In macOS, transparency – or more properly, translucency – is a visual effect many apps use to create a sense of depth by hinting at content residing in the background.

how to disable transparency in macos 00
An example of transparency is when content behind a window shows through in interface elements like menus and sidebars. It's evident in the screenshot above, for example, in which the colors of the desktop wallpaper bleed through the sidebar in the Photos app.

A similar effect is sometimes used within app interface elements that are windowed, allowing window content to show through other elements like toolbars. An instance of this can be seen below, where the folders are visible through Finder's toolbar as if through frosted glass.

how to disable transparency in macos 000

Transparency enabled (left); transparency disabled

The effect can look cool, but it can also be distracting if you're trying to focus on content, especially if you're editing photos. Fortunately, macOS lets you turn off transparency, but the way to do it isn't immediately obvious. The following steps show you how.

How to Disable Transparency in macOS Mojave

  1. Launch System Preferences from your Mac's Dock, from the Applications folder, or from the Apple menu bar ( -> System Preferences...).
    how to disable transparency in macos 01

  2. Select the Accessibility preference pane.
  3. In the sidebar, under Vision, click Display.
    how to disable transparency in macos 02

  4. Check the box next to Reduce transparency.
Related Forum: macOS Mojave

Top Rated Comments

martyjmclean Avatar
70 months ago
Setting your Accent Colour to Greyscale also turns off wallpaper window tinting. Another tip to increase legibility.
[doublepost=1544791052][/doublepost]
Does this save resources at all? I used to do this on my iphones back in the day thinking I saved CPU cycles and ram.
None of this makes any difference on modern computers.
Score: 5 Votes (Like | Disagree)
martyjmclean Avatar
70 months ago
There's no accent color called "Greyscale". It's called "Graphite".
You still knew which colour I was talking about.
I hope you realize that's an issue with whatever third-party browser and/or theme you're using.
I hope you realise they were being sarcastic.

Stop being obtusely fastidious.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
BigMcGuire Avatar
70 months ago
I still do this on my iPhone XR (started with the iPhone 5 and iOS 7). It’s less about resources at this stage, and more that I’ve come to prefer low transparency and reduced motion.
Same here! I thought I was the only one that did this. I am so happy to have found Reduced Motion for my MacBook thanks to this article, all these years I had no clue it existed (same for transparency for Mac OS). I've used both since my 6+ iPhone and prefer it.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
edrozenberg Avatar
70 months ago
Setting your Accent Colour to Greyscale also turns off wallpaper window tinting. Another tip to increase legibility.
[doublepost=1544791052][/doublepost]
Recent betas remove the window tinting when using any accent color with reduce transparency enabled (I'm on 10.14.3 Beta (18D21c)). This is great. Tinting still remains in the dock, notification center, and alerts - no big deal, window tinting was the one that was really annoying.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
2499723 Avatar
70 months ago
Does this save resources at all? I used to do this on my iphones back in the day thinking I saved CPU cycles and ram.
I still do this on my iPhone XR (started with the iPhone 5 and iOS 7). It’s less about resources at this stage, and more that I’ve come to prefer low transparency and reduced motion.
Score: 2 Votes (Like | Disagree)
jbarley Avatar
70 months ago
Really wish I could get rid of this dropdown menu transparency, it's almost a deal breaker for me.



Attachment Image
Score: 1 Votes (Like | Disagree)

Popular Stories

maxresdefault

Apple Announces 'Let Loose' Event on May 7 Amid Rumors of New iPads

Tuesday April 23, 2024 7:11 am PDT by
Apple has announced it will be holding a special event on Tuesday, May 7 at 7 a.m. Pacific Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time), with a live stream to be available on Apple.com and on YouTube as usual. The event invitation has a tagline of "Let Loose" and shows an artistic render of an Apple Pencil, suggesting that iPads will be a focus of the event. Subscribe to the MacRumors YouTube channel for more ...
Apple Vision Pro Dual Loop Band Orange Feature 2

Apple Cuts Vision Pro Shipments as Demand Falls 'Sharply Beyond Expectations'

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:44 am PDT by
Apple has dropped the number of Vision Pro units that it plans to ship in 2024, going from an expected 700 to 800k units to just 400k to 450k units, according to Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo. Orders have been scaled back before the Vision Pro has launched in markets outside of the United States, which Kuo says is a sign that demand in the U.S. has "fallen sharply beyond expectations." As a...
iPad And Calculator App Feature

Apple Finally Plans to Release a Calculator App for iPad Later This Year

Tuesday April 23, 2024 9:08 am PDT by
Apple is finally planning a Calculator app for the iPad, over 14 years after launching the device, according to a source familiar with the matter. iPadOS 18 will include a built-in Calculator app for all iPad models that are compatible with the software update, which is expected to be unveiled during the opening keynote of Apple's annual developers conference WWDC on June 10. AppleInsider...
iOS 17 All New Features Thumb

iOS 17.5 Will Add These New Features to Your iPhone

Sunday April 21, 2024 3:00 am PDT by
The upcoming iOS 17.5 update for the iPhone includes only a few new user-facing features, but hidden code changes reveal some additional possibilities. Below, we have recapped everything new in the iOS 17.5 and iPadOS 17.5 beta so far. Web Distribution Starting with the second beta of iOS 17.5, eligible developers are able to distribute their iOS apps to iPhone users located in the EU...
Apple Silicon AI Optimized Feature Siri

Apple Releases Open Source AI Models That Run On-Device

Wednesday April 24, 2024 3:39 pm PDT by
Apple today released several open source large language models (LLMs) that are designed to run on-device rather than through cloud servers. Called OpenELM (Open-source Efficient Language Models), the LLMs are available on the Hugging Face Hub, a community for sharing AI code. As outlined in a white paper [PDF], there are eight total OpenELM models, four of which were pre-trained using the...