User profile for user: Atlantis666
Atlantis666 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Issue After iOS 26 Upgrade on MacBook Air

After upgrading to iOS 26 on my MacBook Air, I've noticed an odd issue with my screen display. Before logging in, the login screen looks sharp, bright, and crystal clear, with no problems. However, once I log in, the desktop screen becomes noticeably pale, blurry, and seems to lag. The issue persists even though the login screen initially looks fine. It feels like the brightness or clarity is reduced, almost as if the display is being "dampened" after login. It's a bit distracting, as the screen performance changes drastically between the login and desktop views.


This issue seems to happen every time I log in, and the display does not return to its original crisp, clean look even after a restart or logging out and back in. The system is running iOS 26, and I’m unsure whether this is a bug with the update or an issue with my system settings.

Posted on Nov 7, 2025 3:02 PM

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User profile for user: SergZak
SergZak
User level: Level 6
10,630 points

Posted on Nov 7, 2025 4:00 PM

This sounds like the effect of the new Liquid Glass user interface which adds a ton of translucency and other visual effects to nearly every screen element. It also require more system resources & processor usage from your Mac to render & draw all these effects which may slow things down depending on your vintage of MacBook.


There is somewhat of a "toggle" introduced by Apple with macOS 26.1, toning down the Liquid Glass effects that may help out with visibility.


If you update to macOS 26.1, there will be a Liquid Glass toggle under:

System Settings>Appearance. Select "Tinted" to disable (as much as Apple allows) the Liquid Glass feature.


If you are currently updated to below macOS 26.1, about the same effect can be achieved under:

System Settings>Accessibility>Display and turn on the toggle for "Reduce Transparency"


You can also toggle on the "Increase Contrast" setting as well to see if that helps.


Note that both methods above will not revert the user interface back to 100% of how it was before the macOS 26.x upgrade.


You can also express your feelings about this feature to Apple:

Product Feedback

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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply
User profile for user: SergZak
SergZak
User level: Level 6
10,630 points

Nov 7, 2025 4:00 PM in response to Atlantis666

This sounds like the effect of the new Liquid Glass user interface which adds a ton of translucency and other visual effects to nearly every screen element. It also require more system resources & processor usage from your Mac to render & draw all these effects which may slow things down depending on your vintage of MacBook.


There is somewhat of a "toggle" introduced by Apple with macOS 26.1, toning down the Liquid Glass effects that may help out with visibility.


If you update to macOS 26.1, there will be a Liquid Glass toggle under:

System Settings>Appearance. Select "Tinted" to disable (as much as Apple allows) the Liquid Glass feature.


If you are currently updated to below macOS 26.1, about the same effect can be achieved under:

System Settings>Accessibility>Display and turn on the toggle for "Reduce Transparency"


You can also toggle on the "Increase Contrast" setting as well to see if that helps.


Note that both methods above will not revert the user interface back to 100% of how it was before the macOS 26.x upgrade.


You can also express your feelings about this feature to Apple:

Product Feedback

Reply

Issue After iOS 26 Upgrade on MacBook Air

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