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macOS 26.0 Tahoe

Mark Sokolovsky - 2025.09.17

On September 15th 2025, Apple released the final version of macOS for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs, macOS Tahoe. This version of macOS makes some very up-front tweaks: A new “Liquid Glass UI”, a system version number jumping to 26 from 15, some new apps, and some new core features.
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This version of macOS is named after Lake Tahoe of California, USA. As seen on CNET.com in an article: communications and community outreach manager for VisitLakeTahoe.com Ryn Muat told CNET “If Apple’s aiming for breathtaking and iconic, they picked the right name — Lake Tahoe is awe-inspiring by design.”
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What You Need To Know

  • Tip: If you were on Developer Betas of macOS Tahoe, you must switch off Developer Beta updates under Software Updates in System Settings.
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  • There are a multitude of features which only work on Apple Silicon only.
    • See section below: “Apple Silicon-Only features”
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  • This version of macOS drops support for all 2018 models.
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  • First version of macOS to include Recovery assistant and support for ASIF (Apple Sparse Image Format) disk volumes.
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  • This is a more recent, graphically intensive version of macOS. It is the first major visual overhaul since macOS Big Sur, from Late 2020.
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  • Open Core Legacy Patcher is not yet working with macOS Tahoe and the goal is to have version 3.0.0 out by late fall/early winter.
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Some noticeable, up-front UI changes

  • Menu bar is now transparent to make the display feel larger
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  • New Icon, Dock and Widget design iterations along with UI, called “Liquid glass”
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  • Folders can now change color and have emojis in them
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  • macOS theming is amplified in the same way it can be done in iOS
    • Icons, widgets, etc; can all be colorized
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Key objectives of UI design change

The Liquid Glass User Interface design language is more than skin deep, it has utilitarian elemental objectives as well:

  • Content-first: “UI is in service of the experience”
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  • “Establish creative Consistency, harmony, and usability with a universal design language”
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  • “A focus on Dynamism, expressiveness, and Joyful/delightful user experiences.”
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  • Combine optical qualities of glass with responsive fluidity, responsive lensing around edges.
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  • Specular highlights, refractions, hierarchy, etc;

See: WWDC25: Platforms State of the Union | Apple
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New Major features

  • Phone app comes to Mac – it looks and functions a ton like the way FaceTime does, and includes all the new features coming to iOS 26 phone app:
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    • Hold Assist, Call Screening, Live Translation, SharePlay, Live Voicemail, Contact Posters, Visual Voicemail, Recents, Call Recording, Favorites, Caller ID, and Keypad.
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  • Continuity receives new features such as live activities.
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    • Example: You order Uber Eats on your iPhone, the live activity also appears your menu bar. When you click, it opens in iPhone mirroring.
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  • New shortcuts features including:
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    • Run them automatically such as a specific time of day, or when you take actions like saving a fly to a folder, or when you connect a display.
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    • Intelligent actions powered by Apple Intelligence – dedicated actions for features people are already familiar with (like summarizing text, etc;)
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  • New Spotlight features – “….and now, Spotlight gets its biggest update ever” as Raja Bose, Senior Manager of System Experience Product Marketing at Apple puts it.
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    • Intelligent suggestions based on routines
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    • Now has most recent and suggested files
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    • See all your apps as well as your iPhone apps with iPhone mirroring
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      • Launch apps that you would only have on your iPhone
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    • System In-App actons in spotlight
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    • Quick Keys in spotlight – automatically provided for system in app actions taken
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    • Results can now also be filtered
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    • If you are in an app and can’t find the action you want to perform for the app you’re in but know the app can do it, you can just search for the action you’re trying to do in spotlight, and spotlight will perform the action for you as well as show you which buttons to click to get there. This is important.
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    • Spotlight now gains clipboard history – see everything you copied. Get back to an image, link or text you copied earlier in the day.
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A new Games App

  • Brings together all the games you have on your Mac
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  • New Games overlay that gives you quick access to controls such as sound, brightness, etc; at the touch of a button, can be accessed by controller button mid-game
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Metal 4 is Introduced

  • Replaces the previous generation Metal 3.
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  • Next Generation rendering technologies
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  • New features introduced such as frame interpolation, de-noising, etc;
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  • New Dynamic effects and visuals, better leverage from the Neural Engine and Ray-Tracing enabled Macs.
  • See more: Metal 4: An overview
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The new wallpapers

System Requirements

There is a comprehensive list available on Apple’s website, but it is also available below. Below is a list of the oldest models supported by Tahoe. Although no RAM amount is specified as a requirement, we recommend you run with at least 16 GB of RAM instead of 8 GB for smooth operation. 8 GB will get you by and get the computer to boot the OS, although there is absolutely nothing wrong with using a Mac with 8 GB of RAM. It is also strongly recommended to avoid running this OS off of a hard drive as it would be quite slow – if your Mac shipped with a hard drive and it is at all possible to swap for an SSD, do it.

  • 16″ 2019 MacBook Pro or later
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  • 13″ 4-Thunderbolt Port 2020 MacBook Pro or later
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  • 2020 iMac or later (27″ intel iMacs)
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  • M1 Mac mini or later
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  • 2019 Mac Pro or later
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  • Any Mac Studio
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Apple Silicon-Only features

  • Apple Intelligence
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  • Running iOS/iPadOS apps
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  • AirPods Spatial Audio
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  • Apple Maps 3D Globe & detailed renders
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  • Game Porting Toolkit-made games
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  • Getting rid of the “Hey” in “Hey Siri”
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  • High-performance mode in Screen Sharing app
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  • Game Mode & Reference Mode
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  • On-device voice dictation

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Versions

See more: How to read and interpret Apple OS Build Numbers
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Tahoe retains PowerPC Mac VNC & Network Volume support

If you have a PowerPC-based Mac with screen sharing enabled and file sharing enabled, you will still be able to access it from macOS Tahoe. This is fantastic news for those of us who hang onto our PowerPC Macs!

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If you have a Mac running macOS Tahoe, you can screen share into your PowerPC Mac directly from macOS. Screen Sharing must be enabled from Mac OS X Leopard’s end. You’re also able to access the files on your PowerPC Mac directly, if file sharing is enabled in Leopard as well. Whether a miraculous happenstance or a matter-of-fact, thank you, Apple, for keeping it.

Unsupported Macs

Status: OCLP Not Yet Supported.

OpenCore is a boot loader used to inject and patch data in memory, instead of on disk. This allows for a near-native experience on unsupported Macs, and allows macOS Big Sur – Sequoia to be installed on Macs which otherwise couldn’t run it. There are some caveats to running an OS on an unsupported Mac, but the team of people over at OCLP are hard at work to make sure everything runs smoothly! There are some things you should know before you decide whether or not Big Sur – Sequoia OCLP is right for you: See OpenCore website.

  • Unfortunately as of right now, OCLP doesn’t support macOS Tahoe, although it may possibly be unofficially installed at your own risk.
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  • The 2018 and 2019 MacBook Airs cannot be patched due to the T2’s lack of communication when booting through OpenCore. The timeout causes a Kernel Panic, according the website. There will be similar challenges with the other recently dropped T2 Intel Macs, such as the iMac Pro.

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