Learn how to turn on Apple’s new Clear style on the Home Screen for transparent app icons and widgets, complementing the Liquid Glass design overhaul in iOS 26.
With last year’s iOS 18 update, Apple brought Dark Mode and tinted app icons. The latest iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 operating systems (currently in beta) bring a new Clear style that strips away color from app icons and widgets and uses translucency, shine on icon borders, and other effects to make them appear transparent instead.
iOS 26 brings a new Clear icon style
The Clear style has two versions:
- Light: App icons are semi-transparent, tinting the wallpaper beneath darker. The widgets and app icons resemble glass slabs with text and images superimposed.
- Dark: This mode uses a darker icon background. The icons aren’t entirely opaque and still have some level of transparency, but they’re darker and thus more visible.
You can choose either Clear Light or Clear Dark styles. If you select the Auto option, your iPhone will use the right style based on your Dark Mode settings.
Use clear app icons on iPhone and iPad
1) Go to your iPhone or iPad Home Screen and touch and hold an empty spot until the icons start jiggling. Then choose Edit in the top-left corner and select Customize from the menu.
2) Select the Clear style in the customization panel at the bottom. After that, select either Light, Dark, or Auto modes. If you’d like to dim the wallpaper, hit the sun icon. And if you’d like to hide app labels and increase icon size, tap the dual-square icon.
3) Once happy with your Home Screen styling, tap anywhere outside the customization panel to exit the interface and save the changes. The style you’ve selected is reflected across app icons on the Home Screen, in the App Library, in share menus, the Settings app, the Siri Suggestions widget, and other areas.
If you change the wallpaper…
If you go to the Photos app and use a different image as your wallpaper, then the clear app icon style will stay in place. However, if you touch and hold your Lock Screen and pick one of your other added Lock and Home Screen pairs, then the clear app icons will be replaced with that pair’s own icon style, which is usually the default app icons.
Display accessibility settings affect clear icons
Going to Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size and turning on the Reduce Transparency or Increase Contrast setting will adjust the Clear style, with icons losing their transparent appearance for the most part.
Other changes in iOS 26
While this kind of clear app icons and widgets may not be for everyone, I can certainly see it being a hit with minimalists or those who want to eliminate colors for a focused and uniform look. Will you be using clear app icons on your iPhone or iPad, or will you stick with the default vibrant ones?
iOS 26 also brings other small yet effective improvements, like changing the size of your Lock Screen clock and using 3D moving wallpapers there. Among other things, it also allows you to use any audio file as your iPhone ringtone, set up a custom alarm snooze duration, and pin music to the top of your music library.