Hands-On Apple 186: macOS Tahoe 26

Summary

Hands-On Apple 186: macOS Tahoe 26

Release Date: June 12, 2025
Host: Micah Sargent
Podcast: All TWiT.tv Shows (Audio) by TWiT

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Introduction

In the inaugural episode of the newly renamed Hands-On Apple, hosted by Micah Sargent, listeners are treated to an in-depth preview of macOS Tahoe 26. This episode marks a significant shift from the previous "Hands on Mac" title, reflecting a broader focus on the entire Apple ecosystem.

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Redesign and Visual Overhaul

Micah begins by highlighting the redesign elements introduced in macOS Tahoe 26. He notes a more streamlined and modern aesthetic:

• Menu Bar Transformation: The traditional menu bar has been revamped, offering a cleaner look that aligns with the overall visual enhancements of the system.

• Finder Updates: The Finder interface has undergone subtle changes, making navigation more intuitive for users.

• Trash Can Redesign: Even the familiar trash can icon has been refreshed, contributing to the cohesive new design language.

• Cursor Modification: A redesigned cursor adds to the fresh look and feel of the updated OS.

Quote:
"Finder looks a little different, and we can also see that the recycling bin or the trash can as it is on Mac OS is a little bit redesigned."
— Micah Sargent [03:15]

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Widget Enhancements

Micah demonstrates the new widget functionality, emphasizing their customization and aesthetic appeal:

• Adding Widgets: Users can easily add widgets such as a digital clock, Apple News, and Tips directly onto the desktop.

• Customization: Widgets feature rounded corners and can be resized or edited to display different topics, enhancing both functionality and personalization.

Quote:
"The rounded corners are a little bit different and we can of course edit these widgets as needed to make adjustments to them by changing the topic, for example, or for changing the size of them."
— Micah Sargent [04:05]

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System Settings and Appearance

A significant update in Tahoe 26 is the overhaul of the System Settings interface:

• Glass Effect: The background adopts a glassy, translucent appearance, adding depth to the settings menu.

• Appearance Options: Users can switch between Auto, Light, and Dark modes, with additional theme color selections such as multicolor or specific hues like green.

• Icon and Widget Styles: New styles include dark icons, clear icons, and tinted icons, which can automatically adjust based on the time of day.

• Folder Color Customization: Folders can now be color-coded, allowing for better organization and visual distinction.

Quote:
"Here in the system settings, you can see that they kind of went glassy in the background, which is quite nice."
— Micah Sargent [04:45]

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Integration of Phone App on macOS

One of the standout features in Tahoe 26 is the integration of the Phone app into macOS:

• Enhanced Call Functionality: Beyond just FaceTime, users can make and receive calls directly from their Mac.

• Wi-Fi Calling and Notifications: Features like Wi-Fi calling are accessible, and notifications for calls are seamlessly integrated.

Quote:
"The inclusion of the phone app on macOS now gives you more access to taking and placing calls."
— Micah Sargent [06:03]

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Spotlight Search Improvements

Spotlight Search receives significant enhancements, making it a more powerful tool:

• Quick Actions: Users can perform actions like sending messages by typing shortcuts (e.g., "sm" for Messages).

• Advanced Search Capabilities: Spotlight now supports searches across applications, files, shortcuts, and even clipboard history.

• Apple Intelligence Integration: Leveraging Apple Intelligence, Spotlight can suggest intelligent actions such as playing a playlist or organizing split screens with apps like Notes and Keynote.

Quote:
"Spotlight Search becomes a lot more powerful, allowing for intelligent suggestions and streamlined workflows."
— Micah Sargent [07:30]

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Control Center Updates

The Control Center in macOS Tahoe 26 has been redesigned for better usability:

• New Slider Designs: Adjusting settings like brightness now features updated sliders that are more glossy and rounded.

• Enhanced Accessibility: Quick access to settings like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth allows for faster adjustments.

Quote:
"The Control Center is pretty much the same, it just gets a new design with softer and more rounded sliders."
— Micah Sargent [08:15]

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Safari and Content-Focused Enhancements

Safari receives updates that prioritize content visibility:

• Full-Screen Web Pages: Websites now take up the entire screen, minimizing distractions.

• Dynamic Top Bar: The top bar adapts its color based on the webpage, creating a more immersive browsing experience.

Quote:
"In Safari, being able to go to a web page and scroll through and have it take up the entirety of the screen is quite delightful."
— Micah Sargent [09:00]

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Live Activities and Cross-Device Integration

macOS Tahoe 26 introduces features that enhance the synergy between Apple devices:

• Live Activities on Mac: Apps like Uber and Instacart can display live updates directly on the Mac.

• Hold Assist: Users can be notified when they are no longer on hold during phone calls, improving call management.

Quote:
"If you use your Mac with your iPhone, live activities will appear on the Mac, allowing you to stay updated seamlessly."
— Micah Sargent [10:20]

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Parental Controls, Journal, and Games App

• New Parental Controls: Enhanced settings provide better oversight and management of content for younger users.

• Journal Application: The Journal app makes its debut on Mac, offering users a dedicated space for personal writing and reflection.

• Games App: A newly designed Games app allows users to access and continue playing their favorite games, integrate with Apple Arcade, and connect with friends for multiplayer experiences.

Quote:
"The Journal application has come to the Mac, which is fantastic, and the new Games app lets you easily access and play games with friends."
— Micah Sargent [12:10]

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Conclusion and Future Insights

Micah wraps up the episode by emphasizing that this overview is just the tip of the iceberg. As public betas become available, a more comprehensive exploration of macOS Tahoe 26's features and capabilities will unfold. He expresses anticipation for delving deeper into the system's functionalities in future episodes.

Quote:
"We will get a much more detailed look as the public betas begin to ship and more people are able to take advantage and use the system."
— Micah Sargent [13:50]

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Closing Remarks

The episode concludes with Micah thanking listeners and encouraging them to stay tuned for upcoming discussions and analyses of Apple's latest innovations.

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Note: This summary omits promotional segments and advertisements to focus solely on the substantive content discussed in the episode.

Transcript

[Micah Sargent]

Coming up on the newly renamed Hands on Apple, let's take a first look at macOS tahoe 26. Stay tuned.

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[Zoe Saldana]

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[Micah Sargent]

Hmm.

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[Leo Laporte]

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[Micah Sargent]

Hello and welcome to this, the first episode of the renamed Hands On Apple. Yes, we were once Hands on Mac, but now I, Micah Sargent, am hosting the show Hands On Apple. It's just a little more accurate, accurate way to reflect what I do on the show, which is talk about all of Apple's devices. I thought today it would be great to sort of stay in the realm of things by talking about macOS Tahoe. So let's take a first look with the understanding that of course this is a look at the preview of macOS and is not yet the public version that will eventually be released for the platform. So let's head over and see what we're working with. Here we are in Mac OS Tahoe, and first and foremost you can kind of see the redesign of the system. We've got our menu bar that is no longer an actual menu bar. We've got a more clear look and feel. Finder looks a little different. And we can also see that the recycling bin or the trash can as it is on Mac OS is a little bit redesigned. If we hop into. Well, we'll get to the system settings in a moment, but if I right click on the desktop. Oh, I should also mention the cursor looks different too. But here on the desktop let's add some widgets just so you can see what that looks like. And so I can add a clock. For example, here's a digital clock on my desktop. Let's do an Apple News option and let's do a tips option. If we click Done, you can see these three options over here. The rounded corners are a little bit different and we can of course edit these widgets as needed to make adjustments to them by changing the topic, for example, or for changing the size of them. So we'll click Done here and move into the system settings really quickly there. You'll notice that they kind of went glassy in the background, which is quite nice. Here in the system settings, if we go to appearance, we can See that? Right now I have it on auto mode, so it's light. But we could switch to dark mode. Ooh, we can change the theme color. Right now I have it on multicolor. We could switch it to green, which kind of changes some of the stuff around. Text highlight color is set to accent color. So it will change based on what you have and then the icon and widget style I currently have set to default. There's a look at the dark icons, the clear icons, and we can have different versions of those, like a light clear or a dark clear or an auto clear that will change based on the time of day. And then tinted icons which let you make them green if you'd like. And dark green or light green or auto. I'm going to switch that back to default. The last thing we can change here is the color of our folders. I have mine set to green, but it can be set to automatic. So if we launch Finder, you can see that they are blue. I would change those so that they are green. And now you can see those changed. Now once we're out of this, you can see that when I opened up a folder here in this case, just opened up Finder, the size of the window and the roundness of the window is different. Also, the resizing icon is different as well.

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[Micah Sargent]

That is kind of a quick look at liquid glass. It's not the all encompassing look at liquid glass, but I didn't want to kind of get into the nitty gritty there because we'll have plenty of time to do that. Another thing I'll mention really quick is the inclusion of the phone app on macOS now. So if I scroll down, I can see that phone is now an app on the platform. And you can of course turn on things like WI Fi calling and set of course your notifications as well. So those are available to you. And this is outside of just the FaceTime icon or FaceTime app, but gives you more access to taking and placing calls. On top of that we have an update to Spotlight Search. So command space will show you Spotlight, but you can do things like quickly send a message by saying by typing in sm, which is a quick way to get to messages. I'll hit enter and right from here I could say hello everyone, and then send recipients. Escaping lets me kind of back out of that. There are loads of different options. So I could do a search, for example, in books or search in shortcuts. I can see some of the automatic options that are available to me. Dictionary, reminders, messages, system settings. I can search in system settings, for example, and quickly do an adjustment to Bluetooth, changing Bluetooth sharing, whatever that happens to be. Spotlight Search becomes a lot more powerful. So here I can see applications. So this lets me search for applications, this lets me search through files, this lets me search through actions like with shortcuts. And Command 4 lets me look at my clipboard. Yes, Clipboard history has come to macOS. Now you have access to in shortcuts you have access to Apple Intelligence. So if you'd like, you can actually use Apple Intelligence in the private cloud Compute model to run some design or run some shortcuts. On top of the icons we also have Control center updates. So you can see over here on the right if you're looking, we have. The Control center is pretty much the same, it just gets a new design. The slider looks different for changing the brightness. And for all of the sliders you can easily kind of change the WI fi settings. Oops. And make adjustments there. Things are a little bit more glossy, a little more soft and round as well. And Something that I think is really delightful is, for example, in Safari, being able to go to a web page and scroll through and you'll notice that it takes up the entirety of the screen here, so it's a little bit more designed. And look at the top here. Even the bar at the top kind of takes in the color of what's on the screen, which is quite delightful as well. So it's all about focusing content on the screen and getting out of the way. Live translation has come to the all sorts of applications, including to your Messages app. You can also use Image Playground on the Mac to create different things. So I can create an image here and it works with ChatGPT as well. So if I choose ChatGPT and choose next and say yes, I'll enable it and in this case I will choose myself and it sends that information and I will choose Robot. So it's going to take the image sort of package that it created of me and the concept of Robot and try to combine those together as it goes to ChatGPT. That stuff will be shared with you. While this is loading, I'll mention a few other things, which is that if you use your Mac with your iPhone, live activities will appear on the Mac. So if you have an app that supports live activities, like for example, Uber or Instacart, that will appear on your Mac as well. So you can see it there. And you can do all of the things on your phone that you expect that we were announced, like being able to go into hold mode, which is called Hold Assist. That gives you the ability to be notified whenever you're no longer on hold. With Spotlight, you can easily kind of find, as I mentioned, your apps, and it has kind of intelligent suggestions. But imagine being able to automatically play a playlist or quickly create a split screen where it opens up Notes on one side and Keynote on the other. Those are some of the examples of what you can do. With Spotlight, there are new parental controls that are available. Journal, the Journal application has come to the Mac, which is fantastic. And of course there's also a new games app as well, so you are able to take advantage of that. So let's go ahead and go to Games and I'll show you. Here is the newly designed games app that lets me continue to play the games that I've already played. Visit Apple Arcade very easily and then look at apps that I can play together with my friends and invite them to play along with me if I would like. So that's a quick look at some of the new new stuff that has come to macOS and the next version, macOS Tahoe 26. As you might imagine, we will get a much more detailed look as the public betas begin to ship and more people are able to take advantage and use the system. And as I am able to kind of dig in and see what all is new across the entire platform. Folks, thank you so much for tuning in to this week's episode of Hands on Apple. Now I look forward to seeing you again next week for another episode. Bye Bye.

[Leo Laporte]

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[Zoe Saldana]

Hi, Zoe Saldana. Welcome to T Mobile. Here's your new iPhone 16 Pro on us.

[T Mobile Customer]

Thanks. And here's my old phone to trade in.

[Zoe Saldana]

You don't need to trade in. When you switch to T Mobile, we'll give you a new iPhone 16 Pro. Plus, we'll help you pay off your old phone. Up to 800 bucks and you still get to keep it.

[T Mobile Customer]

There's always a trade in.

[Zoe Saldana]

Not right now. @ T Mobile.

[T Mobile Customer]

I feel like I have to give you something in return for karma.

[Zoe Saldana]

That's okay.

[T Mobile Customer]

I don't really have much in my purse. Oh, let's see. Hand sanitizer. It's lavender.

[Zoe Saldana]

I'm good. Seriously.

[T Mobile Customer]

Let me check this pocket. Oh, mints.

[Zoe Saldana]

Really, I'm fine.

[T Mobile Customer]

Oh, I have raisins. I'm a mom. Wait, wait one sec. I've got cupcakes in the car.

[T Mobile Representative]

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[T Mobile Announcer]

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