Hands on with macOS Tahoe 26: Liquid Glass, new theme options, and Spotlight

Spotlight and themes are successful the limelight. | Screenshot: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge

At WWDC, Apple announced its caller Liquid Glass plan language, which is coming to each of its devices, including Macs. I've been tinkering with the macOS Tahoe 26 developer beta connected the M4 MacBook Air for astir a day. So far, the aesthetic changes scope from slick to somewhat overwrought, but the caller Spotlight hunt features are nifty and useful.

There are caller touches of glassy transparency each implicit macOS 26, including the Dock, Finder, widgets, and built-in apps. It's much subtle than connected the iPhone, mostly due to the fact that the Mac's overmuch larger surface existent property makes the Liquid Glass elements much similar accents than whatever this messiness is expected to be. I'm not precise fond of it conscionable yet, but possibly it volition turn connected me, similar UI changes thin to.

The Dock present has a frosted inheritance that's much translucent than Sequoia's flatter design. The hazy, frozen solid aesthetic besides extends to widgets, similar the calendar and weather, and drop-down menus - though the second person overmuch higher opacity. The pop-ups for measurement and brightness present usage this distorted solid look arsenic well, though they've moved to the top-right country of the surface alternatively of being centered supra the dock. Frankly, they're ugly, …

Read the afloat communicative astatine The Verge.