and failed to get back to iOS/iPadOS 18 yesterday. AFAIK the only way to do it is to use a 3rd party site to download the old version - which I won’t do.

OTOH Apple should support MacOS 15 with new features for at least a couple of more years, and even longer with security updates. So I’m staying on Sequoia till the bitter end, or at least until Apple releases a new version that doesn’t suck.

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One method that I can think of is essentially a nuke and pave using iMazing to load the OS. Restoring data from a backup may be problematic if there isn’t one available from before the upgrade.

This article is old but covers the basics.

Note that I have not tried this process.

I’m guessing the previous version (at least 18.7 since it came out yesterday) is still being signed so should be available to install for a while.

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I have successfully downgraded (an iPad) using iMazing before, but that was a minor version downgrade; not a major version one…

As mentioned in the article, Apple needs to sign the version you want to restore to. At the moment they still sign 18.6.2, but that might not be for long.

Also, you most likely need to have a 18.x backup of all your data, or start from scratch…

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To alleviate the liquid glass effect somewhat:

  1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
  2. Tap Accessibility.
  3. Select Display & Text Size.
  4. Tap the toggle next to Reduce Transparency to turn the setting on.

Increase Contrast, and Reduce Motion also help.

Katie

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There is an article posted 5 hours ago on Macworld that explains how.

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There’s also an option to show or not show colour in the tab bar, in safari settings. Play with that. I like it off, it seems. When it was on, it felt like the ghost of Steve Jobs was poking me in the eye.

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Did they crank up the transparency from one of the final betas? I was running the beta on my 12.9 inch iPad Pro, and iPadOS 26 was generally ok. I just updated my 11 inch iPad, and am finding the transparency makes it very hard to use, like something done to look cool, without thinking about usability. Even opening a folder of apps is a distracting experience with everything bleeding through (ironically, it does NOT make the content front and center, like Apple is marketing it).

I turn on Reduce Transparency every now and then, but then turn it off, hoping I’ll get accustomed to the change.

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I have felt like throwing my iPad across the room at least once a day since installing iPadOS 26. And each time I don’t because I that would be stupid, and giving it to someone else is a much better option.

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UPDATE: I did all of the tricks to de-liquid my phone. I still hate it, but it turns out that’s the least of my problems. I took my first extended car trip this weekend post iOS26 update, CarPlay was totally unusable. Music wouldn’t play, touchscreen was unresponsive. Maps froze basically half the time (missed about 6 turns/exits because it was at least 5min behind.) Google maps was a little better, but still barely usable.

Outside of CarPlay, my scroll response is terrible… slow, sometimes jittery. Flipping left/right to different home screens is super super laggy about 20% of the time. The stupid new games app keeps popping up and trying to do whatever the hell it seems to want to do (I don’t play games on my phone, so I have no intention of playing along with whatever it wants.) My camera app was also slow (using the hardware button as a shutter was ok, but all on-screen controls were slow and unreliable.) And, of course, through it all, my battery life is significantly worse.

My wife’s phone (same model as mine, bought same time, still on iOS18) worked perfectly. We gave up on my phone completely after about 4hrs and just shared hers for the weekend.

None of this is the end of the world, since I’ve been steadily moving toward using my phone a little as possible anyway, but I do need it for essential things (maps, music, messages, photos, and SHORTCUTS). For all those reasons, I have no need/desire to get a new phone, but whatever phone I have, I need it to work. What I have now is essentially a brick I carry in my pocket and have to charge 20% more often.

All this to say, my course is clear. I’ll be downgrading to iOS18 no matter what it takes. Apple’s got until I run out of security updates to convince me there’s a future beyond 18… otherwise I guess it’s android for me which will mean HUGE sacrifices in capabilities since I love my apple watch and airpods and I rely heavily on shortcuts. I’ve loved my iPhone since the iOS7 update and the iphone 12 hardware update… now the future is unclear. Maybe I’m in the inevitable 10yrs of purgatory when Apple takes away brilliantly working hardware/software for no good reason until they ultimately fix it after years of suffering (e.g. I’ve owned: macbook pro 2014 model = wonderful in every way; 2018 model = daily pain and suffering, no hdmi, horrible keyboard, no function keys, etc; 2022 M1, my current machine = best computer I’ve ever had.)

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Out of curiosity, what’s your CarPlay unit? The Carplay upgrades have been one of the biggest pluses of ‘26 for me. I’ve got Ford Sync 4, though.

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I honestly have no idea… I have two of them. One is whatever stock unit is in a 2022 Toyota Corolla and the other is whatever Pioneer’s bare-bones carplay unit was around 2021. Both have the same problems with my phone that has iOS26 and neither have any of these problems with my wife and son’s phones which are both still on 18.

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2 Quick Updates:

RE: Phantom zone - I have decided to do a nuke and pave with my phone and try a pristine iOS26 install. If it solves all the problems (apart from the unsolvable Little Mermaid liquid ass interface, which I guess I have to just tolerate for 10yrs until the pendulum swings back toward simple/clean/flat/minimalist) then I guess I will surrender and keep it - trying to fight the inevitable sounds exhausting. If it remains buggy, I will go to the extreme of rolling back to iOS18.

Ironically, none of the new features I upgraded for (call screening, car play and maps improvements) have proved to be particularly useful (call screening has actually been a disaster… several confused/frustrated callers including my kid’s school). As I said, I instantly LOVED the design change toward flat/minimalist and away from shiny/skeuomorphic in iOS7 (and the hardware redesign back to the 90-degree sides iPhone 4 style.) Apart from the challenging battery life, I would have loved to stay with the design combo of iOS18 and the iPhone13 Mini for a very, very long time (sorely tempted to make the rash decision to go back to that, battery be damned.) In any case, it now simply boils down to not wanting to be left without core capability going forward - the interoperability of my phone, mac, watch, and airpods (and appleTV) is truly wonderful. Sadly, ditching the phone, which is the part I value the least, would really hobble that multi-device mix. To me, my phone is a necessary evil to exist in the modern world (doing 2 factor authentication without it would be suicide), but Apple clearly views it as the most important piece, so I must pay the price to really use the other devices for what they’re worth.

I say all of this just to express that I’m torn and wonder if others may feel the same. If so, perhaps this is solace of some kind. If not, thanks for letting (or ignoring) me vent. I’ll do another quick update after I try the nuke and pave.

RE: MacOS upgrade
I’m still VERY wary of doing this upgrade. Unlike my phone, I love everything about my Macbook. It is, by far, the most important piece of technology in my life. I don’t want to kneecap it in any way. That said, I got a chance to work on another Mac with Tahoe on it and it was fine. The interface changes are much less annoying and everything I did seemed to work without a hiccup. I’m not ready to pull the trigger on my own production machine yet, but I’m a lot less terrified.

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One other quick comment, just in the interest of fairness:

The photos and camera apps in 26 are actually an improvement. Not a huge one, but still.

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