Water pockets — normal
Film is applied with a water-and-soap solution, and a thin layer stays trapped between film and glass. As it evaporates through the film, it briefly gathers into soft, round, shifting pockets.
They are diffuse, they have no hard edge, they move slightly if you press them, and they shrink over days. Warm weather clears them in about a week; cool damp weather can take two to three.
Contamination bubbles — not normal
A speck of dust or a hair under the film produces a bubble with a hard little centre. It has a defined edge, it does not move, and it never changes size.
The test is time: if it has not changed in three weeks, it is not water. That is a workmanship issue and it should be reported.
Failing adhesive — the old-film case
Widespread small bubbles across an entire old window, usually with a purple cast, are dyed film at the end of its life. The adhesive has broken down under UV and the film is delaminating.
That does not clear and cannot be repaired. It is a removal and re-tint — see tint removal for why the rear window is the careful part.
What to do meanwhile
Keep the windows up for three days, five in cool weather. Do not press, pick or squeegee the film yourself, and do not park in deep shade for the whole first week — mild warmth is what drives the cure.
Need this done rather than explained? There is no shop to drive to. We come to wherever your car already is — your driveway, your workplace car park, an apartment lot, or the side of the road it stopped on — anywhere in greater Sacramento, with no call-out fee and no mileage charge. Give us the year, make and model and you will have a firm price before the call ends.