Apple this month released macOS Tahoe, the latest version of the company's Mac operating system. macOS Tahoe 26 adopts Apple's new Liquid Glass design along with new customizations, a new Phone app, and updated capabilities across the platform.
In this article, we've selected 50 new features and lesser-known changes that are worth checking out if you're upgrading. What do you think of macOS Tahoe so far? Let us know in the comments.
1. Terminal Refresh
Apple's Terminal app gets a visual refresh in macOS Tahoe, and it's the first notable design update since the command-line tool debuted. The updated Terminal supports 24-bit color and Powerline fonts, and adopts the new Liquid Glass aesthetic with redesigned themes that align with macOS 26's broader visual overhaul.
2. macOS Themes
In macOS Tahoe, Apple introduces the concept of Themes, with new appearance settings that go beyond the traditional Light and Dark modes. In System Settings ➝ Appearance, there are still the standard Auto, Light, and Dark modes, but Apple has added several options that allow you to create your own stylized desktop environment. "Accent color" has become "Color," and there's a new "Text highlight color" option, so you can now make highlighted text appear in a different shade to buttons, pop-up menus, radio buttons, checkboxes, and focused outlines.
3. Folder Colors
In System Settings ➝ Appearance, the default setting maintains the classic macOS look with app icons displaying their original colors. But you can now customize folder colors independently through a dedicated new "Folder Color" setting. When set to Automatic, folders retain their traditional blue appearance, but switching to other colors like purple will change all folder colors system-wide.
4. Dark Icons
In System Settings ➝ Appearance, in the new "Icon & widget style" section, a new Dark option applies black backgrounds to icons throughout the system interface, including System Settings sidebar icons (this works in both Light and Dark modes).
5. Clear Style
In System Settings ➝ Appearance, in the new "Icon & widget style" section, a new Clear setting emphasizes the Liquid Glass redesign and adds a new transparency by picking up background colors, creating a more translucent interface effect. Clear also includes Light and Dark variants, or it can be set to Auto for automatic day-night switching.
6. Tinted Style
In System Settings ➝ Appearance, in the new "Icon & widget style" section, a new Tinted option allows comprehensive color customization of both icons and folders. With "Tinted" selected, the Folder color setting becomes "Icon, widget & folder color," allowing you to select from preset colors or choose custom tints using the Other option (which includes a color picker and a theme color).
7. Volume/Brightness Overlays
The traditional large overlays that appear when you adjust volume and brightness are gone, and have been replaced with smaller, oblong overlays that appear in the top-right of the screen under the menu bar, notification-style.
8. Background Apps
macOS now notifies you via a new popup when apps attempt to run a daemon after they have been closed. You can "Always Allow" the background process to run or you can deny it permission.
9. No Unified Safari URL Bar
Safari no longer offers the option to unify the tab bar and the address bar (the Compact tab layout setting), perhaps because it wasn't popular with users. Apple could always reinstate it in a later software update.
10. Apple Notes Markdown
Apple Notes now allows you to import and export text in the popular Markdown format. Markdown is a lightweight markup language that some writers prefer to use over rich text. Rather than using HTML for bold, italics, links, and headers, it uses quick character shortcuts like **bold** or #header.
11. Search by App
When searching in Spotlight, type the app name (e.g. Notes, Calendar) then press the Tab key. Now type a term to search only within that app.
12. Message Polls
The ability to create polls in conversations has been a mainstay of rival messaging platforms. And now, Messages finally has it too. You can add up to 12 choices in a poll, and then send it to people in a conversation to vote on. If you send a poll and someone thinks an option is missing, they can even edit it and add in another choice. Note that users need to have a device with iOS 26 or macOS Tahoe installed in order to interact with polls in Message conversations.
13. Games App
Apple's new Games app lists all the games installed on your Mac, even if they weren't downloaded from the App Store. The interface includes Home, Arcade, Play Together, and Library views.
14. Restore Menu Bar Background
In macOS Tahoe, the Liquid Glass design overhaul makes the menu bar look less like a bar than ever because there's no longer a visible background to it. If you dislike the appearance of menu items floating at the top of your desktop, go to System Settings ➝ Menu Bar, then toggle on the switch next to "Show menu bar background."
15. Lock Screen Clock
You can now change the style of the Lock Screen clock, just like in iOS 18. Simply go to System Settings ➝ Wallpaper, and click Clock Appearance... where you can adjust the font and the weight of the clock as it appears on the Lock Screen and/or Screen Saver.
16. Control Center
Like iOS, you can now customize the layout of Control Center via System Settings ➝ Menu Bar –> Menu Bar Controls, with the ability to add third-party app controls, including apps installed on your iPhone (which launch iPhone Mirroring when clicked).
17. Safari Address Bar
Safari now has a translucent address bar, and colors from webpages shine through the browser's main toolbar. The toolbar can also take on the color of the currently viewed website, though you can control this using the "Show color in tab bar" option in Safari ➝ Settings....
18. Phone App
Apple has brought the Phone app to the Mac, so you can make calls, accept calls, and use features like Hold Assist and Call Screening. You still need a connected iPhone with Wi-Fi Assist turned on.
19. Live Translation
FaceTime now supports Live Translation, displaying captions if you're talking to someone who speaks another language. Live Translation is an Apple Intelligence feature and requires an Apple silicon Mac.
20. Reminders Auto-Categorize
In macOS Sequoia, you can create grocery lists that the Reminders app can automatically categorize into meaningful sections for you. In macOS Tahoe, Reminders takes things up a notch. Using Apple Intelligence, the app can now auto-categorize pretty much any list that you enter. If you're packing for a vacation, for example, select File ➝ Auto-Categorize, and the app will sort your items into Clothing, Electronics, and Toiletries sections, to name just a few.
21. 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.
22. Folder Icon Customization
You can now customize the look of individual folders with the use of color tags, emoji, and other select glyphs. Simply right-click (Ctrl-click) on a folder and choose the Customize Folder... option in the contextual menu.
23. Spotlight Keyboard Shortcuts
When you invoke Spotlight Search with Command + Spacebar, you can switch to its dedicated modes like so: Applications (Command + 1), Files (Command + 2), Actions (Command + 3), and Clipboard (Command + 4). However, you can switch to these modes faster simply by adding the requisite number to your initial Spotlight invocation. For example, Command + Spacebar + 2 takes you straight to a Files search.
24. Magnifier
A new Magnifier app uses the iPhone camera's zoom feature to zoom in and view objects or text up close, beaming the feed to a Mac through Continuity Camera. There are options for creating multiple live session windows for tracking, for example, 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.
25. Personal Voice
Found in System Settings ➝ Accessibility, Personal Voice is faster and easier to use, thanks to advancements in on-device machine learning and artificial intelligence. Apple says the feature is able to create a smoother, more natural-sounding replication of your voice in less than a minute, using only 10 recorded phrases.
26. Vehicle Motion Cues
Apple in macOS 26 has expanded the iPhone's Vehicle Motion Cues feature to the Mac. The optional feature shows moving dots on your Mac's screen, in order to help reduce motion sickness while using the device in a moving vehicle. Apple also provides new ways to customize the on-screen dots on a Mac. If you're using a MacBook, you can find the Vehicle Motion Cues option in System Settings ➝ Accessibility ➝ Motion.
27. Auto-Join iPhone Hotspot
macOS Tahoe includes support for automatically joining your iPhone's Personal Hotspot when no Wi-Fi network is available, so you no longer need to manually connect. Click on the Wi-Fi button in the menu bar or Control Center to open up Wi-Fi Settings. From there, scroll down to the bottom where it says "Ask to join hotspots" and click to select the Automatic option. Auto-Join works with Family Sharing, so you can set up your Mac to automatically connect to a family member's Personal Hotspot, or allow their Mac to automatically connect to yours.
28. Repair Assistant
Apple has expanded its Repair Assistant calibration software to Mac. On iPhone, the tool helps calibrate replacement parts including back glass, battery, display, TrueDepth camera, and rear camera components. On Mac, Repair Assistant enables Touch ID and Lid Angle sensors to be reused after Display or Logic Board repairs on select models. Apple silicon users can access Repair Assistant through System Settings ➝ General ➝ About, where a "Parts & Service" section appears after recognized repairs.
29. Multiple Control Centers
You can rearrange individual menu bar items, and even add multiple Control Centers directly to it. Open your Control Center, click Edit Controls, Note that Live Activities from the iPhone will also show up in the menu bar now through iPhone Mirroring.
30. Folder Icon Changes
In macOS, you can tell if a folder has any contents or not just by looking at the folder's icon. Folders with contents show documents filed away, while empty folders don't have any documents. When you place an item in an empty folder, you also get a nice new animation.
31. Game Overlay
When playing a game in fullscreen mode there's a new Game Overlay interface that can be activated by pressing Command + Escape. From here, you can open the Games app, view achievements for the currently open game, contact friends, and adjust other settings like display brightness, sound volume, controller settings, and Game Mode.
32. 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 in the Phone app. 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.
33. Journal App
Previously limited to iPhone, the Journal app is now on the Mac, which makes sense on a platform that has a full keyboard. It works just like the iOS version of the app, but there are also some added features like the option to create multiple journals.
34. Spotlight Actions
Quick Actions in Spotlight let you do things with apps without having to open those apps. You can send emails, create shortcuts for features in apps, set timers, create Calendar events, make reminders, and much more, plus there's integration with the Shortcuts app to take things even further. You can also send messages: Press Command + Spacebar + 3, select the Send Message action and hit Enter, type your message, hit Tab, type the name of the recipient, then select their contact and hit Enter again. The steps depends which action you choose to run, but it's the same basic process.
35. Search Clipboard History
Spotlight now saves what you copy and paste, so you have a log of what you've been doing that you can go back and reference. You can see your entire history for the day, but it is limited to the last eight hours.
36. Message Conversation Backgrounds
In the Messages app, you can now set custom backgrounds for individual conversation threads. Click the profile picture of the person(s) you're chatting with, then click Backgrounds. Choose from the available options: Photo (select an image from your photo library), Color (pick from preset solid colors), or Playground (describe an image for Image Playground to generate it). Alternatively, choose from Sky, Water, Aurora, or one of the Suggestions.
37. Filter Unknown Message Numbers
In the Messages app's Settings, there are new options to screen unknown senders (excluding verification codes) and spam, so that these messages are moved to a different section of the app interface and you aren't notified when they arrive. Switching to the separate message lists can be done by clicking the new filter icon, top right of the current list.
38. Spotlight Quick Keys
You can use Spotlight Actions to do all kinds of things without opening an app. There are also quick access phrases you can assign to launch tasks quickly, like "ch" for bringing up ChatGPT. Simply click the "Add quick keys" button whenever you see it in search results. If you need to, you can reset assigned quick keys to their defaults by clicking Reset Quick Keys in System Settings ➝ Spotlight.
39. FileVault on by Default
If you sign in to an Apple account when setting up macOS Tahoe, FileVault now turns on automatically. It will also automatically use your Apple Account for recovery if something goes wrong. This is a change from earlier versions of macOS, where FileVault was optional and you could back up your recovery key in other ways, such as printing it or writing it down, without relying on the cloud.
40. Aerial Screen Savers
macOS Tahoe includes 15 new aerial screen savers for the Mac, each panning over natural landscapes around the world. The new screen savers can also be set as wallpapers. To browse through all screen savers on macOS Tahoe, open the System Settings app, click Wallpaper, and click the "Screen Saver…" button.
41. Apps Icon
Launchpad is gone in macOS Tahoe, and will be replaced by a new Apps icon in the Dock if that's where you had Launchpad. This takes you to the Applications section of the Spotlight Search interface, where you can switch between app categories like Productivity & Finance and Utilities. A More button (three dots) lets you view apps in a Grid or List, as well as Show iPhone Apps, but apps in this view lack a right-click menu and can't be deleted from here.
42. Shortcuts Automations
The Shortcuts app has been updated and now includes the ability to create Automations, so now you can make your shortcuts run automatically based on preconditions like Time of Day and when an external drive connects.
43. Allow in Menu Bar
In System Settings, the new Menu Bar section includes a new "Allow in the Menu Bar" section that lists any third-party apps that can add menu bar items, so now you can selectively toggle them on and off from one place.
44. Safari Advanced Fingerprint Protection
Advanced Fingerprinting Protection now automatically obscures browser and device data in all browsing modes. If you want to revert it back to Private Browsing sessions only, you can do so in the Advanced section of Safari ➝ Settings ➝ Privacy.
45. Reduce Transparency
In System Settings ➝ Accessibility ➝ Display, the Reduce Transparency toggle turns off many of the translucent Liquid Glass effects in the macOS interface, so if you aren't getting used to the new design, this option should help.
46. Accessibility Reader
In System Settings ➝ Accessibility ➝ Read & Speak, there's a new Accessibility Reader option that, when enabled, can be used to help read things that appear on the display. Wherever text is hard to read, hit Command and Escape, and you can view the same text in a window where you can customize the text color, background color, font, spacing, links, and more. You can also have the system read the text out loud for you.
47. Image Playground Updates
In Image Playground, you can now use ChatGPT to generate images. There are also styles to select for ChatGPT, including Oil Painting, Watercolor, Vector, Anime, and Print.
48. Dark PDF Appearance
If you're viewing PDF documents in the Preview app, there's a new View option in the menu bar that allows you to Use Dark Appearance for PDF.
49. Spotlight Search File Location
If you search for a file in Spotlight, holding the Command key reveals its location. You can also double-click the location to go straight to it in Finder.
50. Set Custom Snooze Duration
Like in iOS 26, the Clock app in macOS now gives you the ability to set your Snooze duration to between 1-15 minutes when setting alarms.