Apple has revealed the next big Mac update today at WWDC. Say hello to macOS Tahoe 26, with a fresh ‘Liquid Glass’ design, even more iPhone integration, updates to Spotlight, and more changes.
Apple is once again naming macOS after a landmark in California: this time it’sLake Tahoe, which sits on the border of California and Nevada. This update also follows iOS, watchOS, iPadOS, and Apple’s other operating system updates in switching to a version number matching the following year—yes, Apple is now copying car manufacturers. The Mac’s operating system is jumping from macOS Sequoia 15 to macOS Tahoe 26.
Liquid Glass
macOS Tahoe uses Apple’s new Liquid Glass design language, which is also rolling out to the iPhone, iPad, and other platforms with their respective operating system updates. It’s loosely based on the look and feel of the Apple Vision Pro’s software, with a greater emphasis on translucent elements and customizable colors. If you liked the look of Windows Vista and 7, you’ll probably enjoy the new design.
Apple said in a press release, “The Dock, sidebars, and toolbars have been refined, bringing greater focus to a user’s content. The menu bar is now completely transparent, making the display feel even larger. There are more ways to customize what controls appear in the menu bar and Control Center, along with how they’re laid out.”
Another change that stands out to me here is the updated design for toolbars, which usually had a different background color than the rest of the window. In the screenshots for the Calendar, Notes, and other apps, they now use the same background as the rest of the window. The buttons also have the same background, but with a slight drop shadow effect.
Spotlight
The Spotlight search is one of my favorite Mac features, especially in comparison to the awful system and file search on Windows PCs, and it’s getting even better in macOS Tahoe. All results are now listed together and “ranked intelligently based on relevance to the user,” instead of separating files, folders, events, apps, messages, and other items into categorized results. There are also new filtering options, and Spotlight should work more reliably with third-party cloud drives.
Apple said, “Users can now take hundreds of actions directly from Spotlight — like sending an email, creating a note, or playing a podcast — without jumping between apps. Users can take actions from both Apple apps and apps built by developers, because any app can provide actions to Spotlight using the App Intents API.”
Every year there are at least a few third-party apps that Apple “sherlocks” and integrates into the core operating system, and the new Spotlight is definitely closer to third-party replacements likeRaycast. We’ll have to see how well it works in the real world, though. Spotlight is fantastic when it works, but app and document search has been unreliable for me on the latest macOS versions.
Other Features
The past few macOS updates have emphasized Apple’s connections to iPhone, and macOS Tahoe is no different. This time around, Apple is bringing the real Phone app to Mac, so you can check your voicemails and place non-FaceTime calls straight on your Mac with a connected iPhone. Live Activities from your iPhone also now appear in the Mac’s menu bar, and the Journal app is coming to Mac for the first time.
Apple Intelligence is getting a few more updates as well, such as live translation in Messages and FaceTime, local AI model access in Shortcuts, and improvements to Genmoji and Image Playground. The new Apple Games application from iOS 26 and iPadOS 26 is here as well, giving you a centralized place for game discovery and social features.
Availability
The macOS Tahoe beta will be available later today atApple’s Developer site, with apublic betaanticipated next month. The final release will likely arrive around August or September, if the schedule from previous years holds up. The upgrade will be available for the following Mac models:
Interestingly, Apple is not fully killing off Intel Macs just yet. The 16-inch 2019 MacBook Pro, 2020 iMac, 2019 Mac Pro, and 13-inch 2020 MacBook Pro all had Intel processors.
