macOS Tahoe is coming out next Monday, and Apple provided a release candidate (RC) version of the software earlier this week. The RC came with notes that highlight the features Apple believes are most important.
Apple has changed the way it provides macOS release notes, and instead of a list of features, there is a carousel with more detailed descriptions of key additions and images to go along with each feature.
New design with liquid glass
The new design makes iconic macOS elements fresh but familiar. A transparent menu bar makes your display appear larger. Apps with liquid glass sidebars and toolbars reflect and refract what you see, drawing more attention to their content. And you can personalize icons and widgets with a light, dark, tinted, or new clear look that matches your style.
Customize the appearance of folders
To make folders easy to recognize, you can give them a different look. Now you can choose a unique color and add emojis or symbols
Personalize Control Center
Enjoy more ways to customize which controls appear in Control Center and how they’re laid out. Add new controls from your Mac and even iPhone apps, including your favorite third-party apps. Arrange them however you like, and even create control pages. You can also pin controls directly to the menu bar for easier access.
Communicate seamlessly across languages with Live Translation
Powered by Apple Intelligence, Live Translation helps you automatically translate text in Messages, follow along with live translated captions on FaceTime calls, or listen to real-time audio transcription spoken aloud in the Phone app. It runs entirely on your device, so your personal conversations stay private.
Create incredibly powerful shortcuts
The Shortcuts app is loaded with Apple Intelligence. Intelligent actions can collect text, create images, or tap directly into Apple Intelligence models. With Automations on your Mac, you can make shortcuts run automatically based on conditions like the time of day, file or folder updates, connecting to an external display, and more.
New options for creating Genmoji
Mix your favorite emojis together with descriptions to make something brand new. And more control over your Genmoji inspires family and friends with new options like hairstyle customization to help you match their latest look.
More ways to create the perfect image in Picture Playground
Get more control over images inspired by people from your photo library, with new options to change their expressions or hairstyle to match their latest look. You can also access new Chatgpt styles, like watercolor or oil painting, and use any style to describe what you want.
See live activity from your iPhone on your Mac
Continuity gets even better with live activity. Easily stay on top of activities you start on your iPhone, like tracking the progress of an Uber Eats order, right from your Mac’s menu bar. You can even click on the live activity to open the app in mirroring on your iPhone.
All-new Phone app
The new Phone app for Mac, powered by Continuity, lets you broadcast mobile calls from a nearby iPhone. Call screening can help you manage unwanted calls by finding out who’s calling and why, without interrupting you. You can also access familiar features—including redial, contacts, and voicemail—and new ones like Hold Assist and Live Translation.
Focus your message conversations
To help you focus on what’s important, new screening tools filter unknown numbers from your conversation list until you mark them as known, and in-estice spam detection helps filter out spam. You can also add a background to your conversation to give it a different look. Send polls to friends and family over Imessage and watch the votes come in live.
Discover new ways to browse with Spotlight
Spotlight makes it easy to see all your apps, find recent or suggested files, discover actions you can take, and view your clipboard history. Simply launch Spotlight from the menu bar and select the apps, files, actions, or clipboard button that appears next to the search field.
Take Actions Right from Spotlight
Now you can perform hundreds of new system and app actions right from Spotlight, like sending messages, creating events, and launching shortcuts—all without lifting your hands from the keyboard. And to get things done faster, Spotlight automatically assigns hotkeys to the actions you take so you can complete them in just a few characters.
Experience the new Apple Games app
The Apple Games app is your one-stop destination for gaming. Discover the latest updates to your games, like in-game events, major updates, and games your friends are playing. Access the entire library of games. And compete with friends in challenges.
MacOS Tahoe will launch on September 15th alongside iOS 26, iPados 26, Visionos 26, WatchOS 26, and tvOS 26.
