What The Tech: iOS 26, the latest I-phone update
BY JAMEY TUCKER, Consumer Technology Reporter
If you updated to iOS 26 and immediately thought, why does my phone look like this, you’re not alone. I’ve been hearing from a lot of iPhone users asking the same question: can I go back?
Technically yes, but it isn’t easy and Apple doesn’t exactly encourage it. The good news is, you don’t have to live with everything you dislike. While you can’t fully undo iOS 26, you can turn down some of the changes and make your iPhone feel more familiar again.
Here are the biggest complaints and what you can do about them.
The biggest complaint: Liquid Glass
Apple’s new design style is called Liquid Glass. It adds transparency and animation to menus, search bars, and controls. Apple says it looks modern and immersive.
Many users say it looks distracting. Because menus are translucent, text and icons can blend into whatever is behind them, especially photos, maps, or video. That makes some screens harder to read and harder to focus on.
How to reduce the Liquid Glass effect
You can’t turn Liquid Glass off completely, but you can make it much easier on the eyes.
1. Open Settings
2. Tap Accessibility
3. Tap Display and Text Size
4. Turn on Reduce Transparency
5. Turn on Increase Contrast
This adds a more solid background behind menus and makes text stand out better.
If motion and animation bother you Liquid Glass also adds more movement. Menus slide, float, and animate more than before. Some people love that. Others find it distracting.
How to reduce motion
1. Open Settings
2. Tap Accessibility
3. Tap Motion
4. Turn on Reduce Motion
This cuts down on animations and makes the interface feel steadier.
A new option in iOS 26.1
Apple quietly added another control in iOS 26.1.
Under Display and Brightness, you can adjust Liquid Glass to a tinted look. This adds a light frosted layer behind menus, which improves contrast and readability.
To find it
1. Open Settings
2. Tap Display and Brightness
3. Tap Liquid Glass
4. Choose Tinted instead of Clear
This is one of the most helpful changes Apple has made since iOS 26 launched.
The second big complaint: search and navigation
Search still exists in iOS 26, but it isn’t always where your brain expects it to be.
In some apps, search appears at the top. In others, it appears at the bottom.
In Safari, the search and address bar can expand, collapse, and move depending on how you scroll.
Nothing is technically broken. But long-time iPhone users rely on muscle memory, and iOS 26 changes just enough to be frustrating.
ow to make Safari feel normal again
Safari is one of the easiest things to fix.
1. Open Settings
2. Tap Apps
3. Tap Safari
4. Scroll down to Tabs
5. Choose the layout you prefer
You can move the search and address bar back to the top, keep it at the bottom, or choose a compact layout. Changing this alone makes Safari feel far more familiar.
Can you go back to the old iOS?
Downgrading to an earlier version of iOS is possible, but it’s complicated, time-consuming, and not recommended for most people. Apple stops signing older versions quickly, which makes going back harder over time.
For most users, adjusting the settings above is the safer and easier solution.
Bottom line
If iOS 26 feels strange, you’re not imagining it. Apple didn’t break your phone. They changed how it behaves, and that takes time to adjust to.
The good news is you’re not stuck. A few setting changes can make iOS 26 calmer, clearer, and a lot closer to the iPhone experience you’re used to.
If you want more practical tech tips like this, you know where to find me. www.whatthetech.tv
