macOS 26 beta preview: Spotlight's time to shine

Engadget

5 days ago

I've learned not to expect much from macOS updates — not through sheer cynicism, but from the obvious reality that Apple pays far more attention to iOS and iPadOS than its desktop platform. I get it. macOS is a thing of the past, while smartphones and tablets are Apple's profitable present and future. But still, I think Mac users deserve more than just widgets, or the ability to merely mirror their iPhones (a feature that's not only genuinely useful, but also cements how crucial iPhones are to Apple and its users today). Now with macOS 26, Apple is finally showing a bit more love to its laptops and desktops.
After testing the macOS Tahoe 26 developer beta for a few weeks, it definitely feels like a more substantial update than the last few versions. The revamped Spotlight alone will likely delight Mac diehards, since it makes it easier to find apps and perform all manner of tasks without requiring your fingers leave the keyboard. Add in a lovely visual refresh thanks to Apple's Liquid Glass design, as well as enhanced iPhone continuity features, and you have an operating system that feels like a genuine step forward for the Mac faithful.
(Ed. note: Apple just released the public betas for iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 and watchOS 26 . This means you can run the preview for yourself, if you are willing to risk potentially buggy or unstable software that could cause some of your apps to not work. As usual, we highly recommend backing up all your date before running any beta, and you can follow our guide on how to install Apple's public betas to do so.)
I've never been a heavy Spotlight user, aside from the few times I've needed to quickly look for an app or file. But in macOS Tahoe 26, it's suddenly a lot more useful. Now Spotlight can also help you find specific files; search cloud file services and websites; run Apple shortcuts and automations; and even run basic commands, like looking up your recent screenshots when you type "/screenshot." Spotlight has become more than just a search engine for your Mac, it's practically a super-powered command line. (And notably, it has no real equivalent on Windows. So once again, Mac power users will be able to gloat about the supremacy of macOS.)
Over the course of my testing, tapping the command key and space bar to trigger Spotlight practically became second nature. I'd bring it up to find files, as usual, but I noticed that it was better at unearthing what I was looking for than before. Spotlight also replaced my usual practice of typing in search strings in Safari or Chrome's address bar. It takes just a few seconds to bring up Spotlight, type "YouTube," hit tab to trigger the search box and type in the video I'm looking for. This intelligent site searching also works for Amazon and IMDB — hopefully, Apple will add more commonly used sites over time (or perhaps just the ability to map a site's internal search engine to Spotlight).
If you're often buried by tons of tabs in your web browser, Spotlight can also quickly search through them. That helped me avoid getting distracted by social media and Slack conversations. I could just stay in my productivity flow, since I didn't have to sift through multiple app windows and tabs. The ability to trigger actions from Spotlight was similarly useful — it's a cinch to pop it up, start typing "Send Message" and jot out a quick text to my wife. Spotlight also learns your most common commands over time, so now I just have to type "se" for the Send Message action to pop up.
I'm sure for a certain type of Mac power user, Spotlight will give them far fewer reasons to ever touch their mouse or trackpad.
While Spotlight is the most powerful upgrade in macOS Tahoe 26, you'll notice the spiffier Liquid Glass interface first. As with iOS 26, it basically amounts to more transparencies and visual flourishes spread throughout the OS. The menu bar at the top of the screen is now fully transparent, instead of looking foggy like before. It's not much, but it does make your Mac's screen seem a little bigger (or perhaps that may have just been extra noticeable on the cramped 13-inch MacBook Air I've been testing on).
Similarly, widgets and the Control Center dropdown have more glass-like visual elements that make them look a bit more modern. There's no real practical advantage, but to paraphrase a classic Marge Simpson quote, I just think it's neat. Apple Silicon-equipped hardware has more than enough graphics power to spare, so these visual upgrades also don't hinder performance at all. I didn't notice any slowdown during my testing, and according to Activity Monitor, there didn't seem to be a big hit to CPU or GPU usage.
Even though you've been able to make phone calls on Macs for a while now through FaceTime, it's taken until macOS Tahoe 26 for Apple to debut a dedicated Phone app. The app itself is nothing special — it gives you a quick glance at your contacts and recent calls, all in a compact Liquid Glass window — but at least it's a more logical place for phone calls.
Even better than the standalone app, though, is the addition of iPhone Live Activities appearing in the macOS Tahoe 26 menu bar. That makes it easier to keep track of an inbound Uber or Doordash order, without whipping out your phone. And if you need to tap into a specific activity, macOS will also automatically launch the app from your phone via iPhone mirroring. It's the sort of usability feature you'd expect from Apple, and notably it's also not easily replicable on Windows. (And sure, you can also view it as a way to keep iPhone users from straying to the dark side too.)
The more I dug into macOS Tahoe 26, the more intriguing it became. Here are a few other updates worth highlighting: The Shortcuts app seems a lot more powerful now, especially with the addition of custom automations and Apple Intelligence-powered actions. You can have an automation trigger writing tools or Image Playgrounds, and there's also a new "Use Model" command that can tap into on-device AI models and ChatGPT. I'm still trying to wrap my head around building a complex automation, but conceivably it could let you do something like compare an audio transcript to text notes, according to Apple.
Safari has received a Liquid Glass redesign that looks pretty polished. It's not nearly as transformative as the Safari iOS upgrade, which makes it easier to read websites on a small phone screen, but at least it looks nice.
The Notes app now has Apple Intelligence-powered reminders whenever you share content to it. That could help you unearth some key tasks from a large email.
The Photos app has also received the Liquid Glass treatment, and you can finally use Pinned Collections on Macs to keep your favorite photo groups handy.
The Apple Music app can now use AutoMix to intelligently blend songs together, similar to a DJ. I've been using this feature on iOS 26 a lot, and it's honestly delightful — so long as you're not a total gapless playback purist.