logo
macOS Tahoe 26 launched at WWDC25: New ‘Liquid Glass' design, iPhone mirroring & AI-powered spotlight

macOS Tahoe 26 launched at WWDC25: New ‘Liquid Glass' design, iPhone mirroring & AI-powered spotlight

Time of India5 hours ago

Apple announced a sweeping update to its desktop operating system at
WWDC25
, unveiling
macOS Tahoe 26
, a release that marks one of the most significant visual and functional overhauls in recent years. With a refined interface, smarter search capabilities, and deeper cross-device integration, the latest macOS version continues Apple's push toward a more unified and intelligent computing ecosystem.
Craig Federighi, Apple's Senior Vice President of Software Engineering, described the release as 'building on what users love most,' highlighting features that appeal to both long-time power users and newcomers to the Mac platform, as mentioned in a report by Business Insider.
Visual Redesign Anchored by 'Liquid Glass'
One of the most striking updates in
macOS Tahoe 26
is its new design language, dubbed 'Liquid Glass.' Apple has reimagined the desktop experience with translucent materials that shift subtly in response to ambient light and color. The Dock, menu bar, and sidebars now sport a cleaner, lighter appearance, with the menu bar fully transparent and adaptive icons that respond to light and dark themes.
Folders can be personalised with colours, symbols, and emojis, offering new ways to visually organise digital workspaces. The aesthetic refresh extends across the operating system, aiming to enhance focus and productivity without compromising style.
iPhone Integration Reaches New Heights
Furthering the continuity between Apple devices,
macOS Tahoe 26
introduces native support for the Phone app. Mac users can now handle calls, view recent activity, access voicemails, and screen unknown callers—all from the desktop.
Live Events
A notable addition is
Live Activities
, previously exclusive to iPhone, now available on the Mac menu bar. From tracking flights to monitoring rideshare status, users can click directly into mirrored content via iPhone Mirroring. This bridges the gap between handheld and desktop, allowing actions to be completed seamlessly without switching devices.
Spotlight Gets a Brain Boost
Among the standout enhancements is a comprehensive upgrade to Spotlight, Apple's universal search tool. With support for over 100 built-in actions—from sending emails to creating calendar events—Spotlight is now more than a search bar. Aided by new 'quick keys' and third-party integrations via the App Intents API, users can personalise workflows and complete tasks without opening individual apps.
The feature now uses improved relevance ranking, contextual filtering, and browsable results to streamline content discovery, making Spotlight a smarter, more intuitive digital assistant.
Privacy-First AI with Apple Intelligence
Building on its AI strategy, Apple continues to emphasise privacy with
Apple Intelligence
, now embedded throughout macOS. Features like
Live Translation
bring real-time voice and text translation to Messages, FaceTime, and phone calls, all processed on-device.
Shortcuts have been upgraded to incorporate AI-based automation, including text summarisation, visual generation, and support for external tools like ChatGPT—without compromising data privacy. Creative tools such as Genmoji and Image Playground also now offer granular customisation options for greater personal expression.
New Gaming Hub and Developer Features
Gaming on Mac gets a dedicated platform with the introduction of the Apple Games app. The addition of a
Game Overlay
allows players to manage chats, settings, and power modes mid-session. Developers benefit from Metal 4, Apple's updated graphics engine, offering new technologies like Frame Interpolation and Denoising for more fluid, high-fidelity performance.
Titles including
Cyberpunk 2077
,
Crimson Desert
, and
InZOI
are confirmed to adopt these advancements, with more slated to follow later this year.
Everything new in macOS Tahoe
#WWDC25
pic.twitter.com/98duPoubte
— Apple Hub (@theapplehub)
June 9, 2025
Additional App and System Enhancements
macOS Tahoe 26 also delivers enhancements across core apps: Safari receives a redesigned tab view and claims up to 50% faster performance than Chrome. Messages now supports polls, dynamic backgrounds, and advanced search capabilities. FaceTime introduces floating controls and revamped layouts, while Notes supports markdown and phone call transcriptions.
Accessibility features also see significant gains, with the rollout of image filters, a Magnifier tool, Braille support, and motion cues for vehicle use.
Availability
The developer preview of
macOS Tahoe 26
is now available, with a public beta to follow next month. The full release is expected in autumn 2025 as a free update. Select features—particularly those leveraging Apple Intelligence—will require newer hardware such as M1 Macs or iPhone 16 models, with broader language support rolling out by year-end.
FAQs
What is macOS Tahoe 26?
macOS Tahoe 26 is Apple's latest desktop operating system, unveiled at WWDC 2025. It introduces a major visual refresh, enhanced AI features, and deeper cross-device integration, particularly with iPhone.
What's new in the design of macOS Tahoe 26?
The new design language, called
Liquid Glass
, features translucent materials, adaptive icons, and a fully transparent menu bar that responds to light and dark modes. Folders can now be customized with colors, symbols, and emojis.

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Apple Expands ChatGPT Deal and Mimics Google in AI Comeback Attempt
Apple Expands ChatGPT Deal and Mimics Google in AI Comeback Attempt

Mint

timean hour ago

  • Mint

Apple Expands ChatGPT Deal and Mimics Google in AI Comeback Attempt

Bloomberg Published 10 Jun 2025, 03:53 AM IST (Bloomberg) -- Apple Inc. introduced a number of AI-powered features during the company's Worldwide Developers Conference on Monday, even as long-awaited enhancements to its Siri voice assistant remain far off. The announcements included an expanded relationship with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, which first teamed up with Apple last year and underpins many of the new capabilities that are coming to iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS 26 and visionOS 26 this fall. Artificial intelligence wasn't the main focus of the event, which dwelled more on operating system design changes and other features. But the AI capabilities will help Apple's iOS begin to match more of the features that are already offered by Samsung Electronics Co. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google in Android devices. These are the notable AI-related features that were announced at WWDC: More stories like this are available on

Apple WWDC 2025: Why did tech giant move from iOS 18 to iOS 26?
Apple WWDC 2025: Why did tech giant move from iOS 18 to iOS 26?

Hindustan Times

time2 hours ago

  • Hindustan Times

Apple WWDC 2025: Why did tech giant move from iOS 18 to iOS 26?

Apple, at its annual Worldwide Developers Conference 2025, unveiled various upgrades to its operating systems on Monday, including the release of iOS 26 as the tech giant decided to change its naming convention. The tech giant announced the release of its new iOS this fall. Originally, as per the usual sequence name after iOS 18, this year's release would have been called iOS 19. However, since Apple declared that it is changing its naming convention, saying that its future iOS versions will be numbered on the basis of the year, similar to how car manufacturers name new models, this year's release will be called iOS 26. "Our releases for the fall that will power us through the coming year 2026 will be version 26," said Craig Federighi, Apple's senior vice president. The upcoming latest software versions cross all products of Apple will end with '26' - iOS 26, watchOS 26, macOS 26, visionOS 26, iPadOS 26, tvOS 26. Apple also announced a new "Liquid Glass" design language for its software. This will display apps and toggles with a translucent, glass-like shine. The new design will be implemented in buttons, sliders, media controls and larger elements such as tab bars and sidebars, along with matching redesigned toolbars and navigation system. The tech giant is releasing updated Application Programming Interfaces so that developers can begin adapting their apps ahead of the release of the new design later this year. The company said that it is also making new additions of Apple Intelligence to its operating system, including Live Translation. Image Playground is also getting a new feature boost with the incorporation of OpenAI's ChatGPT. Apple will also let users learn more about what's on their iPhone screens with the help of Visual Intelligence. Users can search about images on their iPhones across Google, Etsy, and other supported apps. If the tool finds out that you are viewing an event, iOS 26 will suggest that you add it to your calendar. Additionally, the tech giant said that it would add generative AI to its Xcode coding tools that can help developers write code, test it and resolve errors.

Apple WWDC 2025 Highlights: Apple brings Liquid Glass UI with new iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe and more
Apple WWDC 2025 Highlights: Apple brings Liquid Glass UI with new iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe and more

Deccan Herald

time3 hours ago

  • Deccan Herald

Apple WWDC 2025 Highlights: Apple brings Liquid Glass UI with new iOS 26, iPadOS 26, macOS Tahoe and more

The rumours were correct about their prediction, as Apple's new software comes with big upgrades not just in terms of unifying numerical suffix but also with massive visual user interface overhaul. Liquid Glass UI on iPhone. Credit: Apple iOS 26 UI. Credit: Apple iPadOS 26 UI. Credit: Apple macOS Tahoe 26 UI. Credit: Apple The new watchOS 26 UI. Credit: Apple Apple tvOS 26 UI. Credit: Apple visionOS 26 UI. Credit: Apple visionOS 25 brings 3D-depth to spatial photos. Credit: Apple

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store