iOS 26: What's Changed With the iPhone's Home Screen

Apple's caller Liquid Glass plan is noticeable connected the Home Screen close erstwhile you unlock your iPhone, though the grade of alteration is customizable. We've rounded up everything that's changed with the ‌iPhone‌'s main interface.

Liquid Glass Design

By default, app icons person a layered look with subtle depth, fundamentally appearing arsenic aggregate sheets of solid stacked connected 1 different to make a glass-like translucent look.


Apple created Liquid Glass app icons for apps similar Safari, Maps, Photos, the App Store, Mail and more. Third-party app icons are adopting the aforesaid aesthetic, and for apps with a elemental plan connected a coagulated background, nary update is needed. Icons similar this already person a Liquid Glass look.

The dock is transparent and blends into the inheritance down it, and the aforesaid goes for the hunt button. App folders person a frosted solid plan that besides changes tint based connected your wallpaper. When you edit your ‌Home Screen‌, the buttons that you interact with are besides transparent.

Interface elements similar the dock, folders, and the hunt fastener person a lighting effect that changes erstwhile you determination your ‌iPhone‌, making them look similar existent glass.

Light, Dark and Tinted Modes

The Liquid Glass effect is evident successful some Light Mode and Dark Mode, with icons continuing to diagnostic the aforesaid stacked solid look, conscionable with a lighter oregon darker background.


Apple technically changed Light Mode to "Default Mode" successful the customization settings wherever you tin set colour (long property connected the show and pat connected customize).

There are caller "Always" and "Auto" toggles for enabling imperishable Light oregon Dark styles oregon adjusting them based connected time, and the Small and Large buttons for changing icon size person been relocated to the precocious close of the customization interface.

Tinted mode looks antithetic successful iOS 26 than it did successful iOS 18. Rather than icons featuring a achromatic inheritance with colored graphics, icons follow the afloat colour that you prime with achromatic graphics successful Light Mode. In ‌Dark Mode‌, backgrounds are a overmuch darker shadiness of the colour you choose, but aren't wholly black.


With Tinted icons, the layered solid look isn't arsenic obvious, but it's inactive present.

Clear Icons

Apple added a "Clear" icon enactment successful ‌iOS 26‌ that's disposable alongside Default, Dark, and Tinted. As the sanction suggests, Clear has a melodramatic Liquid Glass look with icons that are wholly transparent. The icons follow the colour of your wallpaper, with achromatic substance and designs.


There are Light and Dark options for the Clear setting. Light looks similar frosted glass, portion Dark looks similar tinted glass. If you privation to spell all-in connected Liquid Glass and person your ‌iPhone‌ look notably different, Clear is the enactment to choose.

Widgets

Widgets person immoderate of the aforesaid aesthetic arsenic icons, but connected the whole, they don't look excessively overmuch antithetic from however they looked successful ‌iOS 18‌ successful the Default mode.


With the Clear enactment turned on, widgets are transparent and person a much cohesive plan that matches with your wallpaper.

Wallpaper

You tin edit your wallpaper straight from the ‌Home Screen‌ successful ‌iOS 26‌. Long property connected the show and past pat connected the caller "Edit Wallpaper" option.


The wallpaper interface lets you alteration the representation that you're utilizing connected the ‌Home Screen‌, but it doesn't impact the Lock Screen. If you person a photograph acceptable arsenic a wallpaper, for example, you tin alteration the color, prime a gradient, oregon take a photo, positive you tin crook blurring for images disconnected oregon on.

Wallpaper takes a starring relation successful ‌iOS 26‌ due to the fact that it affects the colour of the dock, folders, and icons, depending connected your settings.

Control Center

Control Center adopts Liquid Glass, truthful portion the functionality is the same, the wide look is different. Compared to the ‌iOS 18‌ Control Center, the ‌iOS 26‌ mentation has extent for the icons with the Liquid Glass shifting airy effect.


The icons are tinted to look similar frosted glass, and immoderate of the underlying buttons for adjusting Control Center person been tweaked with the updated look. Icons are a small larger, and immoderate of the bar-shaped icons for volume, brightness, and different settings are rounder.

Other Home Screen Elements

The Dynamic Island, Notification Center, agelong property gestures, and App Library person not changed beyond aesthetics. App Library folders are translucent and the hunt barroom is rounded, and for widgets, determination is simply a solid look of varying strength depending connected your icon colour choice.


App Library icons are besides somewhat larger, with little padding betwixt them.

Web Apps

When you adhd a website to your ‌Home Screen‌ successful ‌iOS 26‌, it ever opens arsenic a web app. Web apps were disposable connected the ‌Home Screen‌ successful ‌iOS 18‌, but web developers needed to configure them to run arsenic web apps.


If websites weren't configured properly, they would unfastened successful Safari erstwhile added to the ‌Home Screen‌. Now a website volition unfastened arsenic a dedicated web app, adjacent if it hasn't been explicitly acceptable up to enactment that way.

There is an Open arsenic Web App enactment that tin beryllium toggled disconnected erstwhile adding a website to a ‌Home Screen‌ if you similar that websites unfastened up successful Safari.

Read More

We person a dedicated iOS 26 roundup that goes into item connected each of the caller features that are disposable successful the update.
This article, "iOS 26: What's Changed With the iPhone's Home Screen" archetypal appeared connected MacRumors.com

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