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Apple announces macOS Tahoe 26 with redesigned UI, updated Spotlight, Phone app, more

Apple today announced macOS Tahoe 26, featuring a redesigned UI, as well as a bevy of new features like an overhauled Spotlight search, new Phone app and Live Activities, and updates to Apple Intelligence.

The new visual design features Liquid Glass UI elements, updated app icons in the Dock, redesigned Control Center and more.

New features in macOS 26 include the addition of the Phone app, available on the Mac for the first time. This mens users can seamlessly access recent calls, contacts and voicemails.

The Spotlight search experience has been completely overhauled in macOS Tahoe. Results across files, folders, events, apps are combined into a single view. Documents from third-party cloud services are also incorporated into the search results. New quick actions lets users run contextual commands based on their search results.

The new Spotlight experience even includes listings from apps on your iPhone, that launch via iPhone Mirroring when selected.

Live Activities from your iPhone now also appear on your Mac. This lets users keep up-to-date with things happening right now, like flight tracking.

macOS Tahoe also incorporates a variety of AI-powered features, like live language translation in Messges and FaceTime.

The Shortcuts library has also been updated to expose Apple Intelligence actions, and there are improvements to Genmoji and Image Playground as well.

The new Games app also comes to the Mac, a center for all the games you are playing right now and a place to check in on your friends’ gaming activities. There’s also a new Game Overlay, that gives users access to settings and friends chat, without you needing to leave the full-screen experience of your current game.

Other changes include new Messages features like customizable backgrounds and polls in group chats. The Journal app also comes to Mac with macOS Tahoe. The Photos app adds Pinned Collections and new filtering options available across the app. Reminders has been infused with Apple Intelligence to automatically organize your to-do’s into sections. In Notes, users can now import and export to Markdown format.

macOS Tahoe is available in developer beta today and will be available for all users later this year.

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Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.