5 Ways To ‘Fix’ iOS 26’s New Features
5 Ways to Make iOS 26’s New Features More Bearable — According to Technoju
If you really want to watch chaos erupt in an online community, just ask a simple question: “So, what do you think about iOS 26?” The reaction is instant — like tossing a lit match into a tank of gasoline. Apple’s latest update has sparked intense debate, even after you tweak a few settings to unlock its better features. Yes, iOS 26 introduced some genuinely impressive upgrades, but there are also changes many users absolutely can’t stand. Even the most loyal Apple fans admit they have mixed feelings this time around.
Here’s the good news: many of the frustrations caused by iOS 26 can actually be softened — or at least partially reversed — with a few smart adjustments.
Just to be clear, we’re not talking about bugs or technical glitches. This guide is focused entirely on the intentional design and system changes Apple made — the ones you might want to roll back to behave more like iOS 18 or earlier versions.
These fixes won’t make your iPhone behave exactly like it used to, but they can take the edge off the most annoying parts of iOS 26 and make everyday use much more tolerable. If you’re unhappy with Apple’s new direction, try these five practical ways to “fix” the update and reclaim a more familiar experience.
1. Tone Down (or Mostly Disable) Liquid Glass
Liquid Glass has quickly become the most divisive visual change in iOS 26 — and the main reason users are flooding forums with complaints. For many, the glossy, candy-like refraction effect feels distracting or simply overdone. For others, the biggest problem has been the feature’s heavy battery consumption. Early testing from In Depth Tech Reviews showed that iOS 26 could drain up to 13% battery in the same time iOS 18 used only about 1%.
Fortunately, Apple has already made significant progress. With iOS 26.1, battery usage tied to Liquid Glass appears to have dropped by nearly half, and future updates will likely continue optimizing the rendering engine.
If your issue with Liquid Glass is mainly its transparency, iOS 26.1 offers two ways to soften the effect. Apple added a new transparency selector under Settings > Display & Brightness > Liquid Glass, allowing you to choose between a clear or tinted look. The tinted option creates a frosted-glass style that stands out far more in Light Mode — notifications, for example, look almost completely opaque. In Dark Mode, the tint is much subtler.
For users who want to remove the “liquid” effect almost entirely, the closest solution is enabling Reduce Transparency under Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size. This doesn’t eliminate every trace of the effect — subtle refractive edges still appear when pulling down the notification shade — but it removes roughly 90% of Liquid Glass. Keep in mind that this setting also disables other system-level visual effects, making the overall interface feel less polished.
And if battery life is your main concern, adjusting these settings will noticeably reduce power usage, helping your iPhone stay charged longer throughout the day.
2. Restore the Classic Phone layout
The Phone app received one of its biggest updates in years with iOS 26. Apple added long-awaited features like call screening for unknown numbers, automatic hold during customer service calls, live translation for multilingual conversations, voicemail transcriptions, and the ability to make and receive calls on your Mac or iPad.
However, not every change was universally welcomed. Apple introduced a new “Unified” layout that squeezes multiple tabs into a single screen — a design choice that some users immediately embraced and others absolutely disliked. The good news is that, unlike some other redesigns in iOS 26, this one is incredibly easy to reverse.
To switch back, open the Phone app and tap the three-line icon in the top-right corner. Choose Classic, and the traditional layout returns instantly. If the process sounds familiar, that’s because a similar approach exists in the Mail app. Back in the iOS 18 era, Mail introduced the new Categories view, but users could revert to the original List View through the same three-dot menu.
And if you want even more customization, iOS now gives you the option to replace Apple’s Phone app entirely. Surprisingly, users can set a third-party app as the default for making or receiving calls. A popular choice is TrueCaller, one of the best free apps to install on a new iPhone, known for its powerful spam-blocking tools and flexible call management features. Several other apps offer similar enhancements if you’re looking to go beyond Apple’s built-in options.
3. Restore the Safari toolbar
Another controversial change was to the Safari browser on iOS 26. As part of the Liquid Glass design language, toolbars now blob together like bubbles and collapse down to be much more compact when you’re scrolling. You can see this used to good effect in the Music app, but in Safari, it becomes more of a hindrance; in iOS 18, there was one single, immutable toolbar where frequently used buttons (like the one to open all your current tabs) let you do anything in a single tap. Now, that same action requires two taps. Those taps add up over time, so most people would probably prefer to have a larger default toolbar akin to the previous iOS 18 layout.
Head to Settings > Apps > Safari and then scroll down to the section labeled “Tabs.” You have three options in total: Compact, Bottom, or Top. “Compact” is the new default, which sandwiches the URL bar between the back button and options button. Most people will probably prefer the “Bottom” option, which gives you back/forward buttons, share button, bookmarks button, and tab button underneath the URL bar. “Top” is a mixture of both since it relocates the URL to the top of the screen and keeps the options at the bottom.
Same as we mentioned earlier though, you can change your default browser from Safari to one of the best iPhone web browser apps for more customization. Just bear in mind that these apps are not using their actual browser engines — at least outside the EU and Japan. Unique benefits of these browsers on desktop will basically be non-existent. As such, the Chrome browser iPhone app you use every day could be killing your battery.
4. Change alarm snooze duration
One of the most requested features among iPhone users has finally arrived in iOS 26: the ability to customize your alarm’s snooze duration. For years, Apple rigidly locked snooze time at nine minutes, forcing heavy sleepers to set multiple alarms just a few minutes apart. With iOS 26, you can now adjust snooze duration to suit your own habits — no more cluttered alarm lists or early-morning frustration.
This improvement pairs perfectly with another addition introduced in iOS 26.1: the alarm slider. Instead of a simple tap to stop your alarm — which many users accidentally hit while half-asleep — you now have to slide to stop. This small change dramatically reduces the chances of accidentally silencing your alarm and sleeping through your morning schedule. Combined with customizable snooze settings, iOS 26.1 makes it genuinely difficult to oversleep unintentionally.
Both standard alarms and Sleep Schedule alarms support this new option. Just open any alarm and scroll to the bottom until you see “Snooze Duration.” You can now set it anywhere between 1 minute and 15 minutes. So whether you need a nudge every minute or prefer longer intervals, iOS 26 finally gives you full control.
It may have taken Apple far too long to implement something so basic, but as they say — better late than never. The next item on the wishlist for iOS 26 (or perhaps iOS 27) is an Android-style countdown showing how much time remains until your next alarm. Until Apple adds that, you can always try third-party apps like Alarmy, which offer advanced alarm options iOS still lacks.
Maybe by iOS 28, Apple will finally catch up to features Android users enjoyed back in 2015.
5. Fix inconsistent keyboards
Another iOS 26 frustration — thankfully — is only temporary. Apple introduced a redesigned keyboard that features a semi-transparent look, softer rounded keys, and the removal of the old 3D shadow effect. It matches the overall Liquid Glass aesthetic quite well. However, iOS can’t force every app to adopt it. Developers must manually update their apps to support the new keyboard, which means you may see one design in Messages and a completely different one in apps like WhatsApp.
This inconsistency will likely fade over the next year or two as developers update their interfaces, but switching between apps right now can feel visually jarring. The simplest fix? Install a third-party keyboard. Options like Gboard or SwiftKey offer a uniform experience across apps, plus extra features Apple’s keyboard still lacks.
As a bonus, using a third-party keyboard can also bypass a widely reported iOS 26 issue where the system autocorrect behaves erratically, inserts the wrong words, or causes users to hit incorrect keys. Until Apple resolves this bug in a future update, a third-party keyboard is the most reliable workaround.
For anyone nostalgic for the days of physical keyboards, there’s an unexpected modern alternative: the Clicks Keyboard case. This accessory connects through your iPhone’s USB-C port and adds a full physical keyboard to the bottom of your device. According to reviewer Adam Doud, it’s not a gimmick — the tactile experience is accurate, comfortable, and surprisingly productive. With a price tag of $139, it’s definitely an investment, but for those fed up with Apple’s current keyboard issues, it might be worth every penny.
For official iOS 26 release notes and ongoing updates, you can always check Apple’s support page