macOS Tahoe (version 26) is the upcoming twenty-second major release of

Apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

macOS macOS, previously OS X and originally Mac OS X, is a Unix, Unix-based operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 2001. It is the current operating system for Apple's Mac (computer), Mac computers. With ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

. The successor to

macOS Sequoia macOS Sequoia (version 15) is the twenty-first and current major release of Apple Inc., Apple's macOS operating system, the successor to macOS Sonoma. It was announced at Worldwide Developers Conference#2024, WWDC 2024 on June 10, 2024. In li ...

(macOS 15), it was first announced at WWDC 2025 on June 9, 2025, with its first developer beta released the same day. In line with Apple's practice of naming macOS releases after landmarks in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

, it is named after Tahoe, a lake straddling the border between California and

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

. Tahoe will be the last version of macOS to support Macs with Intel processors, with support further-limited to selected iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro models; all future versions will only support

Apple silicon Apple silicon is a series of system on a chip (SoC) and system in a package (SiP) processors designed by Apple Inc., mainly using the ARM architecture family, ARM architecture. They are used in nearly all of the company's devices including Mac ...

Development

macOS Tahoe was announced by Apple's senior vice president (SVP) of

software engineering Software engineering is a branch of both computer science and engineering focused on designing, developing, testing, and maintaining Application software, software applications. It involves applying engineering design process, engineering principl ...

Craig Federighi at the

Worldwide Developers Conference The Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) is an information technology conference held annually by Apple Inc. The conference is currently held at Apple Park in California. The event is used to showcase new software and technologies in the macO ...

(WWDC) on June 9, 2025. The first developer beta was released the same day. During WWDC, Apple announced that the version numbers of its operating systems would now be unified and based on the year which follows that of their release (similarly to vehicle model years), moving them all forward to version 26. Federighi stated that macOS versions will still primarily be marketed using release names as before (in this case, " Tahoe"), since he believed macOS "demands more" than just a version number.

Features

macOS Tahoe introduces several new features and improvements, mainly focused on the user interface: * The UI has been completely redesigned for the first time since

macOS Big Sur macOS Big Sur (version 11) is the seventeenth software versioning, major release of macOS, Apple Inc., Apple's operating system for Macintosh computers. It was announced at Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 22, 2020, and w ...

to use Liquid Glass, replacing Aqua, making it more consistent with Apple's other platforms, which also receive it. The menu bar is now fully transparent. The cursor has been redesigned, now having a more rounded appearance. App icons have been unified with iOS and iPadOS, and can have dark and tinted variants as introduced in iOS with iOS 18/iPadOS 18, as well as a new clear variant. * Some system sound effects are refined. * Folder icons have been redesigned and can now have custom colors, emblems, and

emoji An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis; , ) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of modern emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from type ...

s, and can also abide to the accent color. They also now have animations. * Spotlight Search has been redesigned and gains quick actions, "quick-key" shortcuts, menubar search, and Apple Intelligence integration. * Many iOS and iPadOS features have been brought over to the Mac, such as Live Activities and compact brightness/audio indicators. * The Phone and Journal apps are now included as part of macOS. The Phone app uses Continuity to integrate with the iPhone. * The Control Center has been redesigned, now functioning like and resembling the iOS version introduced in iOS 18/iPadOS 18. The volume, brightness and keyboard brightness sliders have been redesigned, ditching the appearance that had been introduced in OS X Yosemite. * The Launchpad, introduced in OS X Lion and mostly unchanged afterwards, has been removed and replaced by the 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. * A Magnifier app, Vehicle Motion Cues, a system-wide Accessibility Reader, and support for

Braille Braille ( , ) is a Tactile alphabet, tactile writing system used by blindness, blind or visually impaired people. It can be read either on embossed paper or by using refreshable braille displays that connect to computers and smartphone device ...

displays comes as part of expanded accessibility features. * Terminal gains support for 24-bit color and Powerline fonts.

Removed features

*Home only supports the redesigned Apple Home architecture introduced with

iOS 16 iOS 16 is the iOS version history, sixteenth major release of Apple Inc., Apple's iOS mobile operating system for the iPhone. It is the successor of iOS 15, and was announced at the company's Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) on June 6, 202 ...

and macOS Ventura and ends support for the legacy architecture.

Supported hardware

macOS Tahoe supports all Macs with

and some of those with Intel's 9th generation Coffee Lake Refresh, 10th generation Ice Lake and Comet Lake, and Cascade Lake-based Xeon-W processors, including: * MacBook Air (M1, 2020) or later * MacBook Pro (13-inch, 2020, Four Thunderbolt 3 ports) or later * MacBook Pro (14-inch, 2021) or later * MacBook Pro (16-inch, 2019) or later *

Mac Mini Mac Mini (stylized as Mac mini) is a small form factor (desktop and motherboard), small form factor desktop computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is one of the company's four current Mac (computer), Mac desktop computers, positioned ...

(M1, 2020) or later * iMac (2020) or later *

Mac Studio The Mac Studio is a small form factor (desktop and motherboard), small-form-factor workstation computer developed and marketed by Apple Inc. It is one of four desktop computers in the Mac (computer), Mac lineup, sitting above the consumer-range M ...

(2022) or later * Mac Pro (2019) or later During its Platforms State of the Union event at WWDC 2025, Apple announced that macOS Tahoe will be the last 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 Intel-based MacBook Air and Mac Mini models.

Release history

References