Apple finally revealed macOS Tahoe during WWDC 2025. The new Liquid Glass design and updated versioning to macOS 26 make this a kind of realignment with the rest of the ecosystem.
While the visual redesign is impressive, the focus in the keynote was on a new Spotlight experience. App intents allow users to take actions directly from Spotlight, and the search interface has been vastly improved with intelligent sorting and filtering.
More Continuity features were added, like Live Activities from iPhone. Also, the Phone app with its updated design is now available on Mac for the first time.
The Phone app works via Continuity with a nearby iPhone. However, it may also be a precursor to Apple including a C-series modem in their Mac hardware. At the least, it enables users to have convenient access to their Phone call history and other information.
macOS Tahoe has several new user-facing features. Image source: AppleSome feature highlights in macOS Tahoe:
- Liquid Glass changes the look and feel of macOS
- New Phone app
- Live Activities shared from iPhone via Continuity
- Spotlight gets a big upgrade for proactive and intelligent suggestions
- Take action directly from Spotlight thanks to app intents
- Live Translation across the system, like in Messages, FaceTime, and Apple Music
- Apple Intelligence comes to Shortcuts
- Image Playground and Genmoji get new styles and ChatGPT support
- Reminders gains Apple Intelligence suggestions and sorting
- Apple Games app adds discovery and social tools to one central location
- Game Overlay enables easy access to system settings for games
- Safari is redesigned with a floating, rounded tab layout
- Messages gains backgrounds, polls, and group chat typing indicators
- Journal is now on Mac
- Photos gets more customization, new tab design with Liquid Glass
- FaceTime gets a new landing page with Contact Posters
- Notes gains import and export of Markdown files
- Passwords gets a history view to access old passwords
The WWDC keynote has barely concluded, and there are a lot of details to uncover about all of Apple's latest operating systems. Stay tuned for more details on this page for macOS Tahoe.
Everything below this point was written before WWDC 2025. The rumors refer to macOS 16, which was the expected name before Apple shifted to the new version numbering.
The Mac operating system is quite mature and rarely gets significant updates, but the rumored redesign may push macOS 16 in a new direction. Apple will undoubtedly provide a place name in California for the release, but that won't be known until WWDC on June 9.
So far, the leaks have focused on iOS 19 and a potential redesign that will bring operating systems closer to the visionOS glass and transparency aesthetic. Mockups show reflective buttons and windows across system apps.
Since the design unification is happening across all operating systems, it is likely that macOS will see similar changes to its UI. It isn't yet known how far the changes will go, but macOS 16 could look dramatically different from macOS Sequoia.
Beyond design changes, there's not much else that can be predicted beyond polishing existing apps and systems. The new app tiling system and Stage Manager could be updated, and System Preferences could continue to be tweaked.
Apple Intelligence is likely to be a significant focus of the developer conference as well. The delayed contextual features will likely be shown off again, but hopefully with more polish.
Also, expect Apple to further expand features it introduced in macOS Sequoia and iOS 18, like iPhone mirroring. Stage Manager and window management could get more polish as well.
macOS 16 accessibility updates
Apple has made it a habit to announce accessibility features for upcoming operating systems ahead of WWDC. There's nothing here hinting at an operating system redesign, but there are a lot of great quality-of-life updates for users that need them.
Enlarging text and using an attached iPhone to bring Magnifer to the Mac — image credit: AppleThe new features include:
- Accessibility Nutrition Labels on the App Store
- Magnifier for Mac
- Braille Access
- Accessibility Reader
- Live captions on Apple Watch
- Live Recognition in Apple Vision Pro
Accessibility Nutrition Labels give users an overview of what features are compatible with a given app in the App Store. It could help push some apps to adopt features in order to help promote them as accessible apps.
Braille access is a big update, bringing support for braille across the system like taking notes or transcribing conversations. Braille Access also works as an app launcher and Braille Ready Format file support.
Accessibility Reader lets users adjust font size, color, spacing, and other settings. It is available within any app, including the Magnifier app.
More features are coming to Apple Watch and Apple Vision Pro as well. Plus, Apple plans to update existing features.
- Eye Tracking on iPhone and iPad
- Head Tracking to control devices with head movements
- Switch Control for Brain Computer Interfaces
- Assistive Access for the Apple TV app
- Customizable Music Haptics on iPhone
- Sound Recognition gains Name Recognition
- Voice Control for Xcode
- New languages in Live Captions
- Large Text in CarPlay
The features are expected as a part of iOS 19, macOS 16, visionOS 3, tvOS 19, and watchOS 12. They could arrive in the initial release or in a point one or two update before the end of 2025.
macOS 16 will be revealed during WWDC 2025 on June 9.
William Gallagher
Andrew Orr and Mike Wuerthele
Malcolm Owen
