How to Get the Liquid Glass Look on Your Mac

1. Update to macOS 26 or later

Liquid Glass came with macOS 26 Tahoe. To check your version, open System Settings → General → Software Update.

2. Turn up the glass

Open System Settings → Appearance and find Liquid Glass.

On macOS 27, drag the slider. Left is clearer. Right is more solid.

On macOS 26.1 and later, pick Clear or Tinted. Clear is the most see-through. Tinted makes the glass more solid, with more contrast.

Greyed out? Turn off Reduce Transparency in Accessibility → Display.

3. Make your icons glass

In the same Appearance pane, set Icon & widget style to Clear. Icons and widgets turn to glass and pick up your wallpaper's colors. Clear has a light and a dark version.

Most icons lose their color in Clear. If you can't find an app, try Tinted instead.

4. Pick a wallpaper with color

Glass shows what's behind it. A plain grey wallpaper gives you grey glass. Bright colors and soft shapes make it glow.

5. Glass sticky notes

The Dock, menus and sidebars are glass now. Stickies notes are still flat squares of color.

Glassnote is a sticky note made of glass. Press ⌥⌘B to switch between Light, Dark, frosted glass and Liquid Glass. Liquid Glass needs macOS 26 or later.

On macOS 27, Glassnote's Liquid Glass follows the slider from step 2. Drag it and your notes get clearer or more solid along with the rest of your Mac.

The glass blurs what's behind it, so your text stays sharp. Stickies' Translucent mode just fades the note, so text behind it bleeds through.

Download Glassnote for Mac

7-day free trial. Then $6.50 once, for all your Macs.

6. Glass clocks and timers

I make four more small apps in frosted glass. They float on your desktop and blur your wallpaper. They use frosted glass, not Liquid Glass.

• Glassclock: a clock you can drag anywhere and size up to full screen.
• Glasstimer: countdown timers that stay on screen.
• Glasspomodoro: focus and break timer in one window.
• Glasswatch: a stopwatch that floats on top.

Glassbundle gets you all five, Glassnote included, for 40% less than buying each one.

FAQ

Which macOS has Liquid Glass?
macOS 26 Tahoe and later. The Clear and Tinted choice came in macOS 26.1. macOS 27 has a slider instead.

Can I change how see-through Liquid Glass is?
On macOS 27, yes. Drag the Liquid Glass slider in System Settings → Appearance.

Why is the Liquid Glass setting greyed out?
Reduce Transparency is probably on. Turn it off in System Settings → Accessibility → Display.

How do I make my Mac app icons clear?
Open System Settings → Appearance, and set Icon & widget style to Clear.

Can sticky notes be Liquid Glass on Mac?
Apple Stickies notes are flat colors. Glassnote has a Liquid Glass look on macOS 26 and later.