Supported. Drops support for the 2017 iMac Pro, 2018 Mac Mini, 2018 MacBook Pro, 2019 13 and 15” MacBook Pro, 2020 2-port 13” MacBook Pro, 2019 iMac, and the 2020 Intel MacBook Air.
macOS Tahoe (version 26) is the twenty-second and current major release of Apple's macOS operating system. The successor to macOS Sequoia (macOS 15), it was announced at WWDC 2025 on June 9, 2025, and its first developer beta was released the same day. It was released on September 15, 2025.
Tahoe is the final version of macOS to work on Macs with Intel processors, and it works only on some iMac, MacBook Pro, and Mac Pro models; however, all future versions will work only on Macs with Apple silicon processors.[7] It is the first version of macOS since Mac OS X Snow Leopard that cannot be upgraded from an older version via the Mac App Store; upgrading it is exclusively available through the System Settings software update preference pane, as is the case with iOS.
At WWDC, Apple announced that it was unifying the version numbers of its operating systems by designating them all with the year after their release, like vehicle model years. Federighi said that macOS versions will still primarily be marketed using release names, such as "Tahoe".[10][11]
The release is named for Lake Tahoe, a lake that straddles the border of California and Nevada, following Apple's practice of naming macOS releases for locations in its home state.
Features
Apple said that macOS Tahoe introduces several features and improvements, mainly focused on the user interface.[12]
System features
User interface
The design of the user interface has been completely redesigned for the first time since macOS Big Sur in 2020. It uses the Liquid Glass design language, as do Apple's iOS 26 and iPadOS 26.
Home Screen, Lock Screen & Control Center
Folder icons have been redesigned and can now have custom colors, emblems, and emojis, and can also abide by the accent color. They also now have animations.
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.
The menu bar is now fully transparent by default.
The Control Center has been redesigned, now functioning like and resembling the iOS version introduced in iOS 18/iPadOS 18.
Volume and brightness sliders have been redesigned; the sliders are now fully integrated with the Control Center.
Some Lock Screen customization features on iOS/iPadOS have been brought over to the Mac, such as changing the color and font of the clock.
Spotlight
Spotlight Search has been redesigned and gains quick actions, "quick-key" shortcuts, third part API support, a completely revamped indexer with AI support, menubar search, and Apple Intelligence integration.
An 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.[13]
Other new features
App icons are now required to be squared-circles (squircles), a design recommended since macOS Big Sur; an icon that doesn't comply with the requirement is placed inside a grey squircle.
Areas such as the Control Center, app opening, and Spotlight Search now have increased animation.
Many iOS and iPadOS features have been brought over to the Mac, such as Live Activities and Collections in the Photos app.
The cursor has been redesigned, now having a more rounded appearance.
Some system sound effects are refined.
Vehicle Motion Cues, a system-wide Accessibility Reader, and support for Braille displays come as part of expanded accessibility features.
The Photos, Maps, and Apple Music apps now behave more similarly to their iOS and iPadOS counterparts.
Notifications for low battery and AirPods have been reduced to alerts in their menu bar items.
The power and restart windows are now shown in a pop-up window rather than an actual one.
Terminal gains support for 24-bit color and Powerline fonts.[14]
Passwords adds a password history feature to view previous passwords.[15]
The disc image format, formerly RAW, has been replaced by the new format Apple Sparse Image Format (ASIF), which Apple claims is significantly faster and more similar to a native SSD's performance.[16]
During its Platforms State of the Union event at WWDC 2025, Apple announced that macOS Tahoe will be the last major version of macOS that supports Intel-based Macs.[22] 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 all Intel-based MacBook Air and Mac mini models.[20][21]
Additionally, starting with macOS 28, Rosetta 2 will be scaled back to only include support for older games that rely on Intel-specific libraries that are no longer being actively maintained by their developers.[22]
