Apple’s iOS 27 beta 5 introduces a Liquid Glass slider, allowing users to adjust the transparency of the glass‑like UI elements to their preference.

Apple’s iOS 27 beta 5 adds a new Liquid Glass slider, giving users the ability to dial the transparency of the system’s glass‑like UI elements up or down as they see fit.

What the Liquid Glass slider does

The slider appears in Settings → Display & Brightness → Liquid Glass, where moving the thumb to the right makes the frosted background of menus, control center, and notifications more see‑through, while sliding left restores the default opacity.

Apple describes the feature as a way to “personalise the visual density of iOS,” allowing users who prefer a cleaner look to reduce the blur effect that can sometimes obscure underlying content.

How it differs from previous versions

Earlier iOS betas let developers toggle the blur on or off, but iOS 27 beta 5 is the first to expose a continuous control to end users, mirroring the flexibility previously reserved for developers testing UI designs.

  • Adjust transparency in real time from Settings
  • Changes apply system‑wide, affecting Control Center, Notification Center, and lock‑screen widgets
  • Preview mode shows a side‑by‑side comparison while you slide
  • Option to reset to Apple’s default level with a single tap

Potential impact on battery life and performance

Because the blur effect relies on real‑time GPU processing, reducing its intensity could marginally improve battery endurance, especially on older devices that struggle with heavy visual effects.

Apple has not published formal benchmarks, but early tester reports suggest a modest gain of a few percent in battery life when the slider is set to the lowest transparency.

The new slider feels like a small but welcome quality‑of‑life tweak, especially for power users who spend hours in the OS each day.

Developers can already access the same API via UIVisualEffectView and may choose to honour the user’s preference in custom apps, further extending the transparency control beyond Apple’s native UI.

The feature is expected to roll out to the public release of iOS 27 later this year, pending final polishing and feedback from the beta community.

9to5Mac coverage of iOS 27 beta 5