macOS Tahoe (version 26) is the twenty-second major release of Apple's macOS operating system. The successor to macOS Sequoia, it was announced at WWDC 2025 on June 9, 2025, and its first developer beta was released the same day. It was released on September 15, 2025.

It was succeeded by macOS Golden Gate on September 14, 2026.

Tahoe is the final version of macOS that supports x86-64-based Macs with Intel processors – the 2020 iMac, the 2019 16-inch MacBook Pro, the 2020 four-port 13-inch MacBook Pro, and the 2019 Mac Pro models – as its successor, macOS Golden Gate, only works on Macs with Apple silicon systems on a chip (SoCs). It is the first version of macOS since Mac OS X Snow Leopard that cannot be upgraded from an older version via the Mac App Store; upgrading it is exclusively available through the System Settings software update preference pane, as is the case with iOS and iPadOS.

Development macOS Tahoe was announced by Apple's senior vice president of software engineering Craig Federighi at the Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 9, 2025. The first developer beta was released the same day.

At the conference, Apple announced that it was unifying the version numbers of its operating systems by designating them all with the year after their release, like vehicle model years. Federighi said that macOS versions will still primarily be marketed using release names: macOS 26 is named "Tahoe" (after Lake Tahoe, a lake that straddles the border of California and Nevada), continuing Apple's current practice of naming macOS releases after locations in California.

Features Apple said that macOS Tahoe introduces several features and improvements, mainly focused on the user interface.

System features

User interface The user interface has been substantially redesigned for the first time since macOS Big Sur in 2020, now using the Liquid Glass design language to align with iOS 26 and iPadOS 26.

Desktop, Lock Screen, and Control Center

Folder icons have been redesigned and can now have custom colors, emblems, and emojis, and can also abide by the accent color. They also now have animations. App icons have been unified with iOS and iPadOS, and can have dark and tinted variants as introduced with iOS 18 and iPadOS 18, as well as a new clear variant. The menu bar is now fully transparent by default, with a faint drop shadow. The option to show a background for the menu bar is retained. The Control Center has been redesigned, now functioning like and resembling the iOS version introduced in iOS 18 and iPadOS 18. Volume and brightness sliders have been redesigned; the sliders are now fully integrated with the Control Center. Some Lock Screen customization features on iOS and iPadOS have been brought over to the Mac, such as changing the font and weight of the clock.

Spotlight Spotlight Search has been redesigned and gains quick actions, "quick-key" shortcuts, third-party API support, a completely revamped indexer with AI support, menubar search, and Apple Intelligence integration. An Applications feature which is similar to the App Library, used on iOS since iOS 14 and iPadOS since iPadOS 15. It is integrated into the Spotlight interface. iPhone apps also appear in the Applications list through Continuity from the user's iPhone, and will launch through iPhone Mirroring. This replaces Launchpad from the previous versions of macOS.

Other new features App icons are now required to be squared-circles (squircles), a design recommended since macOS Big Sur; an icon that does not comply with the requirement is placed inside a gray squircle. Areas such as the Control Center, app opening, and Spotlight Search now have increased animation. Many iOS and iPadOS features have been brought over to the Mac, such as Live Activities and Collections in the Photos app. The cursor has been redesigned, now having a more rounded appearance. Vehicle Motion Cues, a system-wide Accessibility Reader, and support for Braille displays come as part of expanded accessibility features. The Photos, Maps, and Apple Music apps now behave more similarly to their iOS and iPadOS counterparts. Notifications for low battery and AirPods have been reduced to alerts in their menu bar items. The power and restart windows are now shown in a pop-up window rather than an actual one. Terminal gains support for 24-bit color and Powerline fonts. Passwords adds a password history feature to view previous passwords. The disc image format, formerly RAW, has been replaced by the new format Apple Sparse Image Format (ASIF), which Apple claims is significantly faster and more similar to a native SSD's performance. The Macintosh HD icon has been changed from a hard disk drive to a solid-state drive. NFSv4.1 (RFC 8881) client support has been added. The icon for Finder has been changed to align with the Liquid Glass design language. macOS 26.2 enables support for the 160 MHz channel for Macs with Wi-Fi 6E.

New apps

Phone: the Phone app uses Continuity to integrate with the iPhone. Journal: encourages users to create journal entries in which they can record and reflect upon their thoughts and activities. Magnifier: the app uses the Mac's camera to allow users to zoom in on information in front of them. Games: provides an interface for games from the App Store and Apple Arcade, as well as social features in Game Center. Apps: a replacement to Launchpad that was used since Mac OS X Lion. macOS 26.1 changes the number of columns of applications visible from five to seven.

Removed features Home only supports the redesigned architecture introduced with iOS 16 and macOS Ventura and ends support for the older architecture. Support for FireWire 400 and 800 has been removed. Launchpad has been removed in favor of Apps. Apps removes the ability to customize the layout of applications and create folders. Safari no longer had the Compact tab layout in its settings in macOS 26.0 through 26.3.2, but this was added back in macOS 26.4.

Reception macOS Tahoe has had mixed feedback. The new "Liquid Glass" UI and changes to the user experience has had mixed reception. The new version has been widely criticized for its poorer optimization, and its poorer stability compared to previous versions. The issues include stuttering even on new devices, and graphical issues in the GUI or stock apps like Notes.

Supported hardware macOS Tahoe supports all Macs with Apple silicon and some of those with Intel's ninth-generation Coffee Lake Refresh, tenth-generation Ice Lake and Comet Lake, and Cascade Lake–based Xeon-W processors.

HardwareCPUSupportsmacOS TahoeApple IntelligenceBoot CampMacBook NeoA18 ProMacBook Air (M1, 2020 or later)M-seriesMacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, four Thunderbolt 3 ports)IntelMacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020 or later)M-seriesMacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019)IntelMacBook Pro (14- or 16-inch, 2021 or later)M-seriesMac Mini (2020 or later)M-seriesiMac (2020)InteliMac (2021 or later)M-seriesMac Studio (2022 or later)M-seriesMac Pro (2019)IntelMac Pro (2023)M-series During its Platforms State of the Union event at WWDC 2025, Apple announced that macOS Tahoe will be the last major version of macOS that supports Intel-based Macs. The only remaining Intel-based Macs supported by Tahoe are the Mac Pro (2019), the MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019), the MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, four Thunderbolt 3 ports) and the iMac (2020), thus ending support for all Intel-based MacBook Air and Mac Mini models.

Release history

+macOS Tahoe releases Version Build Release date Darwin version rowspan="2" 25A354 September 15, 2025 25.0.0xnu-12377.1.9~3Mon August 25, 21:17:54 PDT 2025 25A8353 October 22, 2025 Preinstalled on the 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro rowspan="2" 25A362 September 29, 2025 25.0.0xnu-12377.1.9~141Wed September 17, 21:42:08 PDT 2025 25A8364 October 15, 2025 14-inch M5 MacBook Pro only 25B78 November 3, 2025 25.1.0xnu-12377.41.6~2Mon October 20, 19:32:56 PDT 2025 25C56 December 12, 2025 25.2.0xnu-12377.61.12~1Tue Nov 18 22:09:34 PDT 2025 25D125 February 11, 2026 25.3.0xnu-12377.81.4~5Wed Jan 28 21:54:22 PDT 2026 25D2128 March 4, 2026 25.3.0xnu-12377.91.3~2Wed Jan 28 20:54:55 PDT 2026 25D771280a March 17, 2026 Background Security Improvement 25D2140 March 10, 2026 OTA on MacBook Neo only, available as IPSW/InstallAssistant.pkg for other Macs 25D771400a March 17, 2026 Background Security Improvement 25E246 March 24, 2026 25.4.0xnu-12377.101.15~1Thu Mar 19 19:33:09 PDT 2026 25E253 April 9, 2026 Bug fixes 25F71 May 11, 2026 25.5.0xnu-12377.121.6~2Mon Apr 27 20:40:51 PDT 2026 25F80 June 1, 2026 Bug fixes 25F84 June 29, 2026 Bug fixes 25G72 July 27, 2026 25.6.0xnu-12377.161.13~4Sat Jul 11 15:27:02 PDT 2026 25G76 August 6, 2026 25G83 August 17, 2026 25.6.0xnu-12377.161.14~5Fri Jul 31 19:18:43 PDT 2026 25G229 September 14, 2026 25.6.0xnu-12377.161.15.700.19~2Tue Aug 18 17:46:40 PDT 2026 25G241 September 28, 2026 See Apple's official release notes and official security update contents.

Notes

References