After updating from iOS 26 to iOS 26.1, all my transparent system elements (i.e. UITabBar, UIBarButtonItem) started rendering with a dark background tint. In iOS 26 the same configuration looked fully transparent / glassy.
The strange part is that the tint only appears in normal UIViewControllers. In UITableViewController the tab bar still looks correct and transparent, even on iOS 26.1.
I am using the same appearance code as before:
func setupTabBarAppearance() { guard let tabBar = tabBarController?.tabBar else { return }
if #available(iOS 26.0, *) {
let appearance = UITabBarAppearance()
appearance.configureWithTransparentBackground()
appearance.backgroundColor = .clear
appearance.backgroundEffect = nil
appearance.shadowColor = .clear
tabBar.standardAppearance = appearance
tabBar.scrollEdgeAppearance = appearance
tabBar.isTranslucent = true
tabBar.backgroundColor = .clear
tabBar.barTintColor = .clear
} else {
tabBar.isTranslucent = true
tabBar.backgroundImage = UIImage()
tabBar.shadowImage = UIImage()
tabBar.backgroundColor = .clear
}
} I tried removing backgroundEffect, forcing .clear colors, using configureWithDefaultBackground, changing edgesForExtendedLayout, extendedLayoutIncludesOpaqueBars, etc. I noticed that if I change Liquid Glass in iOS 26 settings from Clear to Tinted, then I get a black tint everywhere and the interface becomes consistent, but not the way I want.
Nothing removes the new dark tint in iOS 26.1. Is this an intentional change in iOS 26.1, a bug, or is there a new way to make the tab bar fully transparent again?