macOS 26 features: Supercharged Spotlight and 45+ changes

macOS 26 Tahoe is a milestone update with a dramatic new look, new power tools for pro users — and over 45 new features. It’s still recognizably Mac, but with a fresh coat of paint (or, should I say, glass). And there’s plenty to dive into once you get settled.

Spotlight has picked up lots of new features, replacing Launchpad and adding a native clipboard manager. There are loads of great enhancements to group chats in Messages. Other great enhancements are in Safari, Passwords, Maps, Photos, Journal and more. And a few new apps come over from iOS: Phone, Journal, Magnifier and the all-new Games app.

The update is out now; here’s what to expect.

Everything new in macOS 26 Tahoe

The Mac is the workhorse of the Apple product lineup. Or, to use a more modern metaphor (coined by Steve Jobs) the Mac is the work truck that allows the iPhone and iPad to be a compact car. It runs the most powerful software, thanks to its more open nature and precise user interface.

The Mac has been mouse-driven from the very beginning, with clickable windows, menus, buttons and toolbars. macOS 26 Tahoe features a new look for all of it. It may not be as dramatic as iOS 26, but it’s certain to stir up opinions in every longtime Mac user.

This year’s update is requires at least an M1 MacBook Air, 2019 MacBook Pro, M1 Mac mini, 2020 iMac, 2019 Mac Pro and M1 Mac Studio. Also, you may have noticed that Apple skipped from macOS version 15 to 26 — that’s so that all the annual releases use the same number, of the upcoming year.

Table of contents: macOS 26 Tahoe new features

1. Liquid Glass
2. All-new Spotlight
3. Messages
4. Phone app and Live Activities
5. Other new features in apps
6. Apple Intelligence
7. Accessibility
8. Other major updates

Liquid Glass

1. Liquid Glass defines the new aesthetic on the Mac. Toolbars have entirely disappeared; buttons float on top of the window and contents. The split sidebar from macOS Big Sur is now stylized as a floating panel with a drop shadow. Window corners are far more rounded; the red-yellow-green buttons are bigger. Window titles are now left-aligned rather than centered. Tab bars are now capsule-shaped.
2. You can customize app icons with light, dark, tinted and clear icon styles in System Settings > Appearance.
3. The new Mac cursor design has rounded corners rather than pointed corners.
4. All Mac icons are rounded rectangles, and are no longer allowed to break free of the shape, matching iOS.
5. The menu bar is now fully transparent by default. If you have a wallpaper that makes it hard to read, you can enable Show menu bar background in System Settings > Menu Bar.
6. There’s a new set of drive icons for Macintosh HD, external hard drives, Time Machine drives and network drives. They’re modernized to represent solid-state storage, but they lose their realistic perspective.

All-new Spotlight

Spotlight is now supercharged as an app launcher, file browser, automation tool and clipboard manager. After launching Spotlight with Command-Space (⌘␣) you can start typing, or you can hit one of four keys to see results from a specific category:

7. Hit Command-1 (⌘1) to launch apps. You’ll see both results from your Mac and from your iPhone via iPhone mirroring, making it easy to use iOS apps.
8. Hit Command-2 (⌘2) to search for files. You’ll see suggestions and recent files. Type in a file name and get instant results. Click on the list of apps to filter results.
9. Hit Command-3 (⌘3) to run Shortcuts and app actions. You can type in the name of an app to see what controls are available, like “Send message,” “Add reminder” and “Add to reading list.” Hit Return to select an action. Each action can have a shortcut, like “anr” short for “add new reminder.” You can specify a custom shortcut for other actions you may use often.
10. Hit Command-4 (⌘4) to browse clipboard history. Use the arrow keys to scroll through the list, and hit Return to instantly paste. It stores items you’ve copied for up to eight hours.

Messages

Messages continues to get excellent new features this year, mostly improving the experience of group chats:

11. The conversation details pane has been redesigned to match iOS. Click the person’s name to slide open a panel that shows their location, contact info, settings and attachments sent in the chat.
12. You can create a poll that the group can vote on. It’s a pretty simple system, without any settings. You enter in as many options as you want, and other people in the group can add their own items. (You can’t lock it down.) You also only get one vote, there’s no multiple choice setting.
13. Set a background image for the group and it’ll be changed for everyone, just like the group name and group icon. You can choose from Apple’s built-in options, generate one with Image Playground or choose from your own photos.
14. You’ll see typing indicators from other members in the group who have updated to iOS 26. However, there are still no group read receipts.
15. Messages automatically hides texts from unknown numbers. From the Messages list, you can tap the Filter button in the upper right to see Unknown Senders and Spam. You can also see Transactions and Promotions, for updates on orders and TK. There are also filters for Unread and Drafts, for those messages you still need to reply to.
16. Messages are automatically translated if they’re sent in another language.

Phone app and Live Activities

16. The Phone app comes to the Mac as a new way to place phone calls through your iPhone. Calling people through the FaceTime app was always a bit silly.
17. Just like on iOS, you can hide unknown callers from the call list, for simplicity.
18. Call Screening is an intelligent feature that blocks unimportant calls from unknown numbers. People who call you will be asked by a robot to give the reason for their call, and if your phone thinks it sounds important, then it’ll ring you — and show what they said.
19. Hold Assist lets you hang up the phone when you’re put on hold. Your phone will detect the music, wait for a human to pick up, and ring you again. (TK test again) However, Hold Assist can be fooled by systems that interrupt the music with an automated voice.

Other new features in apps

20. The Games app is an all-in-one destination for your Game Center profile, achievements, friends and more.
21. The Games overlay is a Control Center interface that gives you quick access to game controllers, energy modes, brightness and sound controls.
22. Photos has a Collections item in the sidebar to visually navigate your albums and media types.
23. Customize the Collections view to show its tiles in a Mixed Grid or Small Grid.
24. Passwords will show your password history if you need to refer to an old one, or if your password is accidentally overwritten.
25. Journal comes to the Mac, with support for multiple different journals, just like on iOS.

Maps, Music and other apps

26. Maps has been redesigned to match iOS. Now, when you look up or click on a business, you’ll see a full-size panel with all the information, rather than a small floating one.
27. Maps will learn your preferred routes and show them to you. (TK check if this is true of the Mac or not). Maybe you know a better way to work that avoids the busy roads, or you take a scenic route to your extended family. If you take that route often, it’ll alert you of delays before you even take off.
28. Maps will show you placed you’ve visited. It’s helpful if you don’t remember the name of that restaurant you went to last week. Click “Visited Places” in the sidebar. You can browse by category, city or recents.
29. Apple Music now has automatic lyric translation, so you can finally get the meaning of those K-pop lyrics.
30. Apple Music can also mix songs together in a playlist, so you never miss a beat while you’re jamming out. It blends the end of one song with the next, adjusting for tempo and key changes, like a DJ.
31. Reminders can automatically suggest items when you share items to the app, and sort them into different sections.
32. In the Clock app, you can set a custom snooze length between 1 – 15 minutes.
33. Notes can import and export Markdown formatted text.

Apple Intelligence

34. Shortcuts can freely prompt Apple Intelligence in a Shortcut. You can ask it to summarize text, generate text, ask it questions and much more. It’ll even format its output however you need it.
35. Siri stays on screen after you click away, letting you use it more persistently while you work.
36. In Image Playground, you can make images using ChatGPT instead of Apple’s somewhat inferior model. A variety of styles are available: Any Style (which makes photorealistic images), Oil Painting, Watercolor, Vector, Anime and Print. You’re limited to only a few options per day without connecting to a paid account.
37. Also in Image Playground, you can customize the appearance of a person if it gets a few things wrong. Edit your hairstyle, facial hair, eyewear, or type in something specific.
38. Genmoji lets you combine two emoji into one, like cat and phone, pineapple and sunglasses, or any other combination. 
39. You can choose the expression of a person when creating a Genmoji of them.

Accessibility

40. The Magnifier app comes to the Mac, letting you use your iPhone as a camera.
41. The Mac App Store now has accessibility disclosures so you can see which features are supported before installing an app.
42. Braille Access allows you to launch apps, take notes and do math using braille input, as well as use braille displays.
43. Accessibility Reader is a system-wide way to have articles, web content, messages, emails and more read to you. It’s integrated with the Magnifier app, so you can even point your iPhone camera at a book or whiteboard and have it read to you.
44. Name Recognition alerts you when your name is called.
45. Background Sounds has new EQ settings, auto-stop timer options and Shortcuts integration to make this focus-enhancing feature more customizable.
46. Personal Voice is faster to set up and more natural-sounding. It creates synthetic voices in under one minute with just 10 recorded phrases. It also supports Spanish (Mexico).
47. Vehicle Motion Cues come to the Mac. You can adjust the pattern, color, size and quantity of the on-screen dots. This will come in handy for working in the car, on the train or in a plane on your MacBook.

Other major updates

 Check out the other major updates Apple released today: