Apple’s next major Mac update, macOS Tahoe 26, is packed with system-wide design changes, smarter apps, deeper Apple Intelligence integration, and a host of new privacy and accessibility tools.
Below is a look at every feature and change coming in this release.
Design and Interface
- Liquid Glass design across icons, folders, Dock, sidebars, toolbars, menus, and Control Center.
- Menu bar is translucent with option to disable transparency.
- App icons redesigned with layered, translucent appearance.
- Custom Folders: Assign custom colors and emoji/symbols.
- Icon Tinting: Light, Dark, Clear, and Tinted options for icons, widgets, and folders.
- Themes: Custom accent colors and separate text highlight color.
- Control Center/Menu Bar Customization: Add/remove controls, include third-party items, rearrange layouts.
- App Library (Applications Interface): Replaces Launchpad. Apps organized by category and suggested apps shown.
- Terminal: Updated design, supports 24-bit color, Powerline fonts, and Liquid Glass aesthetic.
Spotlight
- Unified search across files, folders, apps, messages, calendar events, iPhone apps (via Mirroring), and third-party cloud drives.
- Intelligent ranking of results with advanced filtering.
- Browse View for content scanning.
- Clipboard History built into Spotlight.
- Actions in Spotlight: Send email, create note, play podcast, send message, create events/reminders, launch Shortcuts, adjust menu bar app tools.
- Quick Keys: Assign short strings of characters to Spotlight actions.
- Learns from routines to suggest personalized actions.
Messages
- Customizable Backgrounds: Sky, water, aurora, colors, photos, or AI-generated (Image Playground). Syncs across conversation participants.
- Polls: Create polls with up to 12 options, others can add new options.
- Group Chats: Typing indicators and quick “Add to Contacts” option for unknown numbers.
- Natural Language Search support.
- Spam Filtering: Separate categories for Spam and Unknown Senders, with badges but no notifications.
- Live Translation: Inline automatic translation of received messages (requires Apple Intelligence).
Phone (new on Mac)
- Full Phone app with Recents, Contacts, Voicemail, Call Screening, Hold Assist.
- Call Screening: Requests caller’s name and reason before answering.
- Hold Assist: Stays on hold and alerts user when a live agent is available.
- Live Translation: Automatic translation during calls (Apple Intelligence, Apple silicon required).
- Contact Posters: Large visual for incoming calls.
- Unified Layout: Option to merge Favorites, Recents, and Voicemails.
- Spam Filtering: Silence spam calls to voicemail.
- Call History: Expanded view of past interactions with a contact.
- Voicemail Spam Reporting: Flag unknown voicemails as spam.
- Screen Sharing & SharePlay supported.
FaceTime
- Live Translation for real-time captions in multiple languages.
- Call Screening: Unknown callers prompted for info.
- Spam Filtering: Unknown/spam calls can be silenced or redirected.
Safari
- Tabs: Rounded floating tab bar.
- Sidebar: Redesigned for iCloud Tabs, Saved items.
- Hide Tab Bar when scrolling.
- Performance: Up to 50% faster than Chrome for frequently visited sites.
- Advanced Fingerprinting Protection enabled by default in all browsing.
Photos
- Pinned Collections available on Mac.
- Customizable Tile Sizes.
- Filter/Sort Buttons in all views.
- Search Results: Include video thumbnails.
- Spatial Scenes: Convert 2D photos into 3D images with depth/motion.
Notes
- Markdown Export support.
- Call Recordings (from Phone app) saved with transcription (requires Apple Intelligence).
Reminders
- Categorization: Auto-categorize reminders with Apple Intelligence.
- Suggestions: Suggest tasks, groceries, etc. from emails, websites, and notes.
Shortcuts
- Apple Intelligence Integration: Writing Tools, Image Playground, summarization, AI-assisted actions.
- Supports Apple AI models, Private Cloud Compute, and ChatGPT.
- Pre-programmed AI Shortcuts available in Gallery.
- Automatic Triggers based on time of day or device actions.
Apple Intelligence Enhancements
- Reminders Integration: Auto-categorization and action item detection.
- Messages/Phone/FaceTime: Live Translation.
- Genmoji: Combine multiple emojis or modify existing ones with text prompts.
- Image Playground: Expanded with ChatGPT styles (Anime, Oil Painting, Watercolor, Vector, Print).
Games and Graphics
- New Games App: Combines App Store and Apple Arcade titles.
- Game Library & Play Together Challenges.
- Game Overlay: Adjust settings, chat, invite friends without leaving game.
- Low Power Mode for extended gameplay on battery.
- Metal 4: New rendering tech, smoother visuals, faster frame rates, MetalFX Frame Interpolation and Denoising.
Journal
- Expanded to Mac.
- Multiple Journals support.
- Maps View for entries.
- Inline Images in text.
- Syncs with iPhone/iPad.
Other App Updates
- Podcasts: Enhance Dialogue for clearer speech, playback speeds 0.5x–3x.
- Passwords App: Tracks password history with timestamps.
- Contacts: New monogram styles.
- Clock: Custom snooze 1–15 minutes.
- Apple News: Emoji Game (News+ only).
- Alarms: Flexible snooze customization.
Security, Privacy, and Continuity
- AutoFill: Supports one-time verification codes from Messages in third-party apps.
- Blocked Contacts: Safety Check prompt, blocked list visible in Settings.
- Captive Wi-Fi: Login data syncs across Apple devices.
- Keep Audio in Headphones: Prevents auto-switching audio output.
Accessibility
- Magnifier on Mac: Use iPhone camera as zoom feed for Mac. Multiple customizable windows supported.
- Vehicle Motion Cues: Dot overlays reduce motion sickness (from iPhone, now on Mac).
- Braille Access: Full braille note-taking and Live Captions integration.
- Accessibility Reader: Systemwide simplified reading mode with font, color, spacing adjustments.
Smaller Additions
- Dictation: Supports spelling out names.
- Screen Savers: 15 new designs.
- Parental Controls: Stricter approvals for child accounts, blurred sensitive content in FaceTime and Shared Albums.
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