macOS Tahoe 26 is the latest version of macOS, the operating system that runs on the Mac. macOS 26 follows macOS 15, with Apple streamlining the numbering for all of its operating system updates. Everything coming out this year uses "26," which reflects the 2025–2026 release season for the new software.

Apple always gives macOS an extra name that's based on a California landmark, and this year, it's Tahoe. Tahoe is a popular lake and ski destination in California, and now the name for the 2025/2026 macOS release.

macOS Tahoe, like iOS 26, adopts Apple's new Liquid Glass material design. Liquid Glass is translucent and it behaves like glass would in the real world, reflecting light and the color that's behind it.

Liquid Glass extends to desktop icons, folders, the Dock, in-app navigation, menus, toolbars, and the Control Center. The menu bar is translucent, revealing more of the display so it feels larger.

The Control Center is customizable, as is the menu bar, and users can adjust the layout and choose which apps and controls appear in both places.

There are options to set colors for folders, app icons and widgets. App icons support light and dark tints, and the same clear look that's available on iOS. Folders can get colors and emoji characters, making them more recognizable at a glance.

Safari has an updated tab design that's rounded and floating in the toolbar, with a new look for tabs and favorites. The sidebar has been redesigned to make it easier to find saved content like iCloud Tabs. Apple also made Safari faster, and it is 50 percent quicker at loading frequently visited websites than Chrome. It's more secure, too, with Apple adding advanced fingerprinting protection in all browsing by default.

Apple overhauled the Photos app with Liquid Glass design elements and made the sidebar more like the iPad sidebar. There are also enhancements for customization and workflow efficiency, with the addition of Pinned Collections and new buttons for filtering and sorting options in all views. Collection tile sizes can be customized, too.

The FaceTime app supports Contact Posters for recent callers and Liquid Glass controls are available in the bottom right of the display and fade away when not in use to allow for more screen space.

Apple brought the Phone app to the Mac, letting users make phone calls through Wi-Fi calling and a connected iPhone. The app supports Recents, Contacts, and Voicemail, along with new Call Screening and Hold Assist features. Call Screening asks callers for their name and reason for calling so you can decide whether to answer, while Hold Assist stays on the line for you and lets you know when a live agent is available.

Live Activities now sync over from the iPhone and appear in the menu bar on Mac, so you can track Uber ride arrivals, flights, and live sports games. If you click a Live Activity, it opens in the iPhone Mirroring app for more information.

Spotlight got a huge update, and it can now be used to execute hundreds of actions, plus search has been improved. Search results include files, folders, events, apps (from Mac and iPhone), messages, documents from third-party cloud services, and more, all listed together and ranked based on relevance. Filtering options allow for more targeted searches, and a browse view can be used to search for apps, files, and the clipboard history that features what you've copied and pasted.

Spotlight can do more than before, and it can be used for quickly completing actions without opening an app. Spotlight can send emails, create a note, play podcasts, send messages, create Calendar events, add reminders to a list, make calls, and activate any Shortcuts you've created. Spotlight actions work with third-party apps that have adopted App Intents, and items from the menu bar of the app you're using are searchable in Spotlight, so it can be used for swapping tools. Spotlight is able to learn from your routines to surface personalized actions. Actions can be launched using new quick keys, or short strings of characters.

Shortcuts supports Apple Intelligence for automating complex tasks. Apple Intelligence features like Writing Tools and Image Playground are available as actions, plus there are options to use Apple Intelligence models or ChatGPT to make shortcuts more robust. Shortcuts can also run automatically on Mac, at a certain time of day or when an action like connecting a display is taken.

The Messages app on Mac supports Live Translation, has an option for polls, and allows for customizable backgrounds for conversations. Group texts now have typing indicators and support Apple Cash payments, plus you can search using natural language. FaceTime and Phone also work with Live Translation.

Apple Intelligence now integrates with the Reminders app, and the feature is able to review emails, websites, notes, and more to find relevant action items. There's also an option to categorize Reminders into sections to make them easier to manage.

Image Playground now supports additional art styles from ChatGPT, and Genmoji has been updated with the option to combine two or more emoji or add to an existing emoji as a starting place.

Apple's new Games app is available on the Mac for accessing Mac App Store and Apple Arcade titles, and it has a Game Overlay option. With Game Overlay, players can adjust their system settings, chat with friends, and invite friends to play without leaving the game. Apple added Low Power Mode, which can be used during game sessions to maximize playtime when on battery.

For developers, there's Metal 4 with more advanced graphics, smoother visuals, faster frame rates, and next-generation rendering technologies for games.

Apple brought the Journal app to the Mac, so you can write journal entries and view them on a map. Everything is synced between iPhone, iPad, and Mac. The Notes app supports exporting in Markdown and recording conversations in the Phone app on Mac, and the Passwords app saves previous versions of passwords and dates of when they were changed.

macOS Tahoe was released on Friday, September 15, and it is available to download now.

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If you're wondering why Apple went from macOS 15 to macOS 26, it was to streamline operating system naming. Apple is numbering all of its operating systems with the year going forward, so the "26" in macOS 26 represents the release season between September 2025 and September 2026.

Everything released this year uses the same number, so iOS 26, iPadOS 26, watchOS 26, and so on. It's meant to help keep numbering more straightforward in the future, even if it seems strange to skip macOS 16 and go right to macOS 26.

macOS is the only operating system that gets a second name to go along with the number, with Apple choosing a name that reflects a location or landmark in California.

This year, Apple chose popular California vacation destination Lake Tahoe as the namesake for macOS, so macOS 26 is also known as macOS Tahoe.

The current version of macOS Tahoe is macOS Tahoe 26.0.1, released in late September. macOS Tahoe 26.0.1 fixed a bug that was preventing M3 Ultra Mac Studio machines from installing the new software.

Like iOS 26 and iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe received a major design overhaul. Apple brought its new Liquid Glass material to the Mac, and the new software design has transformed the look of the Mac.

Liquid Glass is designed to behave like real glass, allowing color to peek through. The material is able to subtly reflect light, using real-time rendering to dynamically react to movement with reflective highlights.

App icons on the Mac have been redesigned to look like multiple layers of glass, giving them subtle depth. The Mac's Dock, sidebars, and toolbars have all adopted Liquid Glass and have a translucent look.

Apple also brought Liquid Glass to the menu bar, so menu bar items now fade into the background of the Mac, leaving more available display space. The Control Center is transparent as well.

Folders

Folders can be given custom colors, along with an emoji character or a symbol to make them easier to distinguish.

Icon Tinting

There are new Light and Dark tints available for Mac app icons, plus a Clear look that matches the transparent Liquid Glass icons that are an option in iOS 26. Apple also added the "Tinted" feature from iOS, so all icons, widgets, and folders can be customized with the same hue.

All of the tinting options work in both Light and Dark mode.

Themes

Beyond tinted icons, colored folders, and wallpapers, macOS Tahoe also supports setting a unique color for accent items and choosing a text highlight color, so highlighted text can be a different color than buttons, pop-up menus, and more.

Control Center and Menu Bar

In addition to receiving a new Liquid Glass look, the Control Center and the menu bar are customizable. You can decide which options you want to add to the menu bar or the Control Center, and third-party app controls can be included. If you don't like the new translucent menu bar look, there is an option to turn it off.

Both the Control Center and menu bar feature customizable layouts and can be rearranged to meet each user's needs. Control Center can be updated by opening it and clicking on the new Edit Controls option, while menu bar controls are located in a new section in the Settings app.

The menu bar supports Live Activities from a nearby iPhone, so any Live Activity on the iPhone also displays on the Mac. It's useful for keeping track of upcoming flights, live sports games, and more. Clicking on a Live Activity opens up the app on the iPhone using iPhone Mirroring.

App Library

With macOS Tahoe, Apple eliminated the Launchpad feature that shows you all of the apps on your Mac. It's been replaced with a new App Library-style "Applications" interface.

The Applications interface organizes apps by category, like Utilities, Productivity and Finance, Social, Creativity, Information and Reading, Entertainment, and Other. There's also a Suggested section at the top of the interface.

Terminal

Terminal's design has been updated, and the new version supports 24-bit color and Powerline fonts, along with the Liquid Glass aesthetic.

Cross-Platform Cohesiveness

Liquid Glass extends to all of Apple's operating systems, including iOS 26, iPadOS 26 macOS 26, tvOS 26, watchOS 26, and of course, visionOS 26, which is the OS that inspired the overhaul.

With the same design available across all of Apple's operating systems, everything feels more cohesive, which was one of Apple's main goals with Liquid Glass.

Apple overhauled the Spotlight search interface on the Mac, and it is now the central way to search and complete actions on the Mac without having to open an app.

Searches include results from across a Mac's entire system, including files, folders, apps, events, messages, apps from the iPhone through iPhone Mirroring, and even content stored in third-party cloud drives. Search items are ranked intelligently based on relevance to the user, and there are filtering options to narrow down searches to specific things like PDFs or messages in Mail.

Spotlight includes a Browse feature for scanning through apps, files, and documents, and other content on the Mac when you don't quite know what you're looking for.

When you're in an app and want to adjust a setting, Spotlight can search through the available menu bar items so you can make adjustments without needing to use a trackpad or mouse.

Clipboard History

Spotlight includes a user's clipboard history for keeping track of what's been copied and pasted.

Actions

Spotlight supports completing actions directly from the Spotlight interface without opening up an app. There's support for sending emails, creating notes, playing podcasts, and much more. The feature works with Apple's own apps and third-party apps that incorporate the App Intents API.

Spotlight is able to learn from user routine and suggest actions like opening an app at a specific time or sending a message to someone that you frequently message.

Quick Keys

Spotlight's actions can be assigned to Quick Keys, or short strings of characters that launch an action.

The Messages app features customized backgrounds, an option to create polls, and enhanced spam filtering and blocking features.

• Customizable backgrounds - In an individual or group conversation, you can tap on the name at the top and then choose the "Backgrounds" option to set a custom background for each conversation. There are options like sky, water, and aurora, or you can choose a color. You can also select photos or generate a background with Image Playground. Backgrounds that you set are changed for every participant in the conversation, unless they toggle off the feature in Messages settings.
• Polls - Tap on the "+" button to get to a new option to create a poll in any chat. You can add up to 12 different options, then send it to allow people to vote. Others can also add options to the list. On devices with Apple Intelligence, polls may come up as a suggestion.
• Group chats - Group chats support typing indicators. There's also an option to add someone in a group chat who isn't in your contacts to your Contacts app with a tap.
• Natural language search - Messages supports natural language search.
• Spam messages - Spam messages and Unknown Senders are two separate categories in macOS Tahoe. There's a new Filter box at the top right of the Messages app, and Unknown Senders go in one category, while Spam goes in another. A badge lets you know if you have messages in these categories, but you won't get notifications for them.
• Unknown Senders - Messages from Unknown Senders won't send notifications if the option to filter them is on, but you get alerts if it is a time sensitive notification, such as a notification from a ride share app or a delivery person.
• Live Translation - Messages that aren't in your language can be automatically translated as you receive them in macOS Tahoe. Apple Intelligence is required for this feature.

The Phone app expanded to the Mac thanks to Continuity, and it is designed to work through Wi-Fi calling. Calls are routed through your iPhone and can be answered and managed on your Mac. The Phone app includes multiple new features that are designed to cut down on unwanted calls and reduce the amount of time that you need to spend on the phone.

Call Screening

Call Screening is an extension of Live Voicemail. When you receive a call from an unknown number that is not in your list of contacts, your device asks the caller for their name and reason for calling. The information is relayed to you so you can decide if you want to accept the call or ignore it.

Call Screening can be enabled in the Phone section of the Settings app.

Hold Assist

If you make a phone call and you're stuck on hold waiting to speak to a person, you can activate Hold Assist. Your Mac can wait for you while you do other things, and then let you know when a live agent is on the line. The agent is informed that you'll be on the call in just a moment.

To use Hold Assist, tap on the "Hold" button after placing a call.

Live Translation

When talking to someone who speaks another language, there is an option to turn on Live Translation to have the call automatically translated for each person on the line. Live Translation is an Apple Intelligence feature and requires an Apple silicon Mac.

Other Features

• Contact Posters - Incoming calls feature large contact posters for improved personalization.
• Unified Layout - The Phone app has an optional unified layout that combines Favorites, Recents, and Voicemails in one spot.
• Spam calls - Calls identified as spam can be silenced and sent directly to voicemail.
• Call History - Clicking on the info button next to a call in the recents list or on a name or number in the unified view shows a call history that lists every time you've spoken with someone.
• Flag spam voicemails - If you tap into a voicemail from a person not in your contact list, you'll see an option to report the voicemail as spam.
• Screen sharing - The Phone app supports screen sharing and SharePlay during phone calls.

The Shortcuts app now features Apple Intelligence, and the option to use Apple's AI models when creating shortcuts. Apple Intelligence models can be used for summarizing PDFs, generating recipes, answering questions, and more. Writing Tools and Image Playground are available for spellchecking, image generation, rewriting, tone changes, and more.

Apple offers several pre-programmed Shortcuts in the Gallery that use Apple Intelligence, such as options for getting a morning summary of the coming day, generating a haiku, or summarizing a PDF.

When creating a shortcut, there is an Apple Intelligence section that includes options for an on-device model, a cloud model that uses Private Cloud Compute, or ChatGPT. Some pre-set options are available, such as generating an image with Image Playground or using Writing Tools, along with the option to use a model.

Selecting one of the AI models provides an open-ended prompt where you can write in what you want it to do. You need to work in the confines of the model that Apple provides, pairing it with other functionality in Shortcuts.

On the Mac, Shortcuts are now able to run automatically based on a specific time of day or when specific actions are taken.

Safari

• Tabs - Safari has a new look for the tab bar, with more rounded edges between the active tab and the tab next to it.
• Sidebar - A refreshed sidebar makes it easier to find content like iCloud Tabs and Saved articles.
• Liquid Glass - There is an option to hide the tab bar when scrolling.
• Tracking Prevention - Advanced fingerprinting protection extends to all browsing by default. Advanced fingerprinting protection prevents websites from tracking your device usage across websites. Previously, this was limited to private browsing unless explicitly enabled.

Photos

• Pinned Collections - Pinned Collections have expanded from iPhone to Mac to make it quicker to access your most used collections from the sidebar. Collection tile sizes can also be customized.
• Filters - There are added buttons for filter and sort options in all views.
• Search - Video thumbnails show up in search results.
• Spatial Scenes - You can use a new 3D feature to turn 2D photos into 3D images, adding subtle depth and motion that separates the subject from the background.

Notes

• Markdown - The Notes app supports exporting in Markdown.
• Call Recordings - Conversations from the Phone app can be saved as audio recordings with transcriptions in the Notes app. Transcriptions require Apple Intelligence.

Reminders

• Categorization - Apple Intelligence can categorize reminders into different sections.
• Suggestions - Apple Intelligence can suggest adding tasks, grocery items, and more to Reminders based on what's on your iPad.

FaceTime

• Live Translation - FaceTime supports Live Translation, displaying captions if you're talking to someone who speaks another language.
• Call Screening - FaceTime has new screening features for unknown numbers. Callers from unknown numbers can be asked for more information like their name and reason for calling, or they can be sent directly to voicemail. Missed calls from unknown numbers can be silenced and sent to an Unknown Callers list.

Podcasts

• Enhance Dialogue - An Enhance Dialogue option mutes background sounds to enhance speech.
• Playback speed - There are more options for playback speeds, ranging from 0.5x to 3x.

Apple Games

macOS Tahoe includes a Games app that comes pre-installed on the Mac. It has all of the games from the App Store, along with Apple Arcade titles.

Games you have installed are shown in a Library section. A Play Together section lets you invite friends to "Challenges," where you compete to win in a game-specific task like getting the highest score during a given week.

A Game Overlay feature allows users to see new events, adjust settings, and contact friends without interrupting their gameplay.

Other Gaming Features

A Low Power Mode option is designed to maximize gameplay time while on battery power.

For developers, Apple added Metal 4, which supports more advanced graphics and next-generation rendering technologies like MetalFX Frame Interpolation and MetalFX Denoising. Gamers can expect smoother visuals and faster frame rates.

Journal

Apple expanded the Journal app to the Mac in macOS Tahoe, and added new features.

• Multiple Journals - You can now create more than one journal if you want to separate your entries by topic.
• Maps - Journal entries can be viewed on a map.
• Images - There's support for adding images inline with text.

There are new Apple Intelligence features throughout macOS Tahoe, such as the Live Translation options in Phone, Messages, and FaceTime, and the suggestions and sorting options in the Reminders app. Some existing Apple Intelligence features have also been updated.

Genmoji

Genmoji supports combining two or more emoji together to create a new character. You can also combine existing emoji with text-based descriptions to tweak them, which is a more convenient starting point for generating something new.

Image Playground

Apple added support for ChatGPT image generation capabilities, which means you can use several ChatGPT image styles when generating images. Options include Anime, Oil Painting, Watercolor, Vector, and Print.

There's also an open-ended option where you can tell ChatGPT what style you want, and you can make realistic images with this option. The new ChatGPT styles join the existing Animation, Sketch, and Illustration styles.

Note that generating images with ChatGPT is limited if you do not have a ChatGPT subscription, so you cannot freely use the ChatGPT styles.

There are dozens if not hundreds of smaller changes in macOS Tahoe, and we've highlighted some of the more notable ones below.

• AutoFill - macOS Tahoe can automatically fill in one-time verification codes on third-party apps, such as codes arriving via the Messages app being suggested for autofill in Google Chrome.
• Contacts - The Contacts app has new Monogram styles that you can set for people.
• Blocked Contacts - When you block someone, Apple now suggests Safety Check as an option. You can also see a list of Blocked Contacts in the Settings app.
• Passwords - The Passwords app supports password history so you can see your prior passwords.
• Alarms - In the Clock app, you can set a custom snooze duration of 1 to 15 minutes, so you are no longer limited to the nine minute snooze time.
• Keep Audio in Headphones - Prevents audio from automatically switching to newly connected devices like Bluetooth speakers or car speakers when you're already listening to music through headphones.
• Apple News - There's a new Emoji Game for Apple News+ subscribers.
• Parental Controls - Apple improved the process for creating a Child Account and app approvals. Apple also requires parental approval for contact requests from kids, and blurring sensitive content in FaceTime calls and Shared Albums.
• Captive Wi-Fi - Captive Wi-Fi portal login information syncs between all Apple devices.
• Dictation - Dictation supports spelling, so you can spell out names if necessary.
• Screen Savers - There are 15 new screen savers in macOS Tahoe.

macOS Tahoe has a number of new Accessibility features, ranging from an option to use an iPhone as a magnifying glass to features for cutting down on motion sickness when a Mac is used in a moving vehicle.

Magnifier on Mac

Magnifier on Mac uses the iPhone camera's zoom feature, beaming the feed to a Mac through Continuity Camera. There are options for creating multiple live session windows for tracking a presentation while also zooming in on a textbook, and each view can be customized with different brightness levels and color and contrast filters to suit individual needs. Magnifier on Mac is an extension of the existing Magnifier option on the iPhone, which allows the iPhone to be used to zoom in on text and detect objects.

Vehicle Motion Cues

Apple is bringing Vehicle Motion Cues, a feature designed to cut down on motion sickness, to the Mac. Vehicle Motion Cues use dots on the side of the display to match the feeling of movement with what the eyes are seeing. It's previously been available on iPhone, but is expanding to the Mac.

Braille Access

Braille Access turns a Mac into a braille note taking device integrated in the Apple ecosystem. Users can open any app with Braille Screen Input or a connected braille device, for quick note taking in braille format. Braille Ready Format files can be opened from Braille Access, and an integrated form of Live Captions is supported.

Accessibility Reader

Accessibility Reader is a systemwide reading mode that makes text easier to read for users with a range of disabilities. It includes multiple text customization features with options for adjusting font, color, spacing, and more. Accessibility Reader can be launched from any app and is built into the Magnifier app.

macOS Tahoe drops support for the 2018 and 2019 MacBook Pro (with the exception of the 16-inch 2019 model), 13-inch 2020 MacBook Pro with two Thunderbolt ports, 2019 iMac, 2017 iMac Pro, 2018 Mac mini, and the Intel-based 2020 MacBook Air. It's compatible with these Macs:

• MacBook Pro (2020 M1 and later, plus 13-inch 2020 with four Thunderbolt ports and 16-inch 2019)
• iMac (2020 and later)
• Mac Pro (2019 and later)
• Mac mini (2020 M1 and later)
• Mac Studio (all models)
• MacBook Air (2020 M1 and later)