We’re on the fourth developer beta and first public beta of macOS Tahoe, which suggests we’re getting nearer to the launch model that is set to return out in September. With macOS Tahoe now accessible to the general public, we thought it could be an excellent time to share an preliminary overview of the replace.
Like iOS 26, macOS Tahoe adopts the Liquid Glass design. It is used for the Dock, widgets, Management Middle, menu bars, navigation bars in apps, app icons, and some different locations, however its implementation is much less widespread than it’s in iOS and iPadOS. It is clear that Liquid Glass was not a Mac-first design, and the glass components of the interface really feel cobbled along with the earlier design language.
The floating ingredient of Liquid Glass seems to be pure on the iPhone and the iPad, the place glassy buttons hover over the app’s content material to offer a way of depth, however macOS Tahoe does not have sufficient of the glass-like transparency to make that work in the identical manner on the Mac. There are not-so-transparent gray-shaded buttons and navigation bars which have a dated-looking shadowing behind them, and the rounded look does not assist make issues seem fashionable both. Liquid Glass seems to be higher on darker backgrounds, but it surely very a lot appears like a piece in progress. It is a beta, in fact, so we may see additional updates to Liquid Glass on the Mac earlier than Tahoe launches.
Apple has been updating the macOS Tahoe design from beta to beta. Up till beta 4, Safari had a design the place non-active tabs had been denoted as such with an underline, whereas the energetic tab had none. That is sometimes not how underlining works, so figuring out which tab was in use was complicated. Apple fortunately adopted a color-based design in beta 4, so it is now clear which tab is on the forefront.
Although Liquid Glass does not really feel totally developed in macOS Tahoe, there are different new options that make a constructive change to customization and performance.
The Management Middle and Menu Bar may be custom-made with the apps and options that you just want most, and different much less helpful choices may be tucked away or eliminated. The Management Middle is extra just like the iOS Management Middle, and you may create a number of pages with choices organized in a manner that works for you. Third-party app capabilities will be capable to be added to the Menu Bar and Management Middle too.
macOS adopts the tinted icon choice from iOS, so you possibly can tint your icons all the identical colour, or select the Liquid Glass-style clear choice (although be warned, it is extra grey than clear on macOS). Folder colours may be custom-made too, and you may add an emoji to a folder to make it stand out.
One of many greatest modifications in macOS Tahoe is to Highlight, which is now a one-stop spot for the whole lot that you just may must do on a Mac. You should use it to open apps, discover something in your Mac, see your clipboard historical past, and full actions. Highlight replaces Launchpad, so while you wish to open an app, you will now use Highlight.
Search is extra complete and also you’re extra more likely to discover what you are in search of utilizing the file looking function, plus you possibly can maintain tabs on what you have copied and pasted with the brand new clipboard historical past choice. It shops a log of what you have copied for twenty-four hours.
Actions is an all-new Highlight perform. You are able to do every kind of issues with out ever opening an app, like sending an e-mail or message, beginning a timer, making a observe, putting a name, making a reminder or calendar occasion, and way more. Apple added fast entry buttons which are simple to be taught, so you should utilize Command 1, 2, 3, and 4 to get to the totally different Highlight capabilities. For stuff you use most frequently, you possibly can arrange your personal fast keys.
The Telephone app is now on the Mac, which could possibly be helpful relying in your day by day habits. There was already an choice to reply a name on the Mac or make a FaceTime audio or video name, however now you’ve got entry to the complete suite of telephone capabilities for putting calls from the Mac. You may want a related iPhone with Wi-Fi Calling, in fact. The Telephone app on Mac contains the brand new options like Maintain Help, Name Screening, and Dwell Translation that you’re going to additionally discover on the iPhone.
There is a new Video games app that principally contains what’s within the Video games part of the Mac App Store and Apple Arcade. There is a “Play Collectively” choice for difficult buddies to beat you at a particular aim in a single-player sport, and there is a multiplayer part for locating video games to play with buddies. The Video games app does not appear all that helpful as of proper now, however perhaps it can get extra options to make it extra interesting sooner or later.
The Journal app can also be now accessible for Mac, which will probably be a welcome change for individuals who wish to write journal entries utilizing a Mac’s keyboard.
Lots of the most helpful iOS 26 options and modifications are additionally accessible on the Mac, like personalised Messages backgrounds, Apple Intelligence help for organizing Reminders, new ChatGPT kinds for Image Playground, and help for the up to date Genmoji.
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Learn Extra About macOS Tahoe
We now have a macOS Tahoe roundup that walks by means of all the totally different options within the replace.