Apple debuted its new design language for iOS 26, dubbed Liquid Glass, to a mixed reception in June. While some people enjoyed the new transparent icons and light refraction effects, others — including Android Authority‘s Robert Triggs — criticized it as an “accessibility nightmare.”
But that hasn’t stopped many Android users from trying to emulate the new design on their own smartphones. And thanks to the customization features of Android and the ability to choose a different launcher, getting your Android phone to look more like iOS 26 is possible.
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The easiest way to get an iOS look on Android
Megan Ellis / Android Authority
You can get Android to look like iOS by using a custom launcher, which is the quickest way to switch up the design of your UI. There are plenty of iOS-themed launchers available for free, with many being updated for the latest version of iOS, which is currently in beta.
I was able to quickly switch up the look of my Honor 400 Pro by using Launcher iOS 26, a popular and free launcher with over 10 million downloads.
To consistently set a launcher as your new default UI, go to Settings > Default apps > Home app and switch to the launcher you want to use. The exact steps depend on which Android skin you’re using, but they follow a similar flow.
When I used Launcher iOS 26, it was able to switch out my wallpaper, certain app icons, and create widget-like folder and screens when I scrolled to the right or left of my default screen. Within the launcher app, you can further customize settings.
Using an additional Control Center app, the launcher is also able to simulate creating a new iOS-like control panel — however this does not replace the default control panel included in your phone’s OS.
How to get the iOS 26 Liquid Glass look on Android
Megan Ellis / Android Authority
While a launcher is the quickest way to get the iOS 26 look on Android, many of these launchers don’t have the transparent look of Liquid Glass built in. If you’re more focused on accessing Liquid Glass-inspired widgets, then you can use a pack like iOS Glass KWGT iOS 26 Inspired. The $0.99 pack requires you to also buy KWGT Kustom Widget Pro, which costs an additional $5.99. Out of the methods I tried, this is one of the best ways to get iOS 26-inspired widgets on your screen, but they are constrained by the widget size KWGT Kustom Widget offers, which on my device was a 4×4 widget.
You start out by installing a KWGT widget on your home screen and then click on it to add a template from your widget pack, in this case, iOS Glass. There are a variety of widgets to choose from, but I went with one that included app icons and my music player, along with the date and time. I then saved this template so that it applied to the KWGT widget.
By combining Launcher iOS 26 with the glass widgets pack in Kustom Widget, you can get some of the transparent widgets of iOS 26 with the Apple-like interface of the launcher. I wasn’t able to get transparent app icons however, as the different icon packs I used with Nova Launcher didn’t look anything like the Play Store screenshots.
But be prepared for a bit of troubleshooting. KWGT’s buttons don’t always work in the widgets, especially if the button is mapped to an app you don’t have installed. It will also need different permissions depending on the function you want the widget to perform.
What you should keep in mind when trying to make your Android look like iOS 26
As much as I tried to replicate the Liquid Glass UI on Android, each solution has its limitations. Launcher iOS 26 is inundated with ads, meaning that you have to watch an ad for every setting you have to change. Meanwhile, the different packs I tried relied either on a launcher or a widget tool — adding extra barriers to getting the look you want.
If you’re trying to get your Android device to look like iOS 26, there will be limitations. Of the different solutions I tried, none could actually achieve the light refraction effects that many people enjoy in Liquid Glass.
I also found that the screenshots of icon packs did not always resemble the final result, leading me to uninstall or refund most of them. If you’re not careful, you’ll end up getting a cheap Liquid Glass imitation that just does not look good.
Personally, I’ll never switch from Android to iOS. While I do wish Android had some of the accessibility features that iOS has, I don’t think that making everything translucent is the way to go. But hey, the beauty of Android is that it provides the user with choice, so you can always choose to imitate iOS 26, even if I don’t personally recommend it.
