Apple’s new UI for iOS 26 is all about being translucent. Apple calls their new UI design Liquid Glass. In early developer beta, the UI didn’t look great because of overuse and transparency issue. However, in the recent beta, the UI looks much better. But if you’ve an Android and liked the Liquid Glass design, here’s the guide on how to get iOS 26 look on an Android phone.
The new Liquid Glass design from Apple appears to have drawn inspiration from Windows Vista and several early Chinese Android OEMs, when many Chinese Android smartphones sought to emulate the iPhone’s look. Thankfully, this is no longer the case, as many Android UIs across various OEMs now feature good, customizable UIs that look cleaner and more professional.
Now, for a bit of fun, let’s take a look and see how you can replicate the iOS 26 look on almost any Android smartphone.
Get the iOS 26 look on your Android Smartphone
There are many things that you will have to install to replicate the iOS 26 look on your Android smartphone. As an example, I will be using my Galaxy S24 Ultra running on One UI 7 to show you how it’s done.
Note: You can’t apply the Liquid Glass style system-wide unless there’s a custom ROM or theme for it. However, you can replicate the home screen and app drawer, along with some other elements.
Get the iOS 26 Wallpaper
Every year, when Apple releases a new iOS version, there will always be a bunch of wallpapers that are exclusive to that iOS version. The best way to get the latest iOS 26 wallpaper for your Android smartphone is by simply installing our wallpaper app – PhoneWalls (available on iOS as well). Simply download your favorite iOS 26 wallpaper and apply it as the background for the home screen and lock screen.
If you don’t like the iOS 26 wallpapers, you can choose to install wallpapers that came with the specific iPhone. The PhoneWalls app has plenty of them.
Get the right Icon Pack
One of the important things that you need to get right is the icon pack. Now, there are a ton of icon packs out there, but you will have to look for the Glass Effect type of icons. A good number of glass effect icon packs are available on the Google Play Store, so do check them out. Do note that most of these are paid ones, so pick the one that you feel is perfect for you. Here are several icon packs that you can pick from for the iOS 26 setup.
Pick the icon pack of your choice, as these icon packs have a similar liquid glass/transparent styling of icons that you can see on iOS 26.
Pick up Your Favorite Third-Party Launcher
Picking up a good third-party launcher is ideal, simply because there are a ton of icon packs that work with these launchers. One popular third-party launcher that you can choose is Nova Launcher. You can also pick other third-party launchers, such as
- ADW Launcher 2
- Action Launcher
- Apex Launcher
- Smart Launcher
Make sure that the third-party launcher you are installing has support for the icon pack, widgets, and anything else that you plan to add to make the iOS 26 look and feel for your Android smartphone.
For the launcher side of things, make sure that you set up the home screen style that does not have the app drawer. Additionally, ensure that the page’s scroll is set horizontally.
If you don’t want to do the hard work of setting up the launcher to replicate iOS, you can cheat around by installing one of the many iOS-looking launchers out there. These launchers look exactly like what you would see on an iPhone. You might have to play around with the icon packs just in case.
Get a Good Set of Widgets or Use the Stock Widgets
The home screen is incomplete without the iOS-style widgets. The Play Store has a good selection of iOS-style or iOS-themed widgets to use. However, if you don’t like those widgets, you can always use your device’s stock widgets. Since there are no proper iOS widgets that have incorporated the liquid glass effect styling on Android, you can easily make use of the various KWGT widgets and replicate the styling.
My iOS 26 Setup
These settings are for reference, although they’re not the best.
- Launcher – Nova
- Widget – iWidgets
- Wallpaper – iOS 26 (PhoneWalls)
- Icon pack – Glass Icons
Settings:
- Home Screen – Icon Size 130%, 7×4 Grid, No Padding
- Dock – Same Icon Size, No Label, No Padding, No Background, 4 Icons
- Look and feel – Glass Icons, Rest as per your preference
- App Drawer Style – Horizontal, Same icon size, matching background color
- Widgets – Heart and Cube from iWidgets
Second setup using KWGT Widgets
Bonus
You can use Depth Effect or Elongated Clock on Lock Screen on many Android phones, including Xiaomi and Samsung devices. We’ve shared a guide on how to achieve depth clock on Samsung devices that you can refer to. This feature is available by default on some devices like Xiaomi, and OnePlus. You can check in lock screen customization if your devices supports a funky clock style.
Right now, it is a bit difficult to exactly replicate the Liquid Glass effect for your Android home screen. The simple reason is that everyone has moved away from the silly glass effect looking styles on Android that were popular 10 to 12 or even 15 years ago. Additionally, with a lot of people not being fans of this design, people are hesitant to develop and create such glass-styled widgets, as they won’t find a lot of people who might install or use this daily.
Closing Thoughts
So, what are your thoughts about the Liquid Glass effect that we have seen with Apple’s new iOS 26? Is this something that you like? Would you like your Android smartphone to replicate the glass effect style? Do you think Android OEMs should come out with a similar styling effect for Android 16 and beyond? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.
Also Check:
- How to customize home screen on the Nothing Phone (3a) series
- How to customize the Screen-On Animation on Samsung Galaxy Phones
- Customize Your Phone: 40 New Pixel 10 Wallpapers Have Leaked!
- How to Customize Dynamic Island on iPhone
- How to Customize Your Windows UI Like macOS
- How to Customize AOD Styles on Android Phones [Easy Guide]
The post How to get iOS 26 look on any Android phone [Liquid Glass] appeared first on YTECHB.