The Latest From Kevin The Tech Guy for Sept 21 2025
Tips to mostly turn off Liquid Glass, organize notifications, 30+ hidden iOS 26 features, and a look back at the early days of the internet.
Hi everyone,
Apologies for slight delay. After an unexpected week and a bit off for personal reasons, here’s how things will work going forward.
As much as I don’t want to spend too much time on Windows these days, I think I have found a fair balance between that and my iPhone Shorts. I need to pull more people in and increase paid subscribers, so let’s give this a try. I’ll be focusing on useful tips, not all of the problems Windows has.
Starting in October, my aim is to publish two video newsletters every week. One focused on Windows, and one on the Mac. Five to ten minutes long. I’ll also be posting two or three weekly iPhone Shorts with quick, under-a-minute tips.
This weekly email will go out three times per month, and works as your recap. Instead of separate quick tip blog posts, you’ll find summaries from my video newsletters collected here.
For those who choose a paid subscription, I’ll send out a monthly newsletter at the end of each month. That’s where I will answer subscriber questions directly, and include extra tips and short notes about something I’ve been watching, reading, or using that might have nothing to with tech.
The point all of this is to increase paid subscribers, maybe make some YouTube money eventually, and draw people toward the paid How To Guides I’m working on.
This mix keeps the weekly newsletter simple and useful, and sustainable while the monthly one offers more of a personal look at what I’m working on and thinking about. I’m always open to your thoughts, but paid subscribers take priority.
What’s on Tap
Quick Tip: Flatten iOS 26’s Liquid Glass — A couple of quick settings will mostly tone down the new visual effects.
Quick Tip: Try Stacked Notifications — Keep your Lock Screen tidy until you’re ready to swipe up and check alerts.
Something Useful: iOS 26’s Hidden Gems — More than 30 features Apple didn’t mention on stage, but you’ll want to know about.
Something Fun: The Internet, 1994-Style — A look back at when email, online news, and digital shopping were brand new ideas.
ICYMI: My top picks from recent posts, including iPhone cleanup, extending Windows 10 security, and getting started with Windows 11.
Quick Tip: Disable (mostly) Liquid Glass in iOS 26
The Short Version: Don’t like the shiny new Liquid Glass in iOS 26? With a couple of quick settings, you can strip out the shimmer and make your iPhone cleaner and easier to read.
Know More: Not a fan of Apple’s new Liquid Glass look in iOS 26? Here’s how to tone it down. Liquid Glass adds shimmer, blur, and transparency across menus and backgrounds. It’s meant to feel fluid and modern, but it can also be distracting or harder to read. While you can’t disable it completely, you can get close.
Go to Settings, Accessibility, Display & Text Size
Turn on Reduce Transparency to replace glassy effects with solid backgrounds
Turn on Increase Contrast to make colors and text sharper
Those two changes flatten the shiny effects and give you a cleaner, more readable interface, basically disabling most of Liquid Glass without removing it.
Quick Tip: Turn on Stacked (Grouped) Notifications in iOS
The Short Version: iOS’s stacked notifications give you a cleaner look by piling alerts neatly at the bottom until you’re ready to check them. Here’s how to turn it on and why it makes managing notifications so much easier.
Know More: Want your iPhone Notifications to be less cluttered? You can switch your notifications to "Stacked View" or Grouped. Instead of a long list, Stacked View starts off as a neat pile at the bottom of your Lock Screen. Swipe up and you’ll see them grouped by app. Each stack has a little badge showing how many unread notifications you’ve got. Tap the latest one from that app, and the rest of the unread notifications expand right underneath it. Here’s how to set it up:
Open Settings
Tap Notifications
Under Display As, pick Stacked
Now your Lock Screen feels clean, but all your notifications are just a swipe or a tap away.
Something Useful
iOS 26 - 30+ Best HIDDEN Features!
iOS 26 is packed with updates, and Apple showed off a lot of them. But they also left plenty under the radar. In this video, Brandon Butch walks you through over 30 hidden and lesser-known features you can try right now.
Something Fun
Are YOU Ready for the Internet? (1994)
In this 1994 report, Kate Bellingham explores the promise of the “information superhighway”, a future where books, films, and art are instantly accessible. Early services like email, news, and shopping were already emerging, but widespread adoption hinged on replacing Britain’s ageing copper phone lines with high-capacity fibre-optic networks. The question then was whether the UK would invest in the infrastructure needed to unlock this digital revolution.
ICYMI
Kevin's Picks: Why Clever Cleaner is the Best iPhone Cleanup App I Have Ever Used
The First Things You Should Do with Your New Windows 11 Computer
Closing Thoughts
Thanks for checking out this week’s newsletter. With the new schedule, the weekly emails will highlight the main tips and videos in one place, while the monthly subscriber edition will go further with direct Q&A, extra tips, and some personal notes on what I’ve been working on or testing.
That all starts in October.
If there’s something you’d like me to cover, just reply to this email and I’ll see it. For paid subscribers, that monthly edition is also where I’ll be focusing on your questions and adding a bit more detail than I fit into the weekly recap.
See you next week!