Microsoft has confirmed they received’t be making “instant modifications” to Home windows 11’s transparency choices, pointing customers towards third-party instruments like Windhawk as an alternative of constructing macOS-style Liquid Glass controls natively into the OS.
Apple’s Liquid Glass redesign launched at WWDC 2025 to a tough reception, with customers calling out legibility issues throughout iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. Apple toned it down earlier than the general public launch that September, then refined it much more at WWDC 2026 with a slider letting customers dial the impact anyplace from extremely clear to totally tinted.
A yr later, Liquid Glass is spreading into extra apps and even web sites, and naturally, folks preserve asking if it’s doable for his or her Android telephones and Home windows PCs to have one thing related.
2026 has in any other case been the yr Microsoft lastly began fixing Home windows 11. The corporate’s March dedication anchored in three pillars: Efficiency, Reliability, and Craft. A number of of the larger requests for “Craft”, like a movable taskbar, a resizable Start menu, have already shipped to Insiders. Transparency, it seems, isn’t considered one of them.
Why Microsoft received’t add extra transparency controls to Home windows 11
On June 11, March Rogers, Associate Director of Design at Microsoft, posted a few Begin menu settings replace rolling out to Insiders, part toggles, resizable Begin, an choice to cover your title whereas display screen sharing. A consumer named Emrah replied asking why Home windows received’t let folks modify taskbar and Begin menu transparency.
Rogers said that transparency results could be turned off in Settings by going to Personalization > Colours, and in addition talked about that Home windows doesn’t enable us to make issues extra clear than the default results, as a result of it might hinder legibility and usefulness.
That’s a good level, however Emrah wasn’t asking for much less transparency. He posted a screenshot of his Home windows 11 desktop with Begin menu, notifications, and calendar all rendered with a heavy frosted-glass blur utilizing Windhawk’s TranslucentStartMenu mod, textual content and icons nonetheless totally legible. It’s the closest factor to Liquid Glass Home windows 11 has proper now.
Additionally, in case you forgot, Home windows truly did Liquid Glass first, almost 20 years in the past. Home windows Vista’s Aero Glass, launched again in 2007, gave Home windows a translucent, frosted look. However everyone knows what occurred subsequent when Microsoft dropped it in Home windows 8 in favor of the flatter Acrylic and Mica results.
Actual purpose why Microsoft can’t convey transparency impact customization to Home windows 11
Beneath a July 31 submit by Design lead, Marcus Ash, concerning the Home windows high quality replace, Emrah introduced up once more the subject of transparency, and we lastly received the precise purpose from March Rogers himself as to why Home windows 11 won’t see a transparency slider anytime quickly:
“At any time when we think about giant scale visible modifications to Home windows, just like the transparency choice you instructed, we expect exhausting about who will profit from the funding, usability and accessibility issues, and may we ship a top quality expertise.”
Rogers additionally talked about Windhawk as a part of the reasoning, noting that Microsoft appears at what its developer group is “already offering”, and mentioned that any modifications will probably be performed solely when Redmond feels assured that they will meet the entire necessities of a fantastic expertise for all Home windows customers.”
And on the subject of if we’ll ever see native glass-like results in Home windows 11, March Rogers mentioned: “We received’t be making instant modifications to the transparency choices already in Home windows”, although Rogers mentioned the suggestions was nonetheless helpful for the longer term.
Nonetheless, as Emrah mentioned, native OS options are inherently extra steady and carry far much less threat of bugs than something constructed by outdoors builders, and that customization is the argument folks already use to defend switching away from Home windows.
Liquid Glass retains displaying up in additional locations, together with redesigned apps, even web sites experimenting with a frosted look, and it’s somewhat deflating realizing Home windows, which arguably did this look first, received’t get equal native controls anytime quickly.
Home windows 11 is already getting a few of its most requested customization modifications
To be truthful to Microsoft, transparency isn’t the one customization request on the desk, and several other others are shifting quick. Home windows Newest covered 10 new features coming to the taskbar and Start menu again in June, together with a movable taskbar, a real smaller taskbar choice, and Begin menu part toggles for Pinned, Current, and All Apps.
We tested the new Start menu’s customization options ourselves and got here away impressed at how far it goes. Microsoft has additionally been testing taskbar positions per monitor and made the Start menu resizable with small and huge format choices, one thing customers had been asking for since launch.
We additionally reported that Microsoft tested five different Start menu designs earlier than, and even in spite of everything these modifications, some nonetheless argue Windows 10’s taskbar remains better than Windows 11’s.
And for the sake of extra practicality, Microsoft has additionally decluttered Windows Search and made search outcomes extra customizable.
Fact be instructed, most of this could have shipped on day one again in 2021. However no less than Home windows 11 stays customizable by means of third events, which is greater than could be mentioned for another platforms!
The best way to allow transparency results in Home windows 11 proper now
To get a frosted-glass look in your Home windows 11 PC, you’ll be able to set up Windhawk, a free, open-source mod supervisor for Home windows.
As soon as put in, seek for the Home windows 11 Begin Menu Styler and Home windows 11 Taskbar Styler mods, allow them, and apply the TranslucentStartMenu and TranslucentTaskbar themes from their settings tab, both by choosing it instantly or pasting within the theme’s fashion code manually.
You can even add this fashion method to File Explorer and different shell surfaces by means of Windhawk’s mod catalog.
Both method, personally, I’d somewhat Microsoft preserve its consideration on optimizing Home windows 11 as an alternative of chasing deeper customization like this, proper now. There’s nonetheless loads of unfinished work, the continued WinUI 3 migration across legacy dialogs, and inbox apps like Weather that remain bloated WebView2 wrappers. Get the basics proper first. Glass, be it liquid or frosted, can wait.
