Note: This article was first published on 10 June 2025.
Meet macOS Tahoe 26. Photo: Apple
The rumours were right. The name of the latest macOS is Tahoe. The name was supposedly chosen to reflect the upcoming design overhaul for macOS.
Arguably the biggest news at WWDC 2025 is that all of Apple's platforms are getting a massive design overhaul. This move will give the platforms a fresh look and a more consistent look and feel across devices.
At the heart of this new design is Liquid Glass, a design element borrowed from visionOS that adds a lot of translucency and lighting effects to Apple’s other platforms.
Apart from a fresh look, the redesign will also give users a lot more customisability. Photo: Apple
It’s certainly a fresh look, but I’ll reserve final judgment until I’ve had time to play around with the betas and experience it in real-world day-to-day use.
The other big update to macOS is a more powerful Spotlight. Up until today, Spotlight is mostly a tool for users to quickly launch apps or search documents and files.
However, Spotlight in macOS Tahoe 26 is going to be getting a whole suite of new capabilities. For example, you’ll be able to play music, play podcasts, and even use special shortcuts to execute actions like creating a note or sending a message. You’ll also be able to use Spotlight to access your clipboard history so that you can search for stuff that you’ve copied earlier.
You'll be able to execute actions directly from Spotlight. Photo: Apple
If all this sounds familiar, it’s because apps like Alfred and LaunchBar have been able to do this for years. As a long-time LaunchBar user, I’m intrigued to see how Apple’s implementation works. LaunchBar is great for my needs, but it isn’t the most intuitive to use or set up. Here’s hoping the new Spotlight will be more user-friendly.
Aside from these two major developments, macOS Tahoe 26 will get improved Continuity features such as the improved Phone app with new features like Hold Assist and Call Screening, and Live Activities in the menu bar.
The public beta of macOS Tahoe 26 will be available sometime in July. The official release will be sometime in fall. Photo: HWZ
Furthermore, there is a whole host of other smaller updates that are coming to macOS 26 Tahoe including a more intelligent Shortcuts app that can tap into Apple Intelligence, Live Translation, the new Games app, Metal 4 graphics API, and more.
The public beta of macOS 26 Tahoe will be available sometime in July, while the official release will be sometime this fall.
Click here to learn more about macOS Tahoe 26.
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