COSMIC Desktop’s long-awaited Frosted Glass effect is no longer simply an attractive preview or an unfinished feature hidden in development branches. It is now available to Pop!_OS 24.04 users through the regular update process. And after trying it myself, I can say it looks genuinely beautiful.
To get it, open COSMIC Store and install all available updates. Once the update is complete, log out and back in. The new option should then appear under Settings > Desktop > Appearance, where “Frosted Glass” is now listed as one of the available interface styles.
The feature brings a soft, blurred transparency to COSMIC’s windows and interface components. Instead of making surfaces transparent and letting the wallpaper distractingly show through, it diffuses the background behind them, creating a polished, layered appearance while keeping text and controls easy to read.
I tested the effect personally on Pop!_OS 24.04, and the result is every bit as impressive as the earlier previews suggested. Windows gain a subtle translucent quality, the dock blends naturally into the desktop, and colorful wallpapers remain visible without obscuring the foreground content.
More importantly, and something that I really liked, is that System76 has not treated Frosted Glass as a single all-or-nothing switch. The settings allow users to enable the effect separately for panels, applets, system interface elements, and application windows and dialogs.
There are two sliders for adjusting the appearance. Frost thickness controls how strongly the background is blurred, while glass opacity determines how transparent the affected interface surfaces are. This makes it possible to create anything from a restrained hint of translucency to a truly glass-like feel, giving users enough control to achieve a balance that best suits their personal preferences.
The visual upgrade has been in development for some time and has now reached Pop!_OS users. The good news is that users of other Linux distros should not have to wait much longer.
Carl Richell, CEO of System76, says the next COSMIC release is expected to be tagged on Tuesday, July 14, after which the updated packages should begin making their way into the repositories of other distributions shipping COSMIC Desktop. Exactly when the feature appears elsewhere depends on each distribution’s packaging and update schedule.
Finally, Frosted Glass remains entirely optional, so users who prefer COSMIC’s existing solid interface can simply leave it disabled. But for anyone who enjoys a little more visual depth without turning the desktop into a distracting showcase of transparency, this is, in my opinion, easily one of COSMIC’s most attractive additions so far.
